Page 24 of Steinbeck (The Minnesota Kingstons #5)

EIGHT

“He’s amazing, Em.”

Emberly looked up at Nimue, who sat with her legs folded on her wide daybed swing under the front porch of her beachside cottage.

White porch, sky-blue house, not even twelve-hundred square feet, but perfect for Emberly’s little sister.

It had been remodeled inside and out by Nimue, who’d gutted the kitchen, the bathroom, and the two bedrooms and even renovated the back patio to include a small round hot tub.

Never mind her upstairs office that overlooked the ocean. Teched out with the latest gear, Nimue freelanced out her hacking skills, under contract with security companies to test their systems.

Now, they both watched Steinbeck in the yard, building a gazebo over the stone patio in Nimue’s quaint yard.

Indeed, the man exuded amazing, stripped down to his shorts, a layer of sweat sheening his body, the sun glistening on his skin. He wore a pair of wraparound sunglasses, a baseball hat backward over his dark golden hair, and talked to himself as he read the printed instructions for the build.

The scent of sawdust mingled in the salty breeze, and the crash of the ocean on the beach hummed in the air.

Four days and she’d finally started to unwind. She’d eaten pizza. Watched movies. Played chess with Steinbeck.

It felt like Phoenix had dropped away, lost somewhere over the ocean.

“I never thought you’d find someone who could?—”

“Put up with me?”

“No. Keep up with you.”

Emberly smiled. “I wasn’t sure bringing him here was the right move.” She wore a pair of cutoff jeans and a tank top, sipped lemonade. “But...” She glanced at Nimue. “What if I left the Swans?”

Nim raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“You’re smiling.”

“I just... I worry.” She lifted a shoulder. “So do Boz and Anna.”

“Boz got me into this.”

“Doesn’t mean he doesn’t worry about you. His sixtieth birthday is coming up. You should come.”

She met Nimue’s golden eyes. “That’s your family, not mine.”

Nim sighed. “You’re always welcome. Your picture is still on the wall?—”

Emberly held up a hand.

Nimue drew in a breath and took a sip of her lemonade. “All right. For the record, I’m a fan of you leaving the Swans. But...” She glanced out at Steinbeck. “What does he think?”

“I haven’t told him yet. I’ve barely told myself.”

Nimue laughed.

“Truth is, I can’t seem to break away from the idea that this isn’t over. Somehow the Bratva found Luis in Porto, and...”

Nimue’s mouth opened. “You came to check on me.”

“Of course I did.” She met Nim’s eyes.

“You can stop taking care of me, sis. I can take care of myself.”

Emberly watched as Steinbeck raised one of the poles and fitted it into a concrete anchor he’d built.

“Maybe you should be more concerned with yourself and making sure you’re not in for heartbreak.”

Emberly glanced back at her sister. “What?”

“I’m not talking about him—I’m talking about you. Leaving him .”

“What would I?—”

Nimue gave her a look.

“Listen. I’m not the same person I was back then.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“I just know when I’m not wanted.”

“You are your own worst enemy, sis. Maybe stop projecting all of your greatest fears onto someone and then reacting as if you’re right.” She unwound herself. “Maybe give the guy a chance before you ditch him.”

“I brought him here, didn’t I?”

“So far, so good. I just don’t want you to suffer from the same ailment our mother had and abandon a good thing when it gets scary.”

Emberly glanced out at Steinbeck, who’d set the other pole in place.

“You’re almost all the way to happily ever after,” Nimue said softly. “Don’t spook now.”

Emberly breathed in the words. Turned back to Nimue. The wind stirred the nearby planter of geraniums. “We’ll see who spooks first.”

“He’s a former SEAL. My guess is that you’re in for a fight.”

His words on the balcony filtered back to her. “That’s not my mission, Emberly.”

Oh no. Was she still a project?

Nimue leaned forward. “So, I dug through the dark web, and Tomas has gone silent. I know you’re still worried about what the Bratva is up to.”

“I just can’t figure out how they corrupted that service animal at the fair—or if it was even them. We could be dealing with a global threat.”

“One day at a time,” Nimue said. “Let’s start with tracking down Tomas and his ilk and figuring out their agenda. And that means sleuthing out how they found you in Porto. All I can think is that they picked up Luis’s 911 call to your boss.”

“But how? We have the safe house on its own encrypted server. I updated the entire place a year ago. New server, new equipment. Besides, Luis said he’d created a false trail.”

“How?”

