Page 158 of Sunset Beach
He nodded. “I guess that would work.”
“I’d need some technical assistance,” she said.
“Is that why you asked me to bring my laptop?”
“Yeah. Do you mind?”
They spent the rest of the evening poring over online listings. Jonah checked Blue Book values and Drue emailed potential sellers.
Drue poked the train case with her bare toe. “Do you think the cash will be a problem?”
He picked up a banded stack of cash. “These aren’t new bills, and as far as I can tell from what I’ve read about the case, the bank didn’t keep records of the circulation numbers of the cash Colleen withdrew. All the sellers I contacted are more than happy to accept cash.”
“Good.” She leaned over and closed the lid of his computer. “We missed the sunset. But do you feel like a walk on the beach anyway?”
“Only if you promise to let me carry the Mace this time,” he said.
They strolled down to the water’s edge and Jonah slipped his arm around her shoulder.
“This view never gets old,” Drue told him, kicking at a wavelet with her pointed toes. “And you know the funny thing? When I was kiteboarding, I never really paid attention to it. I loved being on the water, and I really, really loved doing tricks and flying, but the water and the wind? They were just there. Part of the equipment, like my board and my harness and my kite. Being grounded with this stinking knee injury has made me really stop and appreciate all of this.”
“Do you miss it?” he asked.
“Yeah. Sometimes. It was my passion for so long, from the time I was fourteen and started working at a skateboard shop and then a surf shop on weekends to get money for lessons, right up until my accident. I built my life around kiteboarding. And it never occurred to me that it could be taken away from me in a split second.”
“If your knee gets rehabbed, would you go back to that life?”
“Right now? I’m not sure. I still have nightmares, sometimes, where I’m falling, and I can’t release my harness, and the kite is dragging me through the water and I’m drowning.”
“Really? I can’t imagine a badass like you being afraid of anything. Especially not after the way you got the jump on Ben two nights ago.”
“I’m afraid of lots of things,” Drue admitted. “I just hide it better than most people.”
“Like what?”
“Spiders. Fire. Anchovies.” Her tone turned unexpectedly serious and she reached for his hand. “Dying alone, like my mom.”
“You weren’t with her when she died?”
Drue shrugged. “Physically, yeah I was right there in the room with her. But my mom wasn’t your typical mother. I always knew she loved me, but she was very closed-off, emotionally. She had boyfriends, over the years, after she and my dad split, but nothing was permanent. I think that was by design.”
A breeze kicked up then, ruffling her hair, and she felt goose bumps raise on her arms.
“Let’s walk,” she said.
He took her hand and they strolled past the lights of Sharky’s and the Gulf Vista, without comment.
They were almost back to the cottage, and Jonah stopped, taking in the view of it from the beach. They’d left the lights on inside.
“It looks so peaceful from here, it’s weird to think about everything that happened here two nights ago,” Jonah said.
He kissed the top of her head. “I’m guessing you must have had that talk with your dad? About Colleen?”
“Yeah. I met him and Zee for drinks at Mastry’s, after work.”
“How’d it go? Pretty awkward?”
“Very awkward. And painful.” She swallowed the unexpected lump that rose in her throat.
