Mina wandered the rooms of her family home, realizing for the first time in her life that the place was ridiculously big for only three people. What had her father been thinking? And how the hell was she supposed to find anyone in these walls?
She scowled at the intercom button mounted near the entrance of every room, and wished that she and Darryl had been a little less rambunctious as kids. But they'd pushed that button with such abandon that her father had ultimately disconnected the entire system, vowing not to restore it until they were both adults.
Either he still considered them both children or he'd forgotten to get the system repaired.
Not that it mattered, the bottom line was that she couldn't find Darryl.
Since he'd started his clerkship, he'd left work promptly at five and come straight home. He'd told her this was the only law job that supported bankers' hours, and that his judge actually encouraged an eight-to-five schedule. So she expected him to be in the house.
But maybe he'd gone out for a drink with his co-clerks. Or grocery shopping. Or anywhere.
Which would make sense on any other day. But he knew this was her last night in town. So why wasn't he home to see her off?
Worried, she pulled her phone out and dialed him--which, actually, she should have thought of before, since calling or texting was a handy way of finding him in the house--but the phone went straight to voice mail all three times she tried.
"Fine," she muttered. "You want to be overprotective? I can, too."
Darryl had insisted they share their locations years ago. "You'll be walking around campus after dark," he'd said. "Don't be stupid."
She trusted him to not track her on a date, and she'd never looked up his location either, except for the one time he showed her how to do it.
Today, however, qualified as an emergency. And not just because he wasn't there the night before she left. No, a growing knot of worry had taken root in her stomach. She didn't know if it was paranoia or a twin thing. But she was certain something bad had happened to him, and she stared at the phone screen, waiting for the little dot to place him somewhere.
When it did, she cringed.
Dell Seton Medical Hospital.
And although she couldn't know for sure, she was desperately afraid that the little red dot that represented Darryl was right smack dab in the emergency room.
Chapter Fifteen
"I wish I had better advice," Kiki said, her voice sounding far away through the speaker of Cam's phone.
"That's okay," Cam assured her. He was in his too-soft bed leaning against the dingy gray co-op wall that matched his mood. "I shouldn't be calling you with personal stuff before you have to perform, anyway. I should have just waited until you get here tomorrow."
"From what you're telling me, she'll be in California by the time I make it down from Dallas."
"Yeah," he said, then put his forehead on his knees and sighed.
"Cam?"
"Just feeling sorry for myself. How do you and Noah handle it?"
"What? Our crazy careers? It's hard work, I won't lie. But we respect each other's goals, and at the end of the day we both know that the other comes first, before all the work stuff and everything else in the world. Even you, little brother."
He knew that was supposed to make him crack a smile, but all it did was twist his insides up again. "That's what I want," he told her. "That's how I feel."
"Is it?" she asked. "I don't see you packing up for LA."
Her words brought him up short. "You think I should?"
"No. But I'm also not saying that you shouldn't. You're the only one who can answer that."
He grimaced. "What the hell is the point of having an older sister if you don't boss me around?"
She laughed. "I don't know. To send you stupid text messages at least once a week and buy you lame Christmas presents?"
"Really? Damn. I thought there were more perks."