I’d relaxed.
Enjoyed myself.
And wasn’t that something?
I leaned back on my palms, wiggled my bare toes, and took a deep breath, wondering if this was what vacation felt like.
“All good?” She looked at me, her eyes bright with satisfaction. She enjoyed pleasing me, and that was definitely something I could get used to.
“Better than good.” I wiggled my toes again.
“Good. There’s one more thing.” She pushed off the blanket, disappeared to the corner of the dock, then returned with a small, brown box wrapped with a gold bow that sparkled under the moonlight.
I sat up straight.
She handed it to me.
“No.” I shook my head. “A gift?”
“Yes. A gift.”
“No, Sunny. You can’t…”
“Just open it. Come on. You’re making me nervous.”
I stared at her.
“Open it,Jagg.”
Shaking my head, I pulled the gold ribbon and opened the box. Tucked among red velvet was a gold, vintage compass.
My jaw dropped for the second time that night. “It’s not…”
She smiled, gently nodded.
I turned the compass over in my hands—MAJwas etched across the back. It was the compass my mother had sent me two weeks earlier. The replica she’d had made to replace the one I’d lost in Iraq.
“Where did you get this?”
“I made some calls.”
“Somecalls?Ipawnedthis.”
She shrugged as if it were no big deal.
“How did you know where I pawned it?”
“There’s only one pawn shop in town.”
“And it was still there?”
She shook her head. “No. The owner told me someone had purchased it pretty quick.”
“And they just gave you the name of the buyer?”
“No, unfortunately, they wouldn’t give me the name.”
“Must’ve been a woman.”
