As soon as the boxes were out of the foyer, Allie raced back outside and returned with a cup of cold deliciousness. Kate accepted it, took that first throat-numbing sip, and let out a small moan.
“Oh, my God. I haven’t had one of these in weeks.”
“How have you survived?”
“I’ve been...distracted.” She sipped again, looking up in time to catch Allie’s frown. “It’s okay. It’s only house stuff.”
“Yeah, I noticed the work in the bathroom. It’s coming along nicely. Good timing, too, what with me moving in.”
“It will be.” Kate pulled the straw from her drink and licked it lovingly. “This was totally worth abandoning my dignity and letting you boss me around.”
“Bought by a frozen drink that isn’t even alcoholic. Better not let Boone know you’re that easy.”
Kate choked.
“Aha. As I suspected.” Allie sat back, her expression a cross between delight and concern. “I didn’t think Boone’s room looked messy enough to be housing him.”
“You totally set me up!”
“Yeah, I did. So.” Allie sipped her frozen lemonade. “What happened to that whole plan to keep things platonic and build a new relationship around Jamie?”
“We’re doing that.”
Allie snorted. “That’s not all you’re doing.”
“Is Cash going to be having sleepovers here after you move in?”
“I don’t—look, totally different situation, okay?”
“Yeah, but I’m a respectable married woman.”
“A respectable married woman who’s boinking the man she’s divorcing.”
“I like to forge a new and creative path.”
“Kate.” Allie leaned forward. “Have you really thought about this? I mean, he’s a hunk, no argument there, and since he’s been here I’ve gotten to see a new side to him that makes me like him a lot more than before. But you said yourself, he’s not going to be able to give you the kind of family you want.”
The tight numbness in Kate’s throat had nothing to do with the frozen concoction in her hand. There was no one Kate trusted more than her sister. But if she talked about what she was feeling, what she was contemplating, then it would be real.
She wasn’t sure that she was ready for reality yet.
“Maybe I was overcome by lust,” she said, hoping she sounded defiant and not desperate. “Maybe I thought, he’s a damn good time and I would be an idiot to not take advantage of him being here. Maybe I thought, he’s like pizza and ice cream the night before a diet.”
“Yeah, maybe. But if that was all true, you wouldn’t have locked him out of your bedroom in the first place, because it would have been just about the sex, and there’s nothing scary about that.” Allie tipped her cup toward Kate. “But you’ve been kind of quiet the last week or two. You talk about the repairs, and Jamie, and you slipped in just enough about me moving in to keep me from getting paranoid that you’d changed your mind, which I appreciate. But you haven’t said squat about you, or you and Boone, and that’s what worries me. Because it makes me think that you blew past simply having sex a long time ago.”
“I didn’t lock him out.” It was the only part of Allie’s statement that she trusted herself to respond to.
“No, you just told the husband you hadn’t seen in almost a year that you wouldn’t be sleeping with him. Which, don’t get me wrong, totally your call and for good reason, and I completely supported that move. Didn’t think it had a snowball’s chance in hell, but I supported it.”
“You’re seriously ruining my Iced Capp.”
“You know us little sisters. Always barging in where we don’t belong.” Allie twisted sideways, one hand fiddling with the clip on her baggy denim overalls. “Don’t get pissed, but I have to be sure. This change was your decision, right? Boone didn’t—”
“What? Oh, God, no. He was totally—I mean, I practically had to draw up a contract promising that I wouldn’t end up regretting it. He showed amazing restraint.”
Allie’s low whistle bounced off Nana’s walls. Kate waited for the echo to die out, swishing her straw from side to side in the icy confection, buying time and trying to come up with an answer to the question she knew Allie would ask.
“So, what made you change your mind?”
Damn it.
“And before you try the ice cream line again, or some variation on it, let me point out that I have known you, oh, all my life, and you have never been the type to be impulsive or impetuous, or get swept away.”
“Except when we’re talking Boone.”
“Right. I forgot there was a precedent already set there. But I still won’t buy it, because there’s more on the line now than just you. Anything you do now, especially involving Boone, is going to impact Jamie, as you well know. Maybe I’ve read you wrong all these years, but I can’t see you giving in to something that could make future interactions with Boone more complicated. It’s just not you.”
Kate stared into her cup, searching for inspiration among the swirls of brown deliciousness.
She may as well have saved herself the effort.
“Oh, Katie. Sweetie.”
Just the twist in Allie’s voice was enough to tell Kate that Allie had figured it out on her own. And that she was almost as heartbroken over it as Kate herself.
“Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me you didn’t.”
The deep breath that Kate took to steady her voice was a total waste of oxygen. “Sorry. No can do.” She lifted her head and looked her sister in the eye. “I fell in love with my husband.”
It was the first time she had said it to anyone—well, anyone other than Jamie. She had expected the words to leave a trail of sorrow in their wake. Instead, as soon as she said them, she felt the most unexpected lightness. Kind of like the way she’d felt when she first told Boone she was pregnant. It should have been terrifying, and at some level—the logical, detail-oriented, practical one—yeah, it was. But below that, at the point where it mattered most, there had been the most amazing feeling of delight. Of wonder.
