Elisa shook her head. “I didn’t want to ask. I figured if we were supposed to know, Mr. Bowman would have told us in the meeting.”
“An unknown inheritance. Could be anything.” Zoey’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. “What if you did the hunt and only got fifty bucks?”
Elisa grinned. “Then I’d get to watch Noah grow a second head.”
“He deserves to be pranked from the grave, honestly.”
Zoey’s loyalty radar had always flared high—it was one of her best qualities as a friend. “I appreciate that. And these.” Elisa finally gave in and snagged another beignet. “It’s frustrating to have a solution so close, yet out of reach. But like you said, we don’t even know if my share would help make a dent in Delia’s hospital bills.”
“You could do the hunt and find out.”
“Not solo. It was clear we work together or not at all.” She bit into her dessert, staring aimlessly at her favorite canvas of Zoey’s—a close-up of Delia behind the counter at the Magnolia Blossom, head tilted back in wild laughter—as she let herself imagine what the hunt would entail. Following clues, solving riddles… It would be fun, if it wasn’t with someone who hated her guts.
“Convince Noah, then. Turn on that charm of yours.” Zoey deepened her voice and upped her southern twang. “Sugar.”
“Oh, stop it.” Elisa tossed the chair pillow at her roommate, who batted it onto the navy pinstripe rug. “I think Noah’s immune to me.”
“He wasn’t that one summer.” Zoey caught the pillow and wiggled her eyebrows.
“No fair.” Elisa gestured with her beignet. “That summer is off limits. And so is he.”
“It’s too bad, really. You guys made a great couple while it lasted.”
“Try telling that to my dad.” Elisa rolled her eyes. “Not that Noah would be interested anymore anyway after getting run off my porch with a shotgun.” Not that that was the whole story.
Zoey scrunched the pillow into her chest. “It probably wasn’t as dramatic as you remember.”
“Dramatic or not, the end result was the same—Noah walking away, and never coming back.” She could still see the stretch of his T-shirt across his back even now, if she closed her eyes long enough. Funny how a short relationship so long ago could linger like yesterday.
“Regardless of shotguns and past summers…you know what you need to do.” Zoey eyed the beignet box, as if debating going for another pastry. Then she met Elisa’s gaze. “For Delia.”
“I know.” Elisa pulled the hood up over her head again. Maybe she could burrow into this jacket a little farther and find a back door into Narnia…
“So go do it. Swallow your pride.”
Elisa grimaced. “I don’t think I have any left when it comes to Noah Hebert.”
“Here.” Zoey tossed a water bottle at Elisa. “This will help wash it down.”
Elisa caught the bottle and stuck out her tongue. “Cute.”
“Noah sure is.”
“That has zero bearing on anything!”
“Except making the scenery better when you beg him to do the treasure hunt.”
Elisa frowned. “Who said anything about begging?”
“I misspoke.” Zoey uncapped her bottle and paused. “When youcharmhim into doing the treasure hunt.”
Elisa laughed, but her hands shook as she twisted the lid on the bottle of water. She clearly no longer had any effect on Noah Hebert.
But for Delia’s sake, she had to try.
six
He was seeing things.
