Vanessa hasn’t even been in all of them. Mom either.
But I want Sloane there.
I want to show Sloane everything.
“Can we go slow?” I ask her hair.
Her sweet cinnamon hair. On the strongest, bravest, kindest woman I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing.
“As slow as we both need.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“My own grandmother just tried to kidnap me. You’d have to try pretty hard to hurt me.”
I kiss her hair.
Her forehead.
Her cheek.
And then I’m kissing her lips, those delicious, plump lips, tasting that sweet mouth, and I know.
I’m home.
I’m where I belong.
I’m where I’m loved. And where I will try ten times—a hundred times—a million times harder to love this woman than anyone else has ever tried to hurt her.
She’s my beginning and my end.
Fuck the gold.
Sloane—she’s the only treasure I will ever want again.
38
Sloane
By the next Saturday,I almost feel human again.
Davis has been in and out of town, with me when he’s here, texting when he’s not.
With his real phone number. The one that goes straight to his real phone. Not whatever backup system he has in place for less important people.
And yes, that’s what he called them.
My grandmother posted bail and flew home to Iowa. I agreed to not press charges provided she never set foot in Shipwreck again, which was truly letting her off light, but she’s old.
Old, and in cahoots with Patrick.
Davis was right about that. Grandma was his secret accomplice, feeding him information about me and egging him on.
Once Aiden moved away, she was lonely and scared about who’d take care of her as she aged. Naturally, I was the only person in consideration, since I “owed” her. But she realized I wouldn’t return on my own when I was still as excited as ever about Shipwreck after the museum opened.
Apparently she thought I’d get bored when the project was done, completely give up on the life I’d built here, and go running back to Two Twigs.
When I didn’t, she decided it was time for a more active tactic and got in touch with her favorite of my ex-boyfriends. She thought Patrick could do no wrong. Not only was he the first boyfriend I ever brought home after moving away, but he went to church on Christmas and made enough money to support me if we had four or five kids. He’d recently discovered his own history with Thorny Rock and Walter Bombeck and the treasure, and the two of them realized they could both benefit from Patrick getting close to me again.