She was pretty sure the tears welling up in Allie’s eyes had nothing to do with joy or delight.
“I know you’re worried about me,” she said quickly. “And I appreciate it and understand it, because in your shoes, I would feel the same way. But the thing is, Allie Cat, I’m okay. More than okay, actually. I’m happy,” she said, letting the amazement seep into her words. “I know it doesn’t make any sense and it screws things up so much, and if I was remotely sensible I would have avoided it, but... I’m so happy, Allie.”
“Oooo-kay.” Allie nodded slowly. “Let me get this straight, so I know what I’m working with. You slept with him again, and you figured out you love him, and—”
“No. Wrong order. I slept with him again because I figured out I was in love with him. And I thought, well, heck. The only reason I was trying to keep him at arm’s length was to avoid falling for him, but since that was a fail, then why was I depriving myself?”
“That makes about as much sense as divorcing him to stay friends.”
“I know.”
“But you don’t seem bothered by it.”
“I’m still in the giddy carried-away stage, okay?”
Allie’s smile was reluctant, but at least it was a smile.
“Okay,” she said softly. “You’re in love with the father of your baby, and you’re happy and giddy and life is wonderful. And I have to say that it’s pretty awesome to see.”
“Thank you.”
“But someone has to ask the obvious question, and since I’m your sister and you’re going to love me no matter what, I think I need to be the one to do it.” The smile slipped from her face. “What happens when he has to go back?”
Kate stared into her drink. “Did I mention I’m still in the giddy stage?�
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“Yeah, I know. The future doesn’t matter, right? Living for the moment, following the dream?”
“That’s the plan.” And maybe if Kate squared her jaw just a bit more, she could convince herself.
“I’m asking anyway.”
That was the trouble with sisters. They insisted on doing what was best for each other, even when it hurt.
“When he has to leave, well, he has to leave.”
“Okay, but...forever? Are you still getting a divorce? Are you going to try to make this work?”
“I don’t know.”
“God help us, Kate, if I have to be the practical one. I promise it won’t end well for either of us. You’ll be screwed and I won’t recognize myself.”
Well, at least that got them laughing.
“Some things just can’t be practicaled,” Kate said. “Sometimes you have to see how things unfold.”
“Yeah. It wasn’t so long ago that I was telling that to myself. You know, back when I was getting ready to marry the wrong guy?”
“Totally different. You didn’t love him and you knew it.”
“I didn’t love him, but my head said I should, so I convinced myself I did.”
“You’re talking in circles.” Kate stopped to consider. “Either that or I’m a lot more sleep-deprived than I thought I was.”
“It means, goof, that sometimes everything looks like it should be love, and the evidence is so strong that we talk ourselves into it. Like, Luke was awesome and fun and one of my best buds, and I felt horrible for him being alone after his mom died and I wanted to help him, so when he said he loved me, my head said, Hey, falling for him would make life so much better for everyone! And I believed myself.” Allie shook her head. “I know. I picked a really stupid time to start using twisted logic.”
“No denying that. But, Allie, this is about me, not you. I don’t see how—”
“Here’s how it relates to you, okay? And don’t get pissed with me if you don’t like what I’m going to say. Because you know damned well that Mom is going to say the same thing, and if I say it first, you’ll have time to come up with a really excellent answer to shoot her down.”
“So you’re going to say something that’s going to make me furious, but you’re doing it for my own good. An act of mercy, essentially.”
“Exactly.”
Kate looked into her almost-empty cup. “You really should have spiked this.”
“If I’d known you were going to drop this on me, believe me, I would have. Anyway. My point is, it would make a whole lot of sense for you to fall in love with Boone.”
“Oh, yeah. Because everyone I know wants to give their heart to someone who doesn’t think he can cut it as a husband, but that part barely matters because he lives on a different continent.”
“This isn’t about him, it’s about you. You like things neat and tidy, Kate. You want—no, you need—to be able to dot those i’s and cross those t’s. You want a perfect family, and the easiest way to do that would be for you and Boone to stay together.”
Well, so much for the worry that Allie needed to be the practical one. “Did you hear the part about different continents?”
“That’s almost irrelevant.”
Kate laughed harder than she had in days.
“I’m serious,” Allie said. “Living in different countries would be a challenge, no doubt about it, but that’s just logistics. You wouldn’t be an average family but you would still be an intact nuclear one. And that is what matters to you, Katydid. Not being physically together but being emotionally together.”
Oh, God. Why did that have to sound so terrifyingly true?
“All your life, hon, you’ve wanted family. You wanted it so much that you tracked down the father Mom told you to ignore. You wanted it so much that when you got pregnant, you married a man you barely knew.”
“That was for Nana.”
“Sure. Part of it was. But honestly, Kate, you could have lied to her. Or you could have just pretended. But you did the real thing.”
