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The problem was every time I was with Indy, I started to believe that I could be happy and, if not whole (I’d never be whole), at least as close to it as I could get. I’d started to think maybe it wasn’t too late after all. I’d even taken out that damn application and started to fill it out. Only to have something remind me that I didn’t deserve to have that dream—to realize it when Josh couldn’t.

Taking a deep breath, I hopped out of my car and went in search of Indy. She’d mentioned yesterday that she was filming her part of the documentary at the dig site, and though she hadn’t explicitly asked me to come, she hadn’t told anyone else but me about it, so surely that meant that she wanted my support.

Plus I had yet another thing to apologize for. That damn kiss and getting myself invited to the weekend. I wanted to make sure that the former would never happen again, and the latter I’d get myself out of. Indy didn’t want me there, and I had my meeting with my CO on Friday anyway. I couldn’t blow it off now.

I snuck around the portable buildings and ran straight into the small but terrifying Sabrina.

“You!” she said, and a single word had never sounded so loaded with accusation.

I held up my palms like I was about to be taken hostage. I wondered briefly if she’d ever consider outsourcing her terrifying talents to the US Air Force. “I just want to make sure she’s okay.”

“Isn’t that thoughtful of you? Unfortunately, it was the wrong thought, so why don’t you just . . .” She flicked the back of her hands at me like I was some annoying flea-infested mutt.

“Look, I’m not going anywhere, so you might as well tell me where she is.” I crossed my arms and stood as tall as possible. She only came up to my biceps, so I don’t know how she managed to be so intimidating. She kind of reminded me of my great-aunt’s tiny cat who had terrorized her golden retrievers for years. Who knew what kinds of claws Sabrina had.

“Why?” She stepped closer and I had to fight the urge to step back. “Why are you so determined to get back into her life when you cut her out of yours?”

Damn. It was as if she’d been eavesdropping on my own inner voice. It was the same question that I’d been asking myself since I first decided to track Indy down. It was a question that I didn’t have an answer to yet. It was the cork on a champagne bottle that held back all the emotions I’d quashed down.

“I need to apologize for something.”

She snorted. “Why don’t you tell me something I didn’t already know? When are you not apologizing for something?”

A flash of red caught my attention, and I gently pushed past her. “Indy!” I called, and Diana’s shocked face peeked back around the corner. I plowed forward even as Sabrina grabbed a fistful of my bomber jacket. I dragged her along with me as she let out a litany of fiery curses in Spanish and Italian. She lost her grip on my jacket but then somehow managed to lodge a very sharp fingernail into my belt loop.

“I’ve got him, D!” she growled, digging her feet into the dirt. She was surprisingly strong for her size.

“Don’t you have anything better to do than follow me around all the time?” whispered Diana as I stopped in front of her. “This isn’t the best time.”

“I told you yesterday that I would find a solution for the weekend,” I explained lamely.

“The solution is simple, Levi. I go by myself and make up an excuse for you. Why are you complicating things again?”

She was right this time. That was, of course, the best solution. I had my meeting with my CO on Friday and would be in deep shit if I blew it off. And I wouldn’t stick around to complicate her life.

I couldn’t very well tell her I was here because I couldn’t stay away from her. I’d crossed the world to get away from her, but she was always there in my mind and in my heart. And now that she was so close, and even though I knew it was a risk, I couldn’t stay away. I had a few precious moments to steal and by god I was going to steal them.

“So when you told me yesterday about filming today, you didn’t want me to be here to support you?”

“Support me? How is being a first-hand witness to my humiliation supporting me?”

“Stop saying that it’s humiliating, D. I told you all good archaeologists have made mistakes. You’re going to turn this around and own it!” cried Sabrina, digging her fingernail into my lower back.

“Can you let me go now, please?” I turned my head down to her and lowered my Ray-Bans.

Diana nodded at her. “It’s okay, Sabri. I’ll deal with it.”

“I’m just around the corner if you need me,” Sabrina said with a click of her tongue, sizing me up, before turning around and sauntering off.

“I forgot you had your own personal security detail. Maybe I shouldn’t have come after all.”

“Like I said, it was unnecessary.” Indy peeked her head around the corner. “Oh god, can you just—” She grabbed my arm and steered me backward as a very familiar British voice called her name.

“Diana, are you coming?” And just like that Professor Popinjay appeared.

“Ah, Leroy, you decided to stop by.” He peered over his glasses at me. “Helen will be sorry to have missed you. She can’t seem to talk about anything else these days.”

“Well, Helen is a very charming woman and an excellent dancer,” I said.