Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 128083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
“No, the last five hours didn’t offer much, fortunately and unfortunately.” She understood what he meant about the fortunate part. If something had happened that indicated his whereabouts, they couldn’t have done anything from thirty thousand feet in the air.
They stood when it was their turn, and Rex gathered their travel bags and they deplaned, walking into the crowded corridors of SFO. Rex opened the laptop and used his arm as a makeshift shelf as they moved toward the airport exit. No one looked at him twice, either too rushed or unfazed by the seeming level of screen obsession.
It took them less than forty-five minutes to take a shuttle to the car rental agency, collect the SUV Rex had reserved online, and pull out of the lot, headed for the Pacific Coast Highway.
They had talked about staying in San Francisco—after all, the city had plenty of coastline. But a cabin in the woods near the ocean was much more likely to be somewhere outside the city than within its borders. Their goal was simply to be as close to the likeliest place as possible, so that when and if they figured out Cyrus’s exact whereabouts, they’d be in a position to help him. Cami already felt a smidge calmer now that they’d touched down in the state where he was.
Cami stretched, again twisting her neck to work out the last of the sleep kink. She glanced at the laptop they’d situated on the console between them and noticed that Cyrus was just waking up. The little boy stretched in a similar way as she’d just done, and her heart gave a sharp squeeze. She knew what it was to wake up afraid, and she longed to comfort him with everything in her, to tell him everything would be okay.
Only, she could not guarantee that, especially from the other side of a screen.
“I forgot to ask how your work took the news that you’d be gone for a few days,” Rex said, breaking her from her memories of her own victimization.
“They were surprised but supportive.” She’d only told them a personal situation had come up and she had to deal with it, and then she’d gotten off the phone quickly. “They’ll be fine. We don’t have anything out of the ordinary going on this week. And they can call if they need me.”
“How’d you end up in the butterfly business anyway?” he asked, glancing over at her with a smile.
“It was something my sister, Elle, and I used to do together when we were kids. Our mom showed us how to identify a butterfly egg on a leaf. They’re tiny and hard to find. We’d search for hours and were usually successful. Then we’d put them in jars with lots of leaves and watch the process as it became a caterpillar and then a butterfly.” Cami smiled even as her heart ached. She loved talking about them, though, and appreciated any opportunity to do so. It felt like her stories and her words were the only things keeping them alive now. Her father spoke of them occasionally, she supposed, but it also had to pose somewhat of a conflict in the last few years since he’d met Gigi to talk about his dead wife and daughter too much and cause his new wife to feel like she lived in the shadow of his past. “Anyway, Elle called them flutterflies when she was little.”
“Ah,” Rex said. “So that’s where the name comes from.”
“Yes. After their murders, I . . . obviously struggled. For many reasons. I gave up my son and that was . . . well . . .”
“Grief compounded.”
She looked over at him, and he met her eyes. She saw the empathy there, and it was a balm to her heart in a way nothing else could be. “Yes. I didn’t think I’d ever move past all the loss. And in some ways, I haven’t, but that’s okay, I think. That’s expected, as long as it doesn’t rule over my life.”
“You’re strong, Cami. Stronger than some of the combat vets I’ve met.” He gave her a small, teasing smile, but there was also honesty in it, and again, it brought her solace.
“College had always been the plan,” she said. “But I decided not to go that route. I felt too out of touch with my peers. Too . . . separate to sit in a classroom, or stand around at a party, or even try to make small talk. So, I took a job working at a nursery in town and loved it. Being outdoors and working with living things brought me peace. And then one day, I noticed a butterfly egg on the back of a butterfly bush, and my mind started spinning. I began wondering if I could make a business out of the beautiful memories I had of that part of my childhood. I researched other businesses like it, and . . . well, long story short, I got a loan from my dad, bought a piece of land, and worked twelve-hour days for three years until it was established.”