Page 107 of Tides of the Heart

Who’s knocking at eleven o’clock at night?

Scott looks out the peephole and slings it open. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Nice to see you too, Rickter.”

It’s Wes!

I rush over to him and give him a big hug. “You’re early.”

He squeezes me tightly, ignoring Scott’s glare.

I give him a quick peck on the cheek. “It’s so good to see you.”

“Want a whiskey?” Scott asks. Pouring him a glass before he answers.

“Please. Neat.”

Wes makes himself comfortable on the couch, and I take the chair in front of him. Scott hands Wes the whiskey and walks over to stand next to me.

Wes Harrington. In the flesh. We’ve kept in frequent contact while he’s been in hiding, but even video calls aren’t the same as seeing him in person. His presence is still magnetic.

There was a hot minute I thought we’d never see him again. For reasons neither of them has fully explained, Garrett has stubbornly held on to his guns making sure Wes stays in hiding. Relentlessly bullying him with the threat of sharing a doctored video that implies he was culpable for someone’s death. It’s a little extreme, even for Garrett. Wes explained to me that a caver had died in a cenote in the Yucatan. Wes couldn’t save him. Curious if it was someone Garrett was close to, I asked—Wes simply said it wasn’t about the man who died. It was about control.

“Spill it, Wes. Tell us about all your adventures. I’m ready to stay up all night. Start with where the heck you’ve been.”

Turns out he’s been in the Yucatan, planting trees and restoring the Maya Forest Gardens. “You must love it there. Especially to go back after what happened in the cenote.”

“I do. Aside from what happened, it’s the one place on this Earth where I’ve truly been happy.” His face lights up with a memory. “I thought I could get it back.”

Get it back?

I’ll let that comment go for now.

“Okay. Tell us. What areGarrett’smysterious conditions this time?”

Wes shrugs and laughs. “Surprisingly, they’re easy. He didn’t even have to ask. There’s going to be nooooo problem meeting them,” he spits out. His eyes squint with bitterness. “He told me to stay away from…”

When he glances at the staircase behind me, his face freezes and turns a ghostly white.

I’ve only seen his face like that once before, when I hyperventilated after one of our dives, and he had to save me.

Until now, it was the only time I’ve ever seen fear on Wes Harrington’s face.

His green eyes widen with shock, then narrow.

“What is it?” Worried, I turn toward the staircase.

Sid?

Her hair is styled, and she’s wearing makeup and a red sundressin the middle of the night.

“You know each other?” I turn back. But Wes is gone.

“What the…?” Scott mutters.

The front door slams.

Wow. I turn back to Sid.

“Don’t mind me. I was just coming down to say hello.”

She smiles, but her eyes aren’t smiling.