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On his laptop, he clicked a button for the video chat to Cammie. She answered with a wan smile and drawn features. Seated by her uncle’s bedside—Dane recognized the landscape painting behind her—she was as beautiful as ever, despite the weariness marking her face. Cammie Chandler was a beautiful woman, her wavy, rose-gold hair falling past her shoulders, her eyes the color of jade. But now she appeared drained by the long day and the drive from San Francisco back to San Juan Bautista.
He didn’t point that out. “Hey there, how you doing?”
“Is that my little T. Rex beside you?” As he angled the laptop’s camera, she cooed at the dog. “It was so good seeing you today, you little sweetie.” If dogs could smile, Rex smiled at his favorite woman in the world. “I’ve missed hugging and petting you.”
Dane wouldn’t have minded trading places with Rex and being the recipient of those hugs. Of course, she’d be horrified at the direction of his thoughts—it was against all their rules—so he turned the conversation around. “Thanks for coming today. I really appreciate it. I promise I won’t keep you long. I hope the game and that long drive didn’t wipe you out.”
She denied the evidence on her face and in her tired eyes. “No. But Uncle Lochlan got restless, thrashing about in the bed. It took a bit to calm him down after I got back.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. You know how he gets.” She shrugged as if her steadfast loyalty and compassion were nothing more than what anyone would feel or act on.
He could have jumped into the business discussion right then, but she had bigger things hanging over her, and he needed to offer his support. Their relationship wasn’t just that of assistant and boss, where all she did was look out for his needs. He cared for her too.
Though her uncle lived at one of Ava’s premier facilities in the Bay Area, he was at his best when Cammie was nearby. Without her, he was often quarrelsome, even combative. She’d been going to San Juan Bautista as often as she could, but Dane had seen the toll it took on her, and last September, he’d finally told her to take family leave.
Now, with Lochlan unable to recognize her, even unable to walk, and sleeping most of the time, Cammie was on the fence, hating to see him suffer but powerless to let him go. It was obvious Lochlan wouldn’t last much longer. And Dane needed to be there for her when it happened.
He hadn’t told her what a mess his work life had become since she’d been gone or how subpar her temporary replacements had been. Adding that burden to her shoulders might have crushed her. And yet, without his saying a word, a few weeks after she’d left, Cammie had contacted her network of personal assistants, and the next candidates had been far more tolerable. But none of them was Cammie. None of them knew him the way she did, anticipating what he wanted even before he said it.
She sighed. “He’s been comatose off and on for the last few days, hardly responding.”
Dane detected the tremble in her voice. She’d told him none of this while they were together today. Then again, they hadn’t been alone.
And now he gave her the space to get it all out. “The in-house doctor suggested we could stop feeding or hydrating him.” She swiped at her eyes and glanced away from the camera, obviously looking at Lochlan in the bed. “But I won’t do that. He can’t really eat, so I just dribble things in his mouth. And I put ice chips on his tongue. If I give him too much water, it comes back up. But he gets so restless, his legs and arms moving.”
He wished he could be there to at least hold her. “I’m sure Ava wouldn’t starve someone.”
She shook her head, her hair falling across her cheek. “It’s not Ava. But I understand where the doctor is coming from. It’s like I’m prolonging his agony.”
He reached out, as if he could touch her face. “Of course you’re not. You’re doing everything possible for him. Don’t get down on yourself. You’ve taken care of him for years.”
“I know.” She sighed, but he was afraid she didn’t believe him. “I can never thank you and Ava enough for bringing him here.”
“I’ve told you a million times, you don’t have to thank me.” He’d gotten to know Lochlan, too, after Cammie came to work for him, and he wanted the best for the old man.
When Cammie realized she could no longer care for Lochlan on her own, Ava had opened up space in her five-star San Juan Bautista facility, the closest one to Dane’s Pebble Beach estate. Cammie had balked, knowing she could never pay for it on her own, but he’d convinced her that not taking his offer would reduce Lochlan’s quality of life. Maybe that was dirty politics, but he’d needed her to give Lochlan the best, knowing full well she’d regret it for the rest of her life if she didn’t.
