But she didn’t say anything more, simply returned her attention to the frond weaving. And he was left to follow her lead, his head still spinning that he’d been so wrong about her. Then, a thought occurred. “So no traditional Ozzie and Harriet life for you, but don’t you ever want to go back to Chicago?”
“God, no. Why would you think that?” She looked genuinely perplexed.
“It’s home, isn’t it? And every Chicagoan I’ve ever met thinks it’s the greatest place on Earth. They’re allNo ketchup on my dawgandDa BearsandYo, ya wanna grab some deep dish?”
She rolled in her lips. “Was that...supposed to be a Chicago accent?”
He grimaced. “No good?”
“You sounded more like The Count fromSesame Street.”
“There goes my career as a voice actor.”
And holy shit. There it was. That mega-watt smile that had him gaping at... Just. How. Fucking.Gorgeous.She was.
“Don’t get me wrong.” Her lips relaxed back into a closed-mouth grin. Good thing, too. It meant he could stop blinking stupidly and, you know, breathe again. “Chicago is a great town. But it’s not home.” Her closed-mouth grin slid into a frown. “I’m not sure I’ve ever really felt like Ihada home. Not the traditional kind, at least. Home was never four walls and a roof for me. Home was my granny Susan’s two loving arms and big, squishy heart. When she passed, any sense I had ofbelongingwent with her. And then when Andy and Dad bothdied, there was nothing keeping me in Chicago.”
Her expression darkened and he got the impression that, once again, they were pressing too close to another one of those invisible lines. She proved it when she quickly turned the conversational tables on him. “What about you? Are you going back to L.A. after you find the treasure?”
“That’s the plan.” He nodded. “Not because it feels like home, though. More because it’s where I think I can do the most good. I want to start an outreach program for kids like me. Kids born into the life who would love for someone to offer them a way out.”
She blinked. Her expression was...he couldn’t say for sure...maybestunned?“You want to start a charity that focuses on children in trouble?”
He didn’t know if he should be offended by her surprise or not. “Yeah. Why does that shock you?”
“It doesn’t.” She shook her head. “In fact, knowing you like I do, it makes perfect sense.Of courseyou want to use your portion of the treasure to help others. You’re you.”
“Don’t give me more credit than I deserve,” he told her. “I’m doing it because I need to try to make up for the harm I did while I was there.”
Now it washisturn to stop himself from talking since he teetered on the edge of admitting something he’d never admitted to anyone. Then, he thought,fuck it. If anyone can understand it’s Mia. Mia with her limitless kindness and compassion.
“You know how I told you I was supposed to kill a guy to complete my initiation into the gang?” He couldn’t bring himself to look at her even though he could feel her gaze on him. Instead, he focused on weaving one leaflet in and out of the line of leaflets.
“But you didn’t do it.” Her voice reached out to him so sweetly. “You shot him in the leg instead.”
He nodded and then had to swallow the lump in his throat in order to get out this next part. “But what I didn’t tell you was that I didn’t have very good aim back then. What I hoped would be a glancing shot ended up shattering the dude’s femur and ripping through the artery in his thigh. He had to have the leg amputated. And he was this really good surfer. Everyone thought he had the chops to go pro.”
Overhead, the wind teased the trees and made their topsclick-clackagainst each other. His voice barely lifted above the sound when he added, “I ended that dream for him.”
Anytime he thought of what he’d done, he got queasy. Saying the words out loud, especially to someone as kind and good as Mia, made him want to puke up blood.
“Have you ever tried to find out what happened to him?” she asked. “What’s become of him since?”
“Sure.” He nodded. “I hunted him down on social media a half dozen years ago and apologized. Asked him if there was anything I could do to make it up to him.” He grimaced. “But how can you make up for taking a man’s leg and totally fucking up the future he’d fantasized about since his dad put him on a surfboard when he was five years old?”
Mia didn’t answer. Instead, she asked a question of her own. “What did he say?”
Romeo screwed shut his eyes, remembering how he’d cried like a baby after reading the guy’s message on Facebook.
“He told me he exchanged one dream for another. Said he lived in Pasadena with the love of his life, who he met in the hospital, and that they have three little girls together. Then he told me that it sounded like I was doing some good in the world, and that if I really wanted to make it up to him, I should keep on doing good.”
He glanced out at the waves, at the sun turning their crests to quicksilver. “For a long time, I thought that meant staying in the Navy, fighting and maybe dying for my country. But then I made that deathbed promise to Rusty.”
His gaze slid to the tattoo on the inside of his forearm. He’d rubbed his finger over the curly-cue letters so many times, he didn’t even realize when he was doing it anymore.
Rusty, you sonofabitch. You saved us all. I hope you’re giving hell to all the angels in heaven, my brother.
“And you had to change your plans about how you could keep doing good in the world. Hence, the outreach program.” Her voice sounded huskier than usual. “So that maybe some of the kids from your old neighborhood won’t have to suffer under the weight of regrets like yours.”
