Page 85 of Another Man’s Treasure

Maybe I’m just overthinking everything because I’m running on very few hours of sleep. Yawning, I stand by the pickup counter, waiting for my latte, filled with misery and wondering where Wild went. Back home to Louisiana? What about Willa? Surely she wouldn’t leave now when all this crazy stuff is happening.

Shock courses through me. It must be the key to the city. They must have found it, and that’s what prompted everything last night! I didn’t put two and two together, freaked out as I was about Wilder. I lift my wrist to call him, then remember I can’t because I lost my fucking watch.

Growling, I lash my tail side to side, frustrated at not being able to talk to him. When the pixie barista hands me my latte, I frown at seeing it in a to-go cup. I never order it that way because the cardboard makes it taste funny.

Handing it back, I flash her as much of a smile as I can muster. “Can I get this in a coffee mug, please?”

“Nope!” she pops brightly. “You’re gonna want to take it with you, Oz.”

“What?” I shake my head. “I really don’t; I just⁠—”

She waggles her brows toward my usual table in the back. “You’re really gonna want to take it with you, Oz.”

Confused, I spin.

My table is covered in a rainbow whimsy of roses. They spill out of vases with single petals dripping in strings onto the floor. It’s like a veritable tablecloth of petals. On the edge of the table sits a folded sheet of paper.

“Go on,” the barista says. “Read it, honey.”

Hands shaking, I walk to the table and stare. He did this. It must be Wilder. I grab the note and set my coffee down. Heart in my throat, I flip it open to find his messy, scrawled writing.

Let me make last night up to you, sweetheart. I’ll be waiting for you at the end of Main Street. I love you, Oz, so much.

Yours, Wild

Tears stream down my face as I read and reread the letter.

“Go on now,” the barista shouts from the pickup station. “Go get ‘im, Ozifer!”

A chorus of cheers rises up just as a loud clanging noise rings out through the space. I look up, trying to figure out where it’s coming from. What is that?

But everyone in the coffee shop rises like they’re unsurprised, grabbing their drinks and heading for the door. The barista hops over the counter and pushes me forward. “Git, Oz. You’re gonna be late.”

“What’s going on?”

She shakes her head and pushes me again. “Not for me to say, big guy. Go on.”

Confused, I take my cup and follow the crowd toward the door. Outside on Main Street, monsters exit every business, heading toward the Dance Hall.

Clutching Wild’s letter tightly, I join the throng. I scan the crowd for his familiar face, for that shocking pale hair and those arched brows, but seemingly the entirety of Pine Gulch is walking up the street right now. I don’t see him anywhere.

Off in the near distance, catty-corner to High Moon Tattoo parlor, a giant gazebo rises above the parlor building. It’s enormous, maybe a hundred feet across and tall enough for winged monsters to fly in.

And it’s covered in streamers made of strung-together hearts. A crowd is already gathered inside, and the rest of us pile in. I can’t see anything for the throng of monsters milling about in the brand-new structure. It’s all-natural wood with white ceiling beams, shiny and new-looking. Oh my gods, is this really happening? The heart streamers cover nearly every inch of the ceiling, dripping like stalactites down over the crowd.

“Take your seats, everyone!” a voice rings out over the group, slightly breaking through the noise.

I find the nearest seat, still looking around for Wild. Surely he must be here. It seems all of Pine Gulch is here.

As monsters begin to take their seats, I finally see him. He’s up at the front of the gazebo on a small stage, standing with Artur and Emmer Sandoval, and, oh thank gods, Willa’s there too.

I’m about to stand and shout for him when he looks out over the crowd. When his beautiful green eyes meet mine, he smiles, dimples popping. Around us, the crowd takes their seats, but I’m lost. Lost in that green gaze. Lost in that secretive smile. It might as well just be the two of us beneath this gazebo.

Someone hands Wild a microphone, and he clears his throat into it, quieting the townsfolk. Willa scans and smiles when she sees me.

Wild steps forward, slipping his left hand into his pocket. “Friends, neighbors, I called you here today because I’m a new Gulcher, and I have an admission I want to make right here, right now, in front of the entire haven I’ve come to love.” His eyes find mine. “I came to Pine Gulch to buy the Sandoval ranch, but I got so much more than that, because I fell in love here too.”

He walks off the stage and past the first few rows, down the long aisleway that runs up the middle, his eyes never leaving mine. “Oz, we mighta had an unconventional start. Nothing’s been typical for us, but that just makes it all the more special that I found you here in this beautiful, wild place. I’m sorry for last night, and I wanted you to know—in front of the collective haven—that I’m deeply in love with you, and I will do whatever it takes to have you by my side.”