Lover's Leap by Emily March

of friends when one of them needed … encouragement. Nevertheless, she hooked her thumb toward Cam. “Why does he have to be here? When we held Sage’s intervention, we brought breakfast, not boys.”
    Nic rolled her eyes. “How old are you? Mid-teens instead of mid-thirties?”
    “Bite me,” Sarah replied as she sank into the comfy chair.
    “Now, Sarah, Nic,” Celeste chided. “You two behave or I’ll get my teacher’s ruler out and bust some knuckles. We’ve serious business to attend to today. Now that we are all here, Cameron, would you please shut the door?”
    As he strode across the room, Sarah couldn’t stop herself from looking at the way his jeans hugged his very nice butt. Since she was there, she surrendered to the urge and imagined a handprint on his jeans. A small, feminine handprint. In red paint.
    The door snicked shut, and Celeste said, “Thank you all for coming today on such short notice. Under the circumstances, I thought this get-together couldn’t wait. Cam, tell Sarah what you told Nic and me last night about your son.”
    He leaned a shoulder against the door and folded his arms. “Devin is my son, but I am not his birth father. He was six when I adopted him after his mother died. Lori is my only natural child.”
    “He’s never been married, either,” Nic added.
    Sarah sank slowly against the back of her chair as the breath whooshed from her lungs. It was too much to process. “We thought …”
    “So Nic told me,” Cam drawled, a hint of Australia in his tone.
    Celeste patted Sarah’s knee. “Lori is his child, and that’s why I have gathered you all together. We have a project before us now that will take a dedication of effort similar to what was required to create our contest quilt.”
    Ali frowned. “I’ve been a project person all my life, but the contest quilt almost made me swear off needles. That was hard!”
    “This one will be hard, too,” Nic said. “One good thing about it is that it doesn’t require needles.”
    Celeste folded her hands. She met the gazes of each person in the room in turn, then focused on Sarah as she said, “We found the quilt project satisfying. This one will be gratifying. Fulfilling. This project will change lives, in particular, the life of someone near and dear to us all. My friends, on behalf of our own dear Lori, today we undertake the redemption of Cameron Murphy in the eyes of our fellow citizens of Eternity Springs.”
    Sarah’s gaze flew to Cam. He straightened away from the wall and frowned at Celeste, who continued, “I have made a list of a few places we can start, but I want us to brainstorm more items. First, I think we should ask Emily Hall to set up an interview with Cam for the Eternity Times .”
    “About Lori?” Sarah squeaked.
    “No. Cameron needs to talk about the accident.”
    Cam crossed the room and stared out the window, keeping quiet while Celeste elaborated. “I’ve read the newspaper accounts of what happened that night. They interviewed the sheriff, the Cook family, and Andrew himself. I only saw one quote attributed to you, Cameron, and it was damaging. Do you remember what you said?”
    Simultaneously, Cam and Sarah and Nic recited, “He was asking for it.”
    Cam softly banged his head against the window glass.
    “You need to explain that comment, dear.”
    He hesitated before turning around. “I don’t talk about that night. I was responsible for what happened to Andrew Cook. I don’t try to defend myself.”
    “I didn’t say defend, Cameron.” Celeste’s expression was kind and tender. “I said explain.”
    “I don’t know, Celeste,” Nic said. “What good will it do to drag up old ugliness? Isn’t that like poking a sharp stick at a wound?”
    “When the wound has festered for a long time, it’s important to let the poison out.”
    “It’s not a good idea,” Cam declared. “Dredging up the past won’t make anything better. Everyone knows what happened. I put Andrew Cook