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The black iron stairs to Hez’s condo clanged under Savannah’s feet as she climbed to the second floor. A fishing boat motored toward the Pelican Harbor dock, and another boat blasted its horn out on Bon Secour Bay. The scent of crab cakes should have made her hungry since she hadn’t eaten since last night. She hadn’t touched the cinnamon roll Jess had insisted on buying her. Her stomach was still in knots from the news.

The door was locked, and she pressed the doorbell. It seemed forever until Hez opened it. His hair askew and sans tie and suit jacket, he blinked blearily down at her. The welcoming smile that appeared fell away when he finally focused on her face.

She threw herself into his arms, and the familiar scent of his cologne soothed her agitation. “Were you sleeping? Just hold me a minute.”

His arms came around her. “I didn’t get much sleep last night, so I took a nap on the sofa after I got back.”

He hugged her tightly to his chest, and his heartbeat sped up under her ear. “What happened?”

She lifted her head to stare up at him through her tears. He wouldn’t expect her to be strong the way Jess had. Hez always understood. “They gave tenure to Tony. I’m out.”

Her voice wobbled at the end, and fresh tears blurred her vision. “I—I can’t stay here, Hez. I have to find a new job somewhere else.”

“Oh, babe.”

He folded her close again and rested his chin on her head for a moment before he stepped back and guided her into the living room. He dropped into the armchair and pulled her onto his lap. “Cry it out, and we’ll talk.”

The sound of his deep, confident voice coupled with the security of his arms was enough to stop her tears. She gulped and wiped her face with her palms. “I’m okay. I should have expected it. I mean, Tony Guzman is a first-class professor. It was wrong of me to expect my family connections to sway anything. It should be based on merit alone—and it was.”

His fingers rippled through her hair in a soothing gesture. “He’s good, but he’s not better than you. Your book about the history of the university should have been something the committee took into account too. They’ve lost a star.”

His voice still sounded groggy, but she’d never known him to nap in the middle of the afternoon. He really must have been tired. “Your new clinic is here, Hez. I’ll try to find something close enough for us to at least see each other on the weekends.”

His fingers in her hair stilled. “Not going to happen, Savannah. Now that we’ve found our way back to each other, I won’t let anything come between us. We can check out Birmingham universities. There are several, and I could go back to work for Jimmy or set up shop just about anywhere.”

“But what about your clinic?”

His palms cupped her face, and he stared into her eyes. “You’re more important to me than anything else. A clinic like mine is a draw to law students. Someone will want it eventually. Maybe the timing isn’t right yet.”

She slid her arms around his neck and pulled his face down for a kiss. His arms tightened around her, and his kiss drove out the pain and humiliation of the morning. Her smile and optimism returned when he lifted his head. “I don’t know how you do it, but I knew you’d make everything right again. We’ve weathered far worse than this setback.”

Her pulse resumed its normal rhythm, and she laid her head back on his chest. “It’s only about four hours to Birmingham. We could visit Ella’s grave any weekend we wanted.”

His fingers resumed their path through her hair. “I could check out Mobile for a job too. It wouldn’t have to be Birmingham. Being close to Ella’s grave is important to both of us. We have options, babe. The only thing that isn’t an option is splitting up.”

His final words ended in a yawn. “I should make coffee and try to wake up. I’ve never been on the witness stand, and I didn’t realize how grueling it was.”

She patted his arm. “Did Beckett’s lawyer give you a hard time?”

He nodded. “It was Martine Dubois. Do you remember her?”

Savannah remembered her very well. She first met Martine on one of her and Hez’s early dates. Martine spotted them at an outdoor table at Maria’s and walked up. She commented that Hez had been working out and squeezed his upper arm. She then left her hand on his shoulder as Hez introduced Savannah, and they chatted for a couple of minutes. Then Martine trailed her hand across the back of Hez’s neck as she walked away. Savannah was sure Martine was making a power move, but Hez insisted she was just a friend and touched people a lot. “She didn’t go easy on you even though you’re friends?”

He chuckled. “That’s not her style. She wouldn’t go easy on her own grandma if she thought it might hurt her chances of winning.”

“How did it go?”

“I think my testimony helped the case, but Hope has an uphill battle for conviction on the two murders. Beckett will probably get convicted on the kidnapping and attempted murder charges but acquitted on everything else.”

She winced before kissing him again and sliding off his lap. “I’ll make coffee. You need it good and strong. You have anything to eat in the fridge? I’m starving.”

