Page 327 of The Romance Adventure

I know who I am and what I’m about, so it doesn’t bother me too much that my brothers think I’m a slacker surf bum and treat me like the black sheep. However, I will prove to them that our parents didn’t die in a boating accident. If that means going to Barbados, so be it. And if the swell is up, I’ll catch a few gnarly waves while I’m there.

“Can I see the postcard?” I ask.

Ryan passes it to me. It’s much like the postcards our Aunt Lorena sent to Chip after she left Glandman. I imagine she went from island to island, intending to avoid her ex and keep the baby a secret. If she ended up in Barbados, that’s news to me. I’ve been there a few times and didn’t meet our great aunt, nor did I see signs of her.

But what’s different about this note compared to the other ones is that it says, She needs you.

“Who is she?” I say under my breath.

“Lorena must be really old, perhaps she’s gotten confused and refers to herself in the third person,” Ryan says.

I shake my head. “One of the lines in Chip’s will has repeatedly tripped me up. Go forth and find her. I thought it was a boat—along the lines of anything that floats, such as the barque, aka the Crimson Tide. But could she and her be the same?”

Oh, now, they listen to me and toss ideas around and speculate about the possibility of Chip intending for us to find our aunt. But when I wanted to tell them about my wife, they talked over me.

It’s not the first time. Won’t be the last.

Instead of getting upset, my mind floats back to the first time I visited Barbados. Chip gave me a sailboat when I graduated from high school. He told me to spend six months getting lost. What he didn’t add, but I figured out because half the time I spent praying that I wouldn’t die at sea, was that without my big brothers lording over me, I’d find myself—my path forward.

It was the best advice I ever got because it gave me the travel bug. Six months after my sailing expedition, I went to Europe, intending to get even more lost, but this time on land. Second to visiting Portugal, my favorite part of that trip was the Camino Santiago.

There, I learned the language and an important concept—vacilando. The idea is to wander and experience travel as more important than reaching a specific destination.

My brothers have commented that I’m unreliable, self-absorbed, and unpredictable, but during that time, I learned how to rely on God and my wits, how to be of service to others, and how being unpredictable led me to the love of my life.

At least, I wasn’t supposed to be on the hunt for the Cartegena Catch, but I’d heard about it when I got a ticket for the long way ‘round. Twenty-six thousand miles to circumnavigate the earth on a motorcycle. It also set me on the trajectory of my career in deep cover.

An airplane overhead makes me look up. Could that be Jolie? My heart rattles against my ribcage.

Incidentally, my parents met on a boat called Her Royal Cartagena. She thought that was endearing. The trip also brought me back to where I started. Life is funny like that.

What’s not funny is the sound of thunder overhead. I’m not afraid of it, but my wife is. It’s possibly the only thing that scares her. We were once lounging in a hammock and a venomous snake decided to pay a visit. Without flinching, she dispatched it. I didn’t even realize she had a knife in her pocket.

However, when lightning strikes, she wants to burrow under a blanket and not come out until every last blade of grass is dry.

The same as I did during the last storm we had, in case she’s on her way, I rush home because I don’t want her to return to an empty house or be alone. Not like I’ve been.

I have no business being with a woman as beautiful and accomplished as Jolie. By appearances, we’re opposites. Got lucky. Story of my life.

My brothers probably won’t believe that she’d be with me. They’ll think it’s like one of Ryan’s hair-brained schemes to have a fake marriage to save face. Thankfully, he came to his senses and has Harley to keep him in line now.

However, I can’t deny that I’m nervous about our reunion. Maybe it was best I didn’t have a chance to tell them that I’m married. I’d like to say happily married, but I’m not so sure. Things have been stormy between us lately. Maybe she suspects me, but I’m the king of undercover.

There’s no way.

I just hope she’s not coming back to gather up her shoe collection and say goodbye.

Jolie

CHAPTER 3

What’s a little rain? I tell myself the thunder is nothing. Just background noise, a train blazing past, a rocket launching. No big deal. However, the lightning in the distance is like an evil laser from the sky that I am convinced has its sights set on me.

I land at the nearby private airport and get a ride to Palm Cove Villa—yes, our home has a formal name. The storm chases me and I cannot help but think there’s a metaphor there.

Naturally, my husband is going to ask me about my trip. He’ll wonder what I’ve been doing these last months. Want to know why I’ve been away.

The truth is closer to the surface than I’d like it to be.