After several beats where they stood, bent at the waist and catching their breath, Lily straightened and collapsed back against a rock wall. Elation had clearly worn off, and what remained in her posture was only the heavy weight of defeat. “This sucks.”
If there ever was treasure, someone else had just taken all of Duke’s clues and their hard work and snatched it from right under their noses. For as much as his brain took the testosterone-fueled story line and ran with it—go after them, take back what’s rightfully ours!—Leo knew that was unrealistic. For one, there were two men back there, armed and clearly emanating that unhinged Terry vibe. But more important, Lily was on the verge of completely losing her shit, too, and at least one of them had to keep their head on straight.
Frankly, he only sort of cared about the money. Well, obviously he did—he wasn’t an idiot—but mostly he was fighting for them right when Lily looked like she had no fight left in her. Would a windfall of cash make everything easier? God, yes. But more than anything he was desperate to help Lily have a life that brought her actual joy. Few feelings were worse than hopelessness. He would know.
There was a wilting lean to Lily’s posture as she sat on the ground, half-heartedly eating a protein bar and staring blankly at the rock ahead of her. Leo didn’t need to be a mind reader to see that she was in the midst of a doom spiral. Not ten days ago, he’d been sitting at Cora’s graduation dinner, having his own spiraling realization that she didn’t need him anymore and he had absolutely no idea what it would even look like to live his life for himself.
“If twenty years pass before I see another protein bar,” Lily said, chewing and swallowing with effort, “it will be too soon.”
“Fair.”
Seemingly unconcerned with the dirty earth beneath her, Lily lay back and stared up at the crystalline sky, caged in by looming rocks overhead. “So, to recap, not only do I not have any money, not only did we just get robbed at gunpoint, but tomorrow I’ll have to call the police and deal with a dead body and I don’t even know where to start.”
“I really think it’ll be okay,” he said. “And at least we can just get it over with and move on with our lives.”
She closed her eyes, exhaling slowly.
“Is now a good time to remind you that I know you better than anyone?”
“Leo, I don’t—”
“Just hear me out,” he said. “I have a small but nice apartment in New York. I know it isn’t ideal, but this time, you could come back with me. Just for a little bit, until we can figure out what’s next for us. I’ve been good about saving money. It’s not enough to buy your land back, but I’m likely to get that promotion, and maybe if I work for another year and we save every penny, we can move upstate where we can get horses.”
“What would I even do in New York until we can move?”
“You’d pretend you’re on vacation.”
“What about Bonnie?”
“Nicole could take care of her and the others until we’re able to bring them out to wherever we end up. I’d take care of you.”
Lily’s face said: What about me makes you think that I want to be taken care of?
“I’m just trying to find a way we can be together,” he said, succumbing to frustration. “If you don’t want that, then it’s a nonstarter.”
“I do.” She closed her eyes again, reaching for his hand and setting it over her heart, covering it with her own. “I’m sorry. But you’re right. I’m sitting here trying to imagine moving somewhere. I can’t. I can’t leave Nicole. And Leo, I have maybe three hundred dollars to my name. I would be entirely dependent on you and—I can’t,” she repeated quietly.
“Now that Cora’s tuition is paid off, I make enough to support us. I don’t care about the money.”
“But I do.” She rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand. “You’d go from supporting one woman in your life to supporting another. I don’t want us to have that kind of relationship.”
“I don’t see it that way at all.”
She barreled on, ignoring this. “I could sell Duke’s cabin, but who the hell is buying land in Hester?” She looked at him. “I can only do this by my own bootstraps. You can’t fix this for me.”
Leaning over her, he tipped her hat back and bent to kiss her, just once. “Okay. I won’t push.”
“Trust me, I like that you’re pushing,” she said quietly. “There’s just no easy answer.”
“We’ll figure it out,” he told her. “But probably not today. Let’s go for a walk.”
They stood, sore and bruised and filthy but still there. And, at least for now, still together.