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“Saul, that’s been used so many times before,” Kellyjean declared. “I’ve seen that in about a thousand episodes ofMagnum P.I.alone.”

“Wait, now,” Jerome said. “Let the man finish.”

“Right. You didn’t let me finish. This scuba gear has been cursed bySatan—”

Scuba.

Scuba.

Of course.

Chapter Twenty-Six

That’s it,” I whipped around to say to Will. “Garrett scuba dives. He told me.”

Will stared. “I beg your pardon?”

“Friday night on the author bus, when we were talking about going out on your boat, Garrett was bragging about how he’s certified to scuba in open water. He offered to teach me, but I said I wasn’t interested.” My mind was racing. “Can you rent scuba equipment around here?”

“Absolutely,” Will said. “It’s Florida. You could rent a tiger if you wanted to. But you don’t think—”

“I do.” I turned and stabbed my index finger into Will’s chest to emphasize my words. “I know where Garrett is.”

“Jo, are you coming or not?” Frannie’s voice shouted shrilly from the darkness of the parking lot where the author bus was waiting. “I’m going to miss the third quarter if you don’t hurry up!”

I flattened my hand against Will’s chest. I liked the warmth I could feel radiating from beneath the light material of his shirt, and the steadyba-dum, ba-dumof his heart. I didn’tcare what kind of videos Jasmine, behind us, might be recording. “Do you have a car here?” I asked him.

“Of course,” he said. “But why?”

“Because it will be faster.” I took his hand—the hand I’d been longing all night to hold. It felt solid and right in mine, like it had been made to fit in my fingers. “Come on, let’s go.”

“But where are we going?” Will looked more amused than upset—especially when I began tugging him toward the parking lot, ducking past the author bus where Frannie was frantically yelling at Kellyjean to hurry up, since she’d had to run back into the restaurant to get her wrap. Kellyjean had never, in all the time I’d known her, remembered to bring all her belongings when we’d left a place.

“Frannie, I’m going with Will,” I called to her. “Let Bernadette know, will you?”

Frannie waved at me impatiently. She was too concerned about missing any more of her game to be curious about what I might be doing sneaking off in Will Price’s car.

And what a car it was.

“Thisis what you drive?” I was so shocked I dropped Will’s hand.

“Yes.” In the glow of the parking lamps, I could see Will reaching into his pocket for his keys, a bewildered expression on his face. “Why, what’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing’swrongwith it,” I said. “It’s just not what I’d expected a guy like you to drive.”

“What do you mean, a guy like me?” Will opened the passenger door of the bright red Tesla. “What did you expect?”

“Something more—well, gas-guzzling, to tell you thetruth. A Range Rover, maybe. Or a Porsche. Possibly a Ferrari.”

“Ouch.” He winced. “You really do have a low opinion of me, don’t you? Do you think I’m actually that insecure that I’d need an expensive, gas-guzzling sports car to prove my masculinity?”

“Yes,” I said cheerfully as I climbed inside the Tesla, noticing that, unlike his house, it was filthy. The floor pads were covered in sand. Something rolled under one of my feet. I reached down to lift it and found a grimy tennis ball. “Do you have adog?”

“Chloe does.” He’d swung into the driver’s seat. “I promised her one after we moved. I felt like it was the least I could do.”

“Of course you did.” I dropped the slimy ball over my shoulder, into the back seat. “Let me guess: a Rottweiler.”

He shook his head. “You really do hate me, don’t you? Susie is a springer spaniel, and she’s lovely.”