“Yeah. This was a messed up place for us until this trip,” she says, her face dropping again. “Mom died here and Dad...he just completely changed.”

Sadness pierces my heart.

A terrible thought invades my head.

Has Cole been making love to me? Or a memory?

Am I a surrogate for his dead wife?

Bile churns in my gut so violently I almost gag.

Destiny moves away from me, and that’s when I notice a golden turtle hanging around her neck, glittering in the sunlight.

“Whoa. New necklace?”

She looks down, pinching the turtle between her thumb and forefinger. “Oh I—I found it in Mom’s old room...”

Her mom had her own room? Has her own room?

Like some kind of memorial or shrine to her?

I wonder.

I also wonder if the late Mrs. Lancaster slept in a separate room from her mister? And if so, why?

“She still has a room in the house?” I ask neutrally.

“Yeah. She had an artistic side, and I guess she liked to paint there. Kalani—one of the older housekeepers—she said my mother was a great painter. And she loved the lighting in that room best every time she was here.”

So, she didn’t have her own room-room then.

She had a studio.

And apparently it’s still there, filled with her belongings, a shrine to someone they clearly can’t forget...

I don’t even know what I’m supposed to feel.

Probably not this weird mix of sadness and worry and self-doubt foaming up inside me.

“The staff kept everything the same since we left. I finally worked up the courage to go in there this morning. The necklace was just sitting on her dresser with a few other things. Maybe I should’ve left it, but...it’s a turtle and it’s so pretty. I thought somebody should wear it rather than leaving it sealed up like a museum piece.”

“Good call, Dess. It’s stunning.” I reach out, gently fingering the necklace, smiling at the intricate detail etched in gold. “It feels like a nice way to remember Hawaii.”

To remember her, too, I think, but I feel too weird to say it.

When a man comes up behind us a second later, I jump.

“Too much caffeine? Don’t tell me—you have to taste everything personally before the big meeting, huh?” Troy Clement belts out a messy laugh and grins. “Way to go, Miss E-lectric. Your campfire coffee sealed the deal.”

It’s hard to smile back when I barely care.

Right now, I just want to get as far away from this place as possible.

“Um, yeah. Thank you.”

He’s one big walking smile—until his gaze falls on Destiny’s necklace. Not that he could miss the way it sparkles every time it catches the sun.

“Holy shi—is that—your mom’s old necklace?” For the faintest second, his eyes are massive and shining before he slips back into his usual smug, friendly look. “Wow. She loved that one, Dessy. It’s gold and handcrafted. Your old man bought it for her on their last trip here. I’m surprised she wasn’t wearing it when—well, say no more. My bad.”

He coughs awkwardly and turns.

That makes two of us. I’m reeling.

It was a gift from Cole?

Didn’t he say it was an arranged marriage of sorts? That he never cared that deeply about her?

But if he was still giving her gifts up until the end, he loved her.

The evidence of that love—however misguided or difficult or pointless—is hanging around Destiny’s neck, scattering the island sun.

Never mind the bigger pile of evidence I haven’t seen. The closed-off, secret memorial to a woman a sick part of me wants to barge into and explore.

I feel like this is Dakota’s territory. She’s a Poe, naturally at ease with whatever moody love and loss and angst is swirling around us.

Even my questions have questions.

What did she look like? Did she ever give them presents? Did she go to her grave with a piece of Cole’s heart?

I can’t be jealous.

God, no, there’s no reason.

He had a life before we met and it’s not my place to judge anything—much less get upset over a dead woman. I’m not even sure what I am to him alive.

Definitely not someone he loves. And why wouldn’t he have loved someone else before he knew me?

He has a freaking teenage daughter.

I’m little better than a one-night stand and his lab rat. We’re not together.

Not yet.

Not ever.

But Troy strikes me as a dumbass clod.

Here’s Destiny, already crying because she forced herself to confront a terrible loss by herself.

Does he really have to remind her what happened? Even if the embarrassed look on his face says he realizes his mistake...ouch.

At least I’m starting to understand why everything in this house is so hush-hush now.

“Me and my big mouth, huh?” Troy smacks himself lightly on the face when I look up again. “Let me make it up to you, Dessy. You want another boat ride before you head home? I’ve taken that sunset cruise three times this week. I’m practically drinking buddies with the captain. We can find your dolphins again. I’m sure your old man won’t mind.”

Tags: Nicole Snow Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net