“Like he got to her in a conspiracy theory sort of way?” Tucker leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “That sounds like something Cassie would say.”
“I’m more surprised by Hank,” Cam said. “I felt sure the issue of the wear and tear on infrastructure would sway him to our side. Roads are a big thing with him.”
“I just didn’t expect it to end like this,” Miranda said.
Norah raised her glass and drained it before setting it down on the coffee table with a crack. “This isn’t over.”
“There’s nothing left we can do. Legally, there’s no other means of stopping construction.”
She exploded up from the sofa, stalking to the end of the room before whirling back. Her eyes weren’t unfocused now. They flashed with the heat of temper. “There has to be something. Until they break ground—hell, until they open the goddamned doors, there has to be something.”
The thread of desperation in her voice had Cam crossing to her, running both hands down her arms in an attempt to soothe. “Honey, it’s done.”
“No. No, it isn’t done. I’m not done. The land deal hasn’t closed yet. There’s still time for something to change.”
A dangerous and fruitless line of speculation. “Do you honestly think you’ll change Abe’s mind? You’ve been trying to do that for weeks.”
“So we find someone else to buy the land. Recruit investors.”
“Investors from where? No one here has that kind of money or inclination or they’d have done it already.”
“Then we go outside of town.”
“And what exactly would they be investing in? Part ownership of land we don’t want anyone to develop? Who do you think is crazy enough to do that? And who do you think has that kind of money to put into something that won’t turn a profit?”
“I don’t know, damn it. But I’m not going to just accept this. I can’t.”
“Norah—”
“Burkes don’t fail, Cam. I don’t fail. And I’m sure as hell not going to start now.”
“You didn’t fail.”
“I made you a promise.”
“And you kept it. You haven’t let me down, Wonder Woman. The rest of the Council did.”
“It was my job to convince them.”
“It was both our jobs. I didn’t pull it off either. But you can’t take responsibility for the behavior of other people. We did everything we could do in the time we had available.”
“And it wasn’t enough.” She closed her eyes, her face twisting in pain as she whispered again, “It wasn’t enough."
“Hey, look at me.” Cam cupped her face, tipped it to his and waited until she opened the eyes swimming with unshed tears. “What happened in Morton—which wasn’t your fault, as we already established—isn’t happening here. You expressly designed the coalition to support Wishful for the long haul, not just for this one fight. We can still develop your rural tourism campaign. You said yourself it’s long-term and adaptable to circumstances and budget. We’ll need that now, more than ever, to mitigate the impact GrandGoods will have. And that’s going to make the difference in our survival. You gave us that option. You did that. Maybe it’s not everything we’d hoped, but that’s not failure.”
Norah said nothing for a long moment. Shoulders slumping, she rasped out, “I’m tired. I’m so damned tired.” Cam expected her to lean in, rest her head on his shoulder, but she pulled away instead, scooping both hands through her hair.
“You’ve been running yourself ragged for weeks,” Miranda said.
“You know me.” Norah flashed a humorless smile. “Full tilt or nothing.”
“You’ll feel better with a good night’s sleep.” Cam wanted to bundle her up himself, hold her until she finally relaxed.
“A good week’s sleep,” Mitch added. “It’s time to let yourself crash, sugar.”
After another long hesitation, Norah nodded. “Let’s go home.” It was Miranda she looked at. Miranda she leaned on as she gave a numb and generalized farewell before walking out Tucker’s door.
Cam felt a chasm yawning open between them.