Page 25 of The Fix
Cami could see that Rex was as confused as she’d first been. And he was asking the same questions she’d asked, even if they were coming to him a bit faster. What he wasn’t doing was looking at her like she’d lost every last one of her marbles.
And God, she appreciated that. Especially in her exhausted state, where she’d braced to have him respond with derision and reiterate that he had absolutely nothing to say to her.
“Can I see the photo?” he asked. “On your phone?”
She removed it from her sweatshirt pocket, opened the text, and handed it to him. He took the phone and frowned down at the photo for a minute, enlarging it a few times as he obviously zoomed in on this or that. As she watched him, her breath came easier.
She hadn’t really meant to blurt out the details about the photo and the video.
She’d intended on first investigating whether he might be able to hack the source of the video.
Maybe through a VPN—whatever that was, although she’d heard it advertised on commercials about cyber stuff—or some other means that she had no idea about.
She was so far out of her depth that she didn’t even know the lingo to describe how far out of her depth she was.
But she’d been willing to pay him like she’d said.
She hadn’t expected the concern in his expression, even if he’d attempted to stifle it.
And it had undone her. Maybe because it was him, maybe just because she’d spent the night wrestling with this daunting situation and reliving those months after her baby was born, the weeks bleeding into one another as she grieved for the part of her soul she’d given to another woman to mother.
She’d felt so alone, then and now. And today, suddenly, she .
.. wasn’t, at least for a small window of time, and the relief she felt was instantaneous and overwhelming.
And so she’d blurted it all out before she could stop herself, without taking the time to consider whether that was wise or rational or even useful.
He might have seen it as cosmic justice to tell her he could help her, but wouldn’t, similar to what she’d done to him.
He handed her phone back and then was quiet again, his eyes cast to the side, finger picking mindlessly on the corner of the table where the laminate was peeling up.
“Okay,” he said after a minute, like he’d taken that time to filter through and accept all she said.
“But wait, save your son? I mean, you did do that, didn’t you?
What’s more selfless than adoption? What saves a baby more so than giving them to a family that will provide a secure, loving life? ”
“It felt like it at the time. It was my intention. To give him a good life with parents who could raise him in the manner he deserved. But maybe someone out there doesn’t see it that way.”
He frowned. “What makes you believe this is your child, other than the similar age?”
“He looks like me. But also, why send me a picture of a random child that’s the same age as my son? How is that a do-over?”
“But you’re not certain he’s yours. The person who called didn’t confirm that?”
“No.”
“All right.” He cast his eyes aside and worried his bottom lip for a moment. “But for now, we’ll assume it is your son, until we know different.”
We. The word undid her even a little bit more, and she couldn’t help the tears that sprang to her eyes.
“I’m sorry to lay this on you. You probably think I’m the worst person in the world.
Maybe I am. I just ... I don’t know who else might be able to help.
” A tear fell from her eye and rolled down her cheek and, embarrassed, she swiped at it and tried to will herself to stop this show of emotion.
“Oh, Jesus. These aren’t fake tears, I swear.
I’m not trying to manipulate you. I ...
I know you hate me, and you have reason to.
You do. I understand. I didn’t stand up for you when you needed me to.
I was just so ... so lost and out of my head.
I didn’t know up from down. And now ...
what is this? I mean, what the hell? I don’t know what I’m expected—”
“Cami. I don’t hate you. I never did. There’s no real sense in dredging up the past as far as we’re concerned.
It’s over and, in light of this”—he waved his hand toward her phone—“I’ll help if I can because whoever this is and whatever they’re doing is fucked up.
If I look into it and find I can’t help clarify, then I’ll let you know. ”
“Okay. Thank you. But I do insist on paying you.”
His lips thinned, and he seemed offended by the offer, but how could she not?
He’d all but told her to fuck off a couple of days before, and then she’d shown up at his home asking for his help and expertise.
To assume he would or should give anything to her for free felt wrong on her part. “I don’t need your money,” he said.
Ah. So that was it. His pride was making him feel like she was offering to pay him because she still saw him as the poor kid with the torn backpack walking among the elite of Aspen Cove.
She let out a small breathy laugh. “Rex, the truth is, I can’t pay you much.
My business barely makes a profit, and I put most of that right back into the business, and that’s fine because I love it, and it makes me happy.
It brings me peace when I thought I’d never find peace again.
I’m able to feed and house myself and give some money to foundations that honor my mother and my sister.
But if you think I’m offering to pay you out of some sense of charity, then one glance in my bank account will quickly clear that up. ”
His gaze washed over her face, and she wished she knew what his enigmatic expression meant, but instead of clueing her in, he simply nodded. “I’ll need to see the video.”
“I didn’t bring it. It’s an older laptop, and it needed charging, so I left it at home. The person told me that I could only log in on one device. I don’t know how they’d know if I used my phone but ... I’m not sure, so I did as she said.”
“There are multiple ways, one being an IP address,” he murmured. “It’s a unique address that identifies a device. The dark web anonymizes it, but they, or she, would know if more than one was logging in.”
“Okay. Well, I’m glad I followed the instructions then. I could go get my laptop and—”
“How about we go back to your place together? I have to run a few errands afterward anyway, and it’ll save you having to drive back and forth.”
“If you’re sure. Thank you. I can’t ... I really can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.”
“Don’t be thankful yet. I might not be able to help at all.”
“Just the fact that you’re willing. Most people wouldn’t be.”
They both stood, and Rex switched off the coffee maker.
She hadn’t taken a sip from the mug he’d given her, but she wondered if he’d set it before her so she’d have something to do with her hands.
He was thoughtful, and he noticed things others might not.
And she hoped that those qualities could help her solve whatever it was that had just landed in her lap.
Cami followed him out of the kitchen, toward the front door. She’d been so distressed when she’d first walked through the front room that she hadn’t really taken it all in. She did now, noticing the piles of boxes labeled Goodwill and others that said Mom .
He locked the door after they’d walked outside, and then they turned toward their cars, his a black truck parked next to a residential rental dumpster.
“I’m sorry about your grandfather,” she said. It would take a good amount of effort to clean out his house and maybe fix it up too. She wondered if he was planning to stay or if he was planning to sell.
He glanced over at her as they moved toward her vehicle.
“Thank you. We weren’t especially close in these last few years.
” He squinted over his shoulder quickly.
“He was an old grump who refused to get a cell phone and only answered his home phone once in a blue moon. His house—well, you saw the inside—is a junk pile.”
They stopped next to her driver’s side door, and she nodded over to the side yard. “It already looks so much better. I see the potential.”
He glanced at the house and paused for a second as though seeing it for the first time, or perhaps through her eyes. “I’ll follow you to your place,” he said.
“Okay. Thank you.” Then she opened the door and got inside her car, taking a deep, calming breath before she pressed the ignition and made a three-point turn in front of his house.
She sat there waiting for him to get in his truck and begin to follow her, her gaze moving to the explosion of roses falling over the porch overhang and remembering back to when she’d first seen him there, looking at her with suspicion in his dark gaze.
GI Joe at the prom.
It was a ridiculous thought that had sort of made her want to laugh, but it’d also spoken of how solid he looked, how competent and strong.
Maybe that was another reason she’d blurted out the truth, why she’d shared her fear with him.
He looked like a hero, and damn, she was in need of one of those right about now.
He fired up his truck and turned around. She glanced in her rearview mirror as she drove down the dirt road, the large black truck looming behind her, and she wondered for a brief moment if she’d fallen asleep the night before and still hadn’t woken up.