“Oh.”
“I’m not going to tell her.”
Breath refilled his lungs, but with Rilee, he could never be certain that was all there was to it. So he waited for the catch.
“I’m just trying to figure outwhyyou did it. I know how you feel about hernow. But the well mysteriously stopped working the first day you met her. I’m not a sucker. Don’t feed me some line about falling in love with her at first sight. I know that’s not real life.”
“How’s that homework coming?”
Rilee rinsed out her favorite purple mug in the sink, and he wondered if she’d take it with her to college. “Keep your secrets if you want, but don’t think I won’t figure it out. You know it’s what I do best.”
He only hoped she wouldn’t catch on until he confessed to Cadence. Because once he did, it might mean both of them would be livid with him. Ford wanted to enjoy every peaceful, happy minute he had left beforethatbomb went off. “You’re too brilliant for your own good, you know that?”
* * *
Cadence
“How did you sleep?” Cadence asked her sister, handing her a steaming mug of coffee. She’d been lingering in the kitchen all morning, waiting for everyone to wake up. And if she was being honest with herself, she’d been waiting for Ed to make an appearance at her window. But the moose remained elusive.
“Better than I’ve slept in a long time, actually.” Sophie wrapped her hands around the mug and inhaled the hazelnut aroma. “Aunt Patty didn’t spare a dime on those mattresses.”
“She didn’t win Best Alaskan Lodge all those years for nothing.”
It took all of Cadence’s willpower not to burst and ask whether Sophie’d made up her mind about keeping the lodge or taking the offer. She didn’t have to remind her that the clock was ticking. “Ford should be here in about an hour. Will Caroline be up by then?”
“I’m surprised she’s not up already. We had a long day traveling yesterday, but the one thing that kept her going, even in her darkest moments, was the possibility of seeing a moose. I really wish she had seen Ed last night.”
“Where did the moose obsession come from?” Cadence asked. “Not a whole lot of those in Hawaii last I checked.”
“Aunt Patty. She sent that stuffed moose she carries around for Christmas last year. And a picture book, too. I’m sad she never got to meet her.” Sophie sipped on her coffee. It took every ounce of patience Cadence had not to demand an answer.
“That’s too bad.”
“I want to keep this place, too. I really do.”
Hope bubbled in Cadence’s chest at those words. Still, she sensed abutand waited.
“We don’t have much time to convince Tessa,” Sophie continued. “And if we can’t do that today, we lose the place anyway. She’s going to hear cash offer and nothing else. I wish we didn’t have to tell her.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“How much time do we have before breakfast?”
“An hour.”
“You said Aunt Patty left us a packet of papers, didn’t you?”
“Yep. In the office.”
“If there’s a way to pull this off, Cadence, I’m in. You were right about the fresh start. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I spent every last dollar in my account on plane tickets here. Caroline and I could be really happy in Sunset Ridge, and we’d be closer to family. There’s not much of us left, you know.”
After a quick check on a still-sleeping little girl, Cadence showed Sophie to the office. “What are we looking for exactly?”
“Cold, hard facts. You know Tessa. That’ll be all that resonates with our sister.”
* * *
Ford