“Because...”
Why had they gotten married for real? Allie was right. It would have been easier, and a whole lot less complicated, to simply make Nana believe they had done it. But when Boone had suggested it, Kate had needed less than a day to take him up on the offer. Actually, she had known she would say yes as soon as the shock had worn off, but she had forced herself to wait so she could assure her future self that she had indeed given it thought.
“I thought we were being sensible.” Her words were soft, muffled by her bowed head. “It just felt like the right thing to do. But maybe...”
“Maybe you were already in love with him but you just didn’t want to admit it yet?”
“No. I wasn’t.” She paused, turning the thought over in her mind. “But maybe I was slipping over the cliff at that point.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that.” Allie leaned over and gave Kate’s hand a fast pat. “People live their whole lives hoping it will happen to them.”
“Yeah, that would explain the giddiness.” Too bad she wasn’t feeling any of it at the moment. A little gaiety would have been welcome. “Of course, it doesn’t give me insight about what should happen next.”
Allie raised her hand, the model schoolchild. “Question.”
“Yes, Miss Hebert?”
“Why do you have to figure it out now?”
“Because he’s leaving soon? Because I gave a lawyer a whack of money I can’t spare to start a divorce?”
“How about because you want to know what’s going to be happening with the rest of your life?”
Oh.
“Remember when you said I should move in here and nobody ever regrets taking the time to be sure they’re making the right decision?” Allie leaned back with a smug smile. “Boone might be leaving, but he’s going to be back. And divorces aren’t granted overnight. Which means, big sister, that maybe you should listen to your own advice.”
* * *
SATURDAY MORNING, BOONE woke up early. He tried to convince himself it was because of the sun shining in through the curtains they’d forgotten to close the night before, but the hollow sensation in his gut told him the real reason.
He was leaving in exactly one week. And he’d be damned if he was going to waste a minute more than necessary in sleep.
Kate lay curled on her side, one hand tucked beneath the pillow as always. A lock of hair had slipped over her face. He longed to brush it back but stopped himself. He would have plenty of time to sleep once he was back in Peru, but she didn’t have that same luxury.
Jamie was still out cold. Boone paused a moment to soak in the sight. Skype was a godsend, but since the whole point of those calls was for him to interact with his son, the odds were that these were the last days he would watch Jamie sleep until the next visit. By then, he would probably be rolling over on his own and even sleeping on his stomach sometimes. In his own room.
But not in a different house—at least not if Boone had anything to say about it.
He crept out of the room, grabbed the jeans he’d stashed by the sealed area of the office, and pulled on his work boots. Kate had no idea that he was close to clearing through the end of the stairs. A couple of places had filled in with dirt and stone, and there were some twists in the path that made it difficult to know what part of the house was above him. But today was going to bring some answers. He could feel it.
Well, that, and if the tunnel went on much longer, he was pretty sure it would come out in the neighbor’s yard.
Ten minutes later he was underground once more. He’d grown accustomed to the coolness. This tunnel wasn’t as damp as the basement, thank God, but he still felt the chill in his bones after a few minutes. Since Jamie would wake soon—meaning another Kate-enhanced shower was out of the question—he was goin
g to have to suck it up and deal.
“Charlie, old friend, you had better have a damn good reason for leading me down here.”
It had to be the treasure. Why else would anyone go to this trouble? It had to be tied to Prohibition. To Charlie. To the treasure.
The real question was how it had stayed a secret. Charlie couldn’t have done all this himself. His father, his brother, anyone else who worked with them—someone had to have known about this place. If not all of them, at least the brother who had lived here.
On the other hand, if Boone had had a brother—one who’d died while trying to get away to a new life—would he have wanted to preserve the proof that his brother had been doing something illegal? Or would he have sealed it off from the world and hoped that time would fill in both the tunnel and the hole carved in his heart?
There were rocks at this end of the passage. Boone had moved a few yesterday, but he’d had to stop before Kate grew too suspicious and followed him down here. Now he started hauling again, his body warming up with the exertion. Each rock had to be tested before he could move it. There wouldn’t be much good in finding a lost treasure if Kate had to use it all to pay for Boone’s funeral after the tunnel collapsed on him.
When he got back to his laptop, he was going to have to check to make sure he had enough life insurance.
He allowed himself twenty minutes at a time down here. After that, he started getting claustrophobic and imagining all the different toxic gases that he could be inhaling. But his timer had yet to go off when he set down one rock, turned to test another, and came to a sudden stop.
There was a door behind the rocks.
* * *
KATE KNEW SOMETHING was up the moment Boone burst back into the bedroom. One minute she was snuggled against the pillows with Jamie, enjoying a few lazy post-nursing stretches. The next, Hurricane Boone flew in and landed on the bed.
“What time does Cash get up?” he demanded.
She blinked. “I have no idea. And good morning to you, too.”
“Good morning. Right. Okay, how about Allie? She would know, right?”
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