I lifted my face, gazing up at him, but it was too dark. Placing the flat of my palms on his chest, I leaned up and kissed him. The feel of his lips on mine made me ached for him, made me moan with need. I teased his upper lip with my tongue, wanting him to respond, but he stayed still. Something didn't feel right. "Cam?" I heard him take a sharp breath, but it was enough. He wasn't responding to my touch. I tried to think back if this happened before. And realized he'd never failed to kiss me back. He always wanted more. This time he didn't even move. Anxiety crawled inside me. "Kara," he said quietly. "We need to talk." I swallowed the panic in my throat. Yes, we do. "All right. Let me make coffee in the kitchen. We can talk there." There was a chill in the air, sending goose bumps up my arm. I reached for my bathrobe. He'd given it to me that night when I found out Tala was leaving and my mother had returned. I remembered how gentle Cameron was when he washed my hair, how he took care of me so tenderly. It seemed like a long time ago. When the coffee was done, I placed the cups on the table, sat down. Cameron stayed where he was, standing, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed against his chest. His face was unreadable. He was wearing a black t-shirt that stretched over his broad shoulders and exposed his muscled forearms. The loose-fitting jeans he had on kept going on and on. He was so tall, so unapologetically masculine and solid. He had a scruff that covered the smooth skin of his jaw and made him look dark and dangerous. I gestured toward the coffee. "You don't want it?" "I want a lot of things," he said. "Doesn't mean I take them." "It's not that deep," I said glibly. "It's just coffee." He didn't smile or laugh. Did he know about Andrew? Charity said Dylan had texted Cameron, but how much did my brother tell him? Maybe he already knew everything that was why he was acting so...distant from me. I held the cup in my hands, willing the coldness inside me would be driven away by absorbing its warmth, and stared at the black liquid inside it. "Look at me," he said. My throat felt tight. A feeling of foreboding washed over me. "Look at me," he repeated gently. I didn't want to. For some reason I was on edge and scared to look into his eyes. But I forced myself to do it. His face was blank, his blue eyes flat. Something inside me was breaking. "I'm leaving," he said softly. I took a sip of coffee to mask my fear. It took a moment before I asked, "Already? Are you going back to the site?" "No," he answered. "I accepted the job. In BC." I froze. Thoughts whirled in my head and I couldn't make sense of any of them. "What? I thought...I thought that you..." I pedalled back. "Okay, that's good. That's good, right?" What was happening to me? I didn't mean the words coming out of my mouth. Or maybe I hadn't processed them fully, but they came out anyway. "Yeah," he said. "It is." "What— I mean, when are you leaving?" "Tomorrow morning." It felt unfair that he would just decide this by himself without letting me know. All this time he'd been telling me he wouldn't. That he only wanted to do it for me. Anger started to trickle its way to the tips of my fingers. "Didn't you think you should've discussed this with me first?" "Why? I thought you didn't want to hold me back." My jaw fell open. I tried to open my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I was stunned. His words cut deep, slashing and ripping my heart. Was I misinterpreting his words? Maybe the fatigue was catching up with me and my head wasn't functioning properly. This didn't sound like Cameron. I tried again. "You know I can't leave. Especially now that Dad's in the hospital. The shop needs me. It's a huge mess—" "I'm not asking you to come with me." I looked at him, dumbfounded. "I'm going alone, Kara. My bags are already packed." My heart fell into my stomach. Panic was dominant now, strangling me. I swallowed the lump in my throat, leaned back in the chair and took a deep breath. "Well, we can always visit each other. It'll be hard, but—" "No," he said. "I don't want that either." I could hear my blood pumping in my ears, and for a moment I felt dizzy. Cameron's face swam in my vision. I blinked a few times, clearing it away. He stood there, looking so aloof and alone, removed from everyone and everything. "What do you want then, Cameron?" "Don't," he said softly. "Don't ask me this. You wouldn't like the answer." I gritted my teeth and suddenly my fist slammed against the table. My eyes were hot as I glared up at him. "What the fuck happened to you? Why are you being like this?" He took a deep breath but didn't say anything. I searched for the warmth in his blue eyes that was always there when he looked at me. It was gone. Unwanted love was like a big boulder at the edge of a cliff. Desperation was like a rope tied around it. And the one holding the rope was me. I knew where it was going, why hold on to it? "You heard about Andrew, didn't you? Did Dylan tell you?" "What about him?" "Are you angry at my family? At..." I choked out. "At me?"