Page 44 of Unspoken Love

He looked up, halfway through a bite of toast. “Is that the head injury talking?”

She smiled. “No. Just gratitude. Two home-cooked meals in a row? Ones that I didn’t have to lift a finger for? I’m not used to that.”

He set the toast down and leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. “I have mentioned how much I like to cook.”

Something shifted in her eyes—just for a second. A flicker of thought, maybe doubt. He saw it, but she buried it quickly behind a smile. “I appreciate it. Really.”

He didn’t press further.

After they finished eating, he leaned back with a satisfied sigh. Before he could even suggest it, Faye pushed her plate away and glanced at him.

“So,” she said slowly, her voice dancing with curiosity, “want to see what I found? I’m excited to show you.”

His brows rose. “Your mystery beach?”

He figured he knew exactly what beach she was talking about. After all, he’d spent plenty of summer days out on the waters off Pride. There was a very small patch of beach that no one went to because you could only get to it by boat. Besides being small, it was under water whenever the tide came in. He hadn’t heard about caves or tunnels leading to the lighthouse though. He doubted that anyone in town knew either. Otherwise he would have heard about it at one point over the years. Right?

She nodded. “And the passage that leads to it.”

“Lead the way, Nancy Drew.”

She laughed, and the sound pulled a grin from him. He took her hand as they stood. “We can do dishes later.”

They climbed the stairs to the second floor, and she led him into her closet. With a steady hand, she pushed open a narrow panel that he hadn’t noticed before. He remembered helping Max paint this bedroom when they’d remodeled the place, but he’d never stepped foot in the closet before.

When the panel was open, a cool draft hit his face.

“Wow,” he murmured, staring into the dark passage. “I can’t believe this was here the whole time.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask Max and Juliette if they knew about it, but I keep forgetting.”

“They never said anything to me,” Nate said, ducking inside after her. “My sister loves hidden passages.” The ceiling dipped low enough that he had to stoop, following her closely as she started down a narrow stairwell. “Spooky ones too.”

“I thought it was just a weird storage nook at first,” she said, stepping carefully. “I didn’t realize there was a second exit until today.”

“Is there an exit here?” he asked when they reached the first landing.

“Oh, yeah, I haven’t figured out how to open the door to this passage from Max’s office yet.”

“There’s an entrance from the office?” he asked as she continued down the stairs.

“Yeah,” she said, but she kept going.

When they reached the bottom, she kept moving through a narrow passage.

He followed and brushed his hand along the rough stone walls as they made their way. No wonder she’d scratched her shoulder. He had to walk sideways in a few places to avoid scraping his. “Watch your step,” she added, pointing to a jagged dip in the stone. “It gets narrow before it opens up again.”

“It’s like a Hardy Boys mystery,” he muttered, ducking beneath the low stone ceiling. “I can’t believe no one has stumbled upon this and mapped it out before.”

“Exactly. How do you not know about an entire passageway? I mean, this place has had other owners before Max and Juliette, right?”

“Yeah, it’s over a hundred years old. Maybe this was part of the original design? You know, it was built before the lighthouse?”

He reached for her hand again as they weaved their way through the passages until they stepped into a larger chamber.

It was the size of the guest bedroom they had slept in last night. The walls were almost seven feet high in places. It wasn’t square though, more like an octagon.

Nate paused in the middle, turning slowly to take it all in—jagged walls, faint seams of light streaming through cracks, and the grit of sand underfoot.