Meg checked the chart.“You’re up to date on tetanus?”
“Always.You know me.”
“Sometimes I think I do.Other times, I’m not sure.”Her voice carried an edge, anger masking fear.
Noah’s hand closed around her wrist, steadying the tremor in her fingers.“You know me, Meg.Better than anyone.And I know you.You’ve got this.”
His touch eased the shaking.She nodded, not trusting her voice.He released her wrist.
“What are you wearing?”
Noah’s hand smoothed over the purple sweatshirt emblazoned withWorld’s Best Grandmain garish yellow letters.“Lovely, isn’t it?”
A small laugh escaped her.Shaky but real.
She positioned the needle and began the running stitch.Her movements were precise despite the proximity that made her pulse quicken.As she worked, her mind cleared.The gold.The violence.The chest.It all loomed.But Noah was here.Alive.
“Maybe next time, don’t step between two guys with knives.”
Keeping the knowledge of what very might well be another chest from Noah hadn’t protected him.Maybe telling him was the only way to keep him safe.
“Noah, about last week.”
His shoulder tensed.
“I know I said not to go back there, but I need to tell you something.I saw something in the cave—a box, like a crate, maybe a chest.It could be nothing.”She met his gaze.“But it could have been the gold.”
His expression was neutral.“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t want you going back.Idon’t want to go back.”The words tumbled out in a rush.“But if it’ll stop this madness, I’ll show you where it is.”
She tied off the final stitch and stepped back.
Noah’s hand landed on her arm with a light touch.His eyes were intense as they searched her face.“If you draw a map, Teague, Liam, and I can find it.You don’t have to go back.”
“I just can’t have any more senseless deaths.”
He looked about to say something, but she adjusted the tray and broke the moment.“Keep this clean and dry for forty-eight hours.”
Sarah pushed through the curtain with a green park-service T-shirt.“Ranger Joe sent this for you.”
Meg stripped off her gloves.“Perfect timing.The world’s best grandma is all done.”
Noah’s warmth faded, his expression unreadable.
“I’ll draw the map.”She turned to leave, her resolve hardened.
The canyon’s chaos.Noah’s hot-and-cold presence.The weight of lives lost.Lydia’s face, Jeremy’s accusations.The mysterious notes.It was too much.
She’d finish the month and ensure no one else died on her watch.Then she’d accept Dr.Jacobs’s offer.
A new start.Far from her problems.
Far from here.
Far from him.
Four