“He logged into their smart TV?—”

Nim sat back. “And left a footprint.”

“He’s smarter than that.”

“Yes. Maybe. Technology is changing all the time. Although... maybe...” She got up. “Give me your server information. I have an idea.”

Emberly followed Nimue into the house, where she opened her computer and pointed Nimue to her stored information.

“Can I take this upstairs?”

“To your lair?”

“To the hub.” Nimue winked. Emberly shooed her away.

She filled a water pitcher and made more lemonade, was turning to bring it outside when Stein came in, covered in sweat and sawdust, his blond hair peeking out of his hat.

“I’ll give you everything I own for a glass of that.”

She smiled. “Wow. That’s quite an offer.” She pulled down a glass and filled it.

“Not really. My bank account is nearly deflated. I’m going to have to cash in some index funds.”

He’d pulled on his shirt and now stood at the counter, drinking. Admittedly, Emberly didn’t think Steinbeck could fit into this world. Not her world, really, but...

“I should have the gazebo done by tonight,” he said. “I guess all those months helping Doyle and Jack at the inn finally paid off. Your sister did a great job on the remodel.”

He was probably noticing the white wood-tiled floors, the granite island, the clean shiplap walls, the way her house seemed at once simple and yet relaxing.

“I love it here. Nim was always way more creative than me.”

“Hardly.” He slid onto a high-top chair.

“You’re plenty creative. You’ve tricked me more than once with your disguises.

” He smiled, so much tease in it that it only added to his devastating charm.

“ Ashley . And I keep thinking about the wedding. You were a server at the family dinner, weren’t you? ”

Her mouth opened. Closed. “You remember that?”

“I remember a waitress who nearly ran me down.”

“I thought for sure you’d recognize me.”

He took a drink, his blue eyes on her. “I should have. You’re not easy to forget.”

“Were you trying?”

“Maybe.” He held her eyes. “Not successfully.” He got up. “And not anymore.”

And her words from Lisbon just over a week ago stirred inside her, when he’d asked her what kind of different life they might work in.

“A life where... when I look at you, I don’t see my mistakes. The things I’ve done. And where you don’t look at me and see... regret. And anger.”

Maybe he remembered them too, because he stepped over to her. “That was then. This is now.” He set down his lemonade. “I don’t regret anything, Emberly.”

“Even Krakow?”

“Especially Krakow.” His fingers traced her cheek. “Truth is, Krakow changed my life. I learned more about God, and myself, after that than I ever had...”

She couldn’t think with the heat that tremored under her skin at his touch, so she caught his hand. “Like what?”

His gaze landed on her mouth for a moment before he stepped back.

“Like in my darkest moment, God showed up. I woke up in the hospital in Germany, doped up on morphine, the world hazy, and the first thing I saw was my parents, hanging out beside my bed. And through the glass, the entire rest of my family, who’d boarded planes to make sure I was okay.

Ironically, it was one of my happiest moments.

” He sat on the stool. “Because I knew that despite the trauma, and whatever would happen ahead of me, I had... my team.”

Her throat tightened. She exhaled and leaned on the island. “I guess I never had that kind of team. It was always just Nim and me. My mom loved her dad. He was this professor from Nigeria. My mom always said he was a prince.” She laughed. “She was happy with him. I remember that.”

“And your dad?”

“A rogue Scot.”

He grinned. “Of course.”

“But Nim and I, we just... we were always glue. Especially after her dad died and Mom sort of... lost it. Nim was my responsibility.”

“Which is why you went back for her.”

She nodded. “And then we ended up at the Davidsons’ and everything changed.” She looked up at him. “It was really good for a while. The Davidsons were good people. They’d cultivated a sort of camaraderie with the other kids. Boz was?—”

“Why do you call him Boz?”

“Some of the kids called him Dad, but I... well, he suggested Boz—his real name was Boaz—and Anna. And everybody loved them. And I started to also.”

She stood up, turned to the fridge. “Want a sandwich?”

“Why did you leave, Emberly? What really happened?”

His soft voice could unravel her. She stood, gripping the fridge handle. “I got saved.”

Silence.

She turned and he wore a frown. “And that’s bad?”

“No. Yes. I mean—Boz was involved in this summer tent-revival thing. He was there every night for a week, and so...” She sighed.

“I just... I wanted it, all right? I sat there with the other kids and listened to this message of forgiveness and I saw who I was, and I wanted what they had. So... I went forward.”

He said nothing.