Page 162 of The Best Thing He Never Wanted

He shook his head. He still didn’t excuse what the man had done, but he understood grieving something badly enough to make bad choices over it.

“You watched it because it used to be yours,” he said eventually. “But the house is hers now. And some of the land’s yours again. So, you don’t watch it anymore.”

Nikos looked at him for a long moment.

It struck Blane then that maybe they weren’t as different as he’d wanted them to be. Nikos had stood out here watching a home he’d lost because he couldn’t let go of what it had meant to him. Blane knew something about holding on to an old way of living simply because it was the one that had always made sense.

“We square?” he asked.

“We square,” Nikos repeated.

“Good.”

Blane crouched and sighted down the fold, turning his attention back to the work he’d come here to do. “Show me the rest. All of it. If we do this, I’ll have teams coming in, and I don’t know this ground. You were born on it.” He straightened. “You’re gonna show me until I know what I’m doing here, and I’m gonna pay you a stupid amount of American money to do it.”

Something that wasn’t quite a smile touched the corner of Nikos’s mouth.

“And neither of us is gonna tell my wife this was all her idea, because she’ll have way too much fun knowing she was right.”

“She is always right?”

“Every damn time. You’ll learn. Come on.”

As he followed Nikos across the next ridge, Blane couldn’t help wondering why he’d said the words my wife, and why they’d come out of his mouth so naturally.

They spent a good couple of hours up there and were almost back down to the road when Blane’s phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out, expecting Bea, but frowned when he saw Cash’s name on the screen.

Nikos stopped and raised his eyebrows.

“That’s all right. You go on. I need to take this. We’ll talk soon.”

“Talk soon.” Nikos nodded, then took him by surprise by extending his hand.

Blane hesitated only a moment before shaking it firmly. Then he turned away and brought the phone to his ear.

“What’s up, Cash? It must be early for you. Everything all right?”

“Yeah. All good. You know me. Do my best work at stupid o’clock in the morning.”

Blane smiled despite himself.

“And I’m gonna need the jet back.”

Blane stilled. “When?”

“Tomorrow.”

He looked out toward the sea, which was much more than a thin blue line from up here.

“You still there?” Cash asked.

“Yeah. That’s kind of the point.”

Cash laughed. “Had a feeling you might say that. And listen, I said I need the jet back. I didn’t say I need you back. What’s going on with this guy and the land?”

Blane glanced over his shoulder toward the mountain.

“I’ve been up there this morning. I think it’ll work, Cash.”