“Do the Vance brothers have something to do with Finley’s injury?” CeCe asked.
“They caused it.”
She released a furious whistling sound.
“I’ve already researched everything that’s available online about the brothers. Now I need you to discover all the things that aren’t online about Ken, Dennis, and Jeff Vance.”
“Are you looking for anything in particular?”
“A family tree that lists the brothers, their wives, and kids would help.”
“You bet.”
“I’d also like to know who their friends are. Where the brothers live. Where the brothers work. Plus any other information you can find.”
“I’ll work on it and get back to you. When it comes to the town grapevine, I’m a better detective than Magnum P.I.”
Finley hovered, weightless, inside an ocean of fog.
She couldn’t make sense of anything ... except that voice. That deep, masculine, familiar voice. It was a voice she knew, filtering in from a great distance.
“I’m here,” he was saying. Luke. “I need you to come back to me soon. I miss you.”
Her heart answered, expanding.
“I can’t be here without you,” he said. “It almost killed me when I lost Ethan. I can’t do that again.”
Luke. The safety of him caused sunlight to find her in the fog, to bathe her skin with warmth.
“I don’t care if you’d rather go and be with Chase and your father. Please don’t do that to me. Do you hear me, Finley?”
She rose out of the depths and walked along the white sand beach of her Caribbean island. She’d spent hours and hours here. Resting on this beach. Admiring the hills, the lush green vegetation, and the monkeys dangling from the vines. The first dog she’d ever owned, Rajah, ran up to greet her, then trotted beside her like always.
“I’m selfish enough to demand that you stay here with me.” Luke’s voice broke. The force of his emotions sent the palm trees swaying. “I’m going to make it right,” he said. “Everything that happened with the treasure hunt and the gold and those men. You don’t have to worry about any of it because I will handle it. I promise you.”
He hadn’t left her.
“Please come back to me. Finley. Please.”
I’m coming.
He hadn’t left her, and she wouldn’t leave him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Around noon the following day, Luke looked up from the chair in Finley’s hospital room to see his mother enter. Like that night at the garage, she’d brought coffee cake.
“Wow,” she said, coming to a stop. “She’s received a lot of support.”
“Yeah.” Since word had gotten out about her injury, a stream of visitors had come through. The ICU only allowed five visitors at a time, so Luke often stepped into the waiting room so that someone else could take his spot. At this point, flowers, balloons, and cards occupied most of the flat surfaces in the space. The kids in Akira’s after-school program had hand-drawn a banner for Finley. Trish and Kat had made a poster with pictures of all the dogs currently living at the Center.
“How is she?” Mom asked.
“The same.”
She placed the cake on the side table, then stood next to Finley, murmuring encouragement. “We’re praying for you. You’re doing great, you know. Everything’s all right here. Just keep fighting. You’ll be back to feeling like yourself in no time.”
Everyone said the same things to her. It always came out awkwardly, because no one was used to talking to someone who couldn’t talk back.
