"I’m sure I could find people." He grumbles but it feels like an empty threat.
"Do you ever think about moving back?" I ask a few paces later. We’re just about halfway up the hill. Walking, and talking, has calmed me enough to admit it’s beautiful and wild out here in a way not many places in the states are.
"Here?" He looks around at the rugged landscape. "I’ve been in Nashville for a decade already. And it feels like home."
"I get that, D.C. is home now for me too. Even though I say I’m goinghometo visit my parents in Boston. Do you live in the heart of the city in Nashville?"
He laughs. "No, I live like forty-five minutes away."
"What? Why?"
"Because I like my privacy. And quiet." I don’t say anything as the swishing of my pants does the talking for me. "And, a lot of my relationships in the industry are more like business arrangements. Always what we can do for each other."
"Instead of just being there for each other." I nod.
"Exactly."
We both go quiet. The wind and the slowing sweep of my steps providing the soundtrack to the thriller movie I’m living in. I swallow as we reach the remains of the doorway. It’s warmer without the coastal winds battering us but I still have chills.
Rhys walks further into the first room and I follow, slowly.
A part of me feels silly being afraid.
A part of me is telling me to be very, very, afraid.
But I am pirate stock. "To fear livin' is far worse than fearin' death" as Granny Franny would say.
And while he looks cool as a cucumber, I’m betting Rhys is just as scared as I am.
Should I test that theory?
Yes.
I linger near the front entrance as Rhys walks into another room. Quickly, I slide out of my sneakers and track pants.
On tip toes, I follow Rhys. When I peek around the corner into the room he walked into I only see half a wall and the vast ocean beyond.
Yikes.
"Duncan, you gotta come see this!" Rhys calls from down a dark corridor.
Perfect.
Chapter sixteen
Rhys
Yes. Yes. YES!
Don’ttellDuncanbut,I’m officially spooked. I wasn’t until now. Well, I was only a little until now. I ventured down a dark hallway and in the room at the end I found something.
It’s a strand of leather with a few wooden beads strung on it. A necklace or a bracelet maybe. Totally old but not ancient.
"Duncan, you gotta come see this!"
I study the object while I wait to hear him coming. His ridiculous pants have been swishing for the last hour.
Nothing.
