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He glanced at me with something in his eyes before he shuttered it. “I don’t have a deadline. There're things to do here still.”
Relief enveloped me. I would have more time with him. But I needed to brace my heart for the inevitable. This fairytale was ending, and I wouldn’t get the prince.
39
LUCAS
“Where are we going?”Jo looked around the neighborhood next to the ferry dock.
“Anna Island. There, across the channel.”
It was Tuesday, and I asked Jo to come for the meal prep a day early. We had our first lesson since the start of the festival, and I was glad to find my skills still sharp. After we prepped the food, two meals, two servings each, I said I wanted to take her away for a couple of days. She already had the midweek off, and everyone at the farm was in a post-festival coma. Except for Finn, and Emily, who were taking advantage of the rain break and getting in some mountain biking.
We loaded the prepped food and other items into the cooler, stopped by her place to pack her bag, and headed to the ferry.
The ride on the small open-air ferry across the narrow shipping channel was quick, and we drove around the island, taking in the water and the mountains. Jo hadn’t been to this island yet, and I was glad to be the one to introduce her to this beautiful place. A few vacation homes and farms were scattered among the tall forests and shoreline. Fruit trees were budding, horses grazed on land with million-dollar views, and every house, big or small, had a boat.
The Anna Island Resort was a group of eight rustic old cabins built on the shore and six new ones built higher into the hillside behind. Jo led the way into one of the new ones, a studio cabin facing the water. It smelled of the ocean, fresh paint, and wood smoke.
“These are brand new,” she said, climbing the cabin steps.
“Yeah, they aren’t actually taking reservations for these yet.”
“Then, how are we here?”
“It’s surprising what money can do.” I winked at her as I carried in the cooler with our supplies.
“Rich ass. You did not bribe that nice lady at the office.”
“No. I didn’t. My sister Tess worked here every summer since she was in high school. She called the owner. This cabin is finished and a couple others, but the last three aren’t. None of them open for reservations until June.”
There was a small kitchen off the front room, a woodstove by the door for heat, and tall thin windows that cranked open against thick conifer branches on each side. Jo took a few more steps past a very comfortable-looking bed to the back deck.
“It’s like a treehouse … with a hot tub.” Her smile was bright with wonder, and my heart felt too big for my chest.
“And look at this shower. Wow, this is the nicest treehouse I’ve ever seen.” She looked around the main room. “No TV, though. Whatever will we do with the time?”
“Help me get the car unloaded, and we’ll start in the shower.”
“This wine Lucas.I hope you brought a lot of it.”
We were on our second of the hundred-dollar-a-bottle good stuff after our dessert. I enjoyed this relaxed and satisfied Jo. Her eyes were sultry, her damp, curly hair shining as we sat on the sofa, and she was limp enough that when she shifted, the top of her robe gaped to give me a glimpse of that shadowed valley I loved.
After we unpacked a few things and had some very satisfying shower time, she heated the pasta dishes we made earlier while I lit the woodstove. The evening wind off the water was chilly and, mixed with the moisture in the surrounding evergreens, it created the ideal atmosphere for a fire.
“Detective Rivers called me yesterday with some more good news.” I topped off both of our wineglasses.
“What’s that?” Her eyes were wide, and she sat up, unfortunately pulling her robe tighter.
“I want to make a toast to you, Jo.” I raised my glass.
“To me? Why?”
“The information you gave the detectives turned out to be more valuable than you may have realized.”
“How do you mean?”
“They found the footage from the security camera you mentioned. That footage wasn’t part of what they discovered originally in the IP investigation. Cole had removed the camera and tried to remove any record of it, most likely around the time the IP charges were filed in December. When they specifically looked for it, they found it.”
