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She didn’t look at me but leaned back in her chair and watched the ocean. I read the clue and then smiled, amazed how well my father knew Natalie and that she liked to take the labels off wine bottles to put the clue there. It also made me a little envious and determined to know everything I could about Natalie. I had gotten to know her so well in the last week but I wanted to know everything about her.
I could tell she didn’t want to talk about the clue just yet and there was something else on her mind. I didn’t say anything but waited.
“Do you have any idea what your father’s endgame is here?”
Natalie didn’t look at me as she asked but I looked over at her. She was wearing a pair of sweats and a long-sleeved shirt, her knees bent up around her as she hugged them to her chest. Her red hair was loose and blew softly in the breeze. She had never looked more beautiful or more vulnerable to me. I was sure it was because I was seeing a side to her that was rarely seen that made her even more special to me. She wasn’t a woman who allowed people in easily and I wanted to think she was letting me in.
“Only my father knows and he isn’t going to tell us. Or he will, but in his own time.”
“Do you miss him?”
“Every day. Yet. I feel like he’s here; that he has been with us the whole time. Whatever we decide to do next with the show, he will be with us there too. I think he wanted to give us this time to grieve him but also to remember him. Once we had we could move on past him and decide what our next step is. You?”
“Same. I didn’t want to do this but I’m glad we did. I feel like I’m closer to him than I’ve ever been. Part of me doesn’t want this to end because I feel like I’ll be letting him go. But there’s another part of me that can’t wait for this to be over so I can move on. Yet, as soon as I think that I feel like I’m betraying him and his memory.”
“No, not at all. I think that’s exactly what Dad would want us to do. He gave us this chance to have a last good-bye with him so we can indeed say good-bye and start our next chapter. Whatever that may be.”
I didn’t tell her that I wanted that chapter to be us, together. Not only working together but being together. I had come to admire and respect Natalie but I was falling in love with her too. She was the most incredible woman I had ever met and I wanted to find a way to have her by my side.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“To keep my father’s legacy alive, to do right by him, to do right by our employees, to find a way to keep whatever we have going on, going.”
“You think that could work? Don’t you think that we might end up hating or killing each other eventually? It isn’t like we have the best track record when it comes to working together.”
“True, but a lot has changed in the last week. I’ve changed. I think you’ve changed too. I think we’ve started to see each other in ways we never thought was possible.”
“I’ve certainly seen more of you than I thought I would,” she said with a laugh.
“Are you complaining?”
“No. I wanted to be with you. I don’t regret it.”
Her words made it sound like it was in the past or that it would end when we got home and I didn’t want that.
“I don’t either. I think we’ve turned a corner in how we are with each other and how we’re going to be going forward. I don’t want to lose that.”
“You’re good at your job. Probably one of the best I’ve ever seen. I don’t think I ever told you that, probably because I didn’t want to admit it either,” she said with a soft laugh.
“And you’re incredible at what you do. You might think you were Dad’s sidekick but you were as much a part of the show as he was. I know you can make it yours. We can make it ours.”
She didn’t answer me and I wondered if she had even heard me as she stared out onto the water for such a long time. I wanted to know what she was thinking, what she wanted. I needed to know where I fit into everything with her. But I could tell that I had said too much and I had pushed her.
“We don’t have to deal with any of that now. We can deal with one problem at a time and right now that’s finishing this hunt and see where it leads us,” I said.
“To the greatest treasure we will ever find,” Natalie whispered.
“What was that?” I asked.
“That’s the end game. Rick said that when he gave us our clue and I asked what the end game was. “To find the greatest treasure you will ever find.”
“What do you think it is? Do you think Dad had some sort of inheritance for us? Some prize he wanted us to have?”
“I have no idea,” Natalie said and shot out of her chair. I could see her pent-up energy and frustration at the conversation. “And the only way we are going to find out is if we finish this thing.”
Reaching down she picked up the paper with the next clue on it and read it. I waited to see what she would say. Any further discussion about us, our future, or anything besides the hunt were now completely off limits.
“It’s a lighthouse, but which one. Do you know if there’s one that overlooks Avila Beach?” she asked.
