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“Never?”
“Okay, maybe a little.” I shift Luke in my arms.
Somehow, I slid right into the role. We went from a something-ship to a relationship. These last weeks, after long days clearing out the Sip & Scoop, we’ve had dinner with the rest of the Owens, at the Driftwood, or on the beach. We get Luke ready for bed and then Harley will read to me from Chip’s portion ofthe journal—trying to see if we’ve missed anything. There are passages about business, including someone by the name of Kurt Jerkovic. Chip’s opinion of the guy soured before he disappeared from the entries entirely. Mostly, my grandfather wrote about missing his wife, taking care of us, and the treasure hunt without any mention of the crown itself.
I can’t help but fear that all my treasure will get snatched away. Washed away by a storm, caught up in some mysterious, unsolved event like the waxy blob.
Harley
CHAPTER 19
Eyes not quite open all the way, and still wearing my watermelon pajamas with seed-like eyelet lace around the hems, I wander into the kitchen at dawn to get Luke his morning milk. At the old studio apartment, all I had to do was roll over and it was practically in my hand. It’s almost the last of my breastmilk I pumped and he’s nearly a year with his birthday coming soon.
Lost in thought, I hardly notice the gathering around the kitchen island. Blinking a few times, I squint. “Good morning? I don’t have my glasses on so if you’re a bunch of pirates, we don’t have what you’re looking for.”
“Friends, not foes,” Lally says.
Ryan puts a coffee mug in my hand and I quickly realize everyone is here. “What’s the occasion?”
“This is the only time we could all meet.”
“Don’t let me interrupt.” I go about warming up Luke’s milk, but by the time I get upstairs, he’s wide awake and hears everyone talking. We head back down to join the group where he makes his rounds as the most popular member of this treasure-hunting crew before happily sitting on the floor with the dogs.
“It’s not happening.” Magnus’s tone is firm and final.
“It’s not entirely up to you,” Lally says.
“Should we vote?” Ryan asks.
It takes me a moment to catch up and wake up, but I glean that they’re talking about Lally going to play pineapple poker on the Dark Seas, the brigantine ship that appears offshore now and then.
“We’ll all go with her,” Isla says.
“Over my dead body,” Royal retorts.
“That’s because you don’t like going on the ocean.”
“But I went when we had to rescue Lally from imminent peril,” Royal counters.
“I’ll go by myself, same as before. I don’t want to spook the captain,” Lally repeats.
“Is he a ghost?” Isla asks.
“It’s a ghost ship, meaning it’s unregistered,” CJ says.
“No way,” Magnus says.
“We’ll all go,” Isla insists.
“Captain J sent you an empty bottle of Sempre Spirits with a note that said,Rematch. Whoever he is can come to us.” Magnus remains unyielding.
“Wouldn’t that put us at a disadvantage?” Lally says.
“You know what they say about home turf,” Ryan says.
They go back and forth until CJ appears.
“Sorry that I’m late. I had, uh, stuff.”
