“And I want him to be there watching me get married,” Sloane adds. “It’s the only way he’ll believe it’s real.”
Giselle clears her throat and glares at my friends.
Cash rolls his eyes. “Okay, okay,we’re going. Davis. Call. We’ll be here. Or we’ll send people who can be here. Tour’s almost over for the year. Can you wait to do the rest of your treasure hunting until we’re back? I’m with Beck. I always wanted to find a treasure.”
Aspen gives me a sympathetic smile. “All of the guys are coming even if you don’t call because they’re worried about you.”
“I’m aware.”
They finally shuffle into the black SUV they arrived in this morning, and then pull down my driveway.
Dusk is falling rapidly.
“Can your cat come outside?” I ask Sloane.
She sucks in a sharp breath through her nose, then nods.
“You want her?”
Another nod.
I head inside for the cat, and when I get back, Giselle’s lighting the campfire.
I sit on the log next to Sloane again and hand her the cat, who purrs so loudly that even the initial crackling of the fire can’t drown it out.
Can’t drown out the way Sloane’s posture changes the minute she’s stroking the cat either.
Maybe I should get a pet when this is over.
Stress relief.
Company.
All good things.
“I won’t stop you if you want to send that selfie flipping him off,” I tell her.
She shakes her head. “Not worth it. He won’t change, and he won’t take it as anything other than me rebelling against what he believes is best for me.”
“Completely serious. We can get married tomorrow.”
She looks at me. “They’ll hope we get divorced.”
“Shitty thing to hope.”
She rolls her eyes. “But they would. Even if it’s awful, they’d hope for it. I haven’t seen Grandma or my brother in person in a year and a half, Nigel even longer until this week, but they definitely know me better than I know myself, and obviously have only my best interest at heart.”
Sloane shouldn’t be sarcastic.
It makes her sound sad, and I don’t like it when she’s sad.
She deserves to be happy.
“They come visit you? Until now?”
“I moved away. It’s my job to go back.”
My breathing routine is getting a good workout since she first kissed me on Saturday. “They ever make you happy?”
