AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She shook her head, though of course he couldn’t see her. “Nope. And I didn’t know anythin’ about the loose floorboard.”
I searched my friend’s face as she and Tucker spoke for a moment. He asked her the same questions he’d told me to ask, and I wondered if it was part of his plan for me to ask her first and then for him to see if she’d mix up her lies while asked a second time. If that were the case, he’d be disappointed. She told him the same thing she told me—word for word.
“There is one more thing I just thought about,” Hope said, and I frowned, the phone poised in the air between us as Tucker and I both waited for her to go on. “There was this man who came over when I was visiting as a young girl—maybe ten years old? He gave me an old coin. Flipped it like a poker chip, and I caught it.”
“Did it look like pirate treasure or a quarter?” I asked.
She chuckled. “Well, I don’t remember details, but it was definitely gold. It didn’t even occur to me to wonder if it was real. I was just a kid.”
“So… where is it now?” I asked.
Tucker sighed on the other end of the line, and I could almost hear his voice in my mind, asking me to let him ask the questions.
“I think I still have it somewhere. I’ll have to check.”
“Do you remember the man’s name?” Tucker asked.
Hope thought about it, then frowned. “No, I’m sorry. But you know what?”
“What?” Tucker and I said at the same time.
“I think Shifty might know,” she said, a bright smile on her face. “He was friends with him. The guy didn’t live in town, but close enough, I think.”
“Your grandpa was friends with Shifty, too, right?” I asked gently, hoping she was okay with all of this talk about the man she’d loved so deeply and then lost not too long ago.
“Yeah, they played Bingo together, and whenever Shifty found an old safe at the junkyard or garage sale, he’d bring it to Grandpa to fix up and resell.” She wore a fond smile on her face, and I smiled back at her, using my free hand to squeeze her shoulder.
“Tucker, I’m about to go to work, but if you can wait about twelve hours or so, I’d love to go with you to visit ol’ Shifty.”
“Uh—”
“You can try to head over there without me, but just so you know, you’ll have better luck with a local on your arm.”
“On my arm?” he parroted.
I gave Hope a look of exasperation, muting the phone. “See what I mean? Immune to my flirting ever since that root strangulation conversation.”
Hope waved a hand for me to take it off mute, then leaned forward. “She’s right about havin’ a local with you. Shifty is… Well, Shifty’s a different sort. You’ll get further with Dakota than you will on your own.”
Tucker paused for a beat, then I could practically hear the hesitation dripping from his words as he said, “Fine. I’ll meet you outside the hospital after your shift?”
“Sounds good,” I replied, trying for casual but coming out a little high-pitched for my own liking.
We disconnected the call, and I stared up at the hospital before us. “This is gonna be a long shift.”
“Why? Because you’re so excited to see him again?”
I shook my head. “No, the opposite actually. I think maybe I should’ve kept all that stuff to myself at the diner. He probably would’ve just gone on pretending that almost-kiss wasn’t an almost-kiss, and I’d be savin’ myself from feelin’ rejected even though he hasn’t said two words along those lines.”
But deep down, I couldn’t help wondering if I’d misread the whole thing. Maybe those sparks were all one-sided. Or maybe I just wanted there to be something between us so badly that I was seeing things that weren’t really there. It wouldn’t be the first time I let my heart run away with itself, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.
“It’s more what he’s not sayin’, huh?” Hope guessed.
“Pretty much.”
“Well, I’m sorry you feel rejected, but maybe it’s for the best.”
I wrinkled my nose. “You’re probably right. He made himself clear about the nomad vibes, ya know? What was I really interested in explorin’ with him anyhow?”