“Leftover shrimp bisque. There’s enough for both of us. I’ll go get a breath of fresh air. That should wake me up. We can take a walk along the water and make plans.”

She kicked off her pumps and padded on bare feet to the kitchen. She dumped an extra scoop of coffee in the grinder and washed out the carafe, then grabbed the old filter and grounds. When she opened the trash, she froze.

An empty bottle of Mondavi cabernet sauvignon lay atop the rest of the garbage.

Her lungs squeezed, and she couldn’t draw in a breath. Hez had been so groggy when she arrived. Was this the reason? The fingers of her right hand crept to the comfort of fondling the bracelet on her left.

Maybe someone had given it to him and he’d dumped it down the sink. She hadn’t smelled alcohol on his breath, but she’d been so upset, she might not have noticed. Tears burned her eyes again, and she swallowed hard. Was their newfound happiness a sham?

* * *

Hez pushed himself out of the armchair as Savannah went into the kitchen to make coffee. He opened the door leading to the condo’s little balcony and walked out, letting the chilly breeze blow the last wisps of grogginess out of his head. He surveyed Pelican Harbor’s quaint little French Quarter. The cries of seagulls mingled with the pleasant hum of voices on the street below and jazz from a couple of better-than-average street musicians. A pair of mourning doves cooed from the power lines across the street. The familiar smells of fresh coffee and hot beignets drifted up from Petit Charms. Most days, he would have been tempted to go down for a sweet snack and jolt of caffeine, but he had no appetite after Savannah’s tenure news.

This place had just started to feel like home, but it wasn’t. They would have to pick up and start over somewhere else. He could set up shop basically anyplace that had a courthouse and affordable office space, but what about Savannah? What if another school denied her tenure in a couple of years? How many chances would she get? Had TGU been her best shot?

She seemed to be holding up well, but this must have been a real gut punch—and one that she wouldn’t recover from quickly. She’d feel it every time she set foot on her beloved TGU campus.

He shook his head. She said he’d made everything right again, and he wished that were true. She deserved to be happy. He shoved his hands in his pockets and fidgeted with the contents. The longing to be husband and wife again only intensified with each day. One day soon she’d be his again. He’d be able to roll over in the morning and find her warm and still groggy in the same bed. That time couldn’t come soon enough for him.

“Hez?”

The brittleness in Savannah’s voice told him something was wrong even before he turned around.

Her auburn hair stood out from her head as if she’d raked her hands through it. Her green eyes were wide and disbelieving in her white face. She held out a bottle like an accusation. A wine bottle.

A chill went through him. “Where did you get that?”

Her voice was barely above a whisper. “Your trash.”

His heart stopped. “I—I have no idea how it got there.”

“Hez, this is Mondavi cab. You always used to have a couple of bottles in the kitchen before—”

She stared down and blinked.

“Before Ella died and I became an alcoholic.”

He rubbed his forehead. “I know. Look, Savannah, I never saw that bottle before. Someone must have planted it in my trash.”

He winced inwardly as soon as the words were out of his mouth. He sounded so desperate and paranoid.

“Why . . . why would someone do that, Hez? And who would know about your go-to wine from three years ago?”

He shook his head as the implications of the bottle in her hand sank in. Someone had broken into his apartment. Someone who knew a lot about his personal history. “I don’t know, but I’ll figure it out.”

She drew a shaky breath. “I know recovering from alcoholism is really hard. I’ll be there for you, no matter how long it takes.”

Her words cut through him like a cold knife. “I haven’t had a drink in over a year. I swear it. I swear it before God. Someone is trying to frame me.”

His brain whirred, spitting out half-formed theories. “Augusta hasn’t caught the smugglers yet—maybe it’s one of them. But how would they know I drank Mondavi cab? The mole in the police department! That’s it! There must be something in the file on Ella’s death that—”

Her shoulders started to shake and a ragged sob broke from her throat. “I—I can’t do this. Not now.”

“Savannah, you have to believe me. I—”

He reached out to touch her arm, but she flinched away.

“I’m sorry, Hez. I have to go.”

She turned and fled.

“Savannah, wait!”

He started to follow her, but she was gone. He heard the front door open, followed a moment later by the clatter of steps on the outside stairs.

He stood alone in the middle of the empty apartment and sighed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. He opened it. A diamond sparkled in the rays of late-afternoon sun slanting in through the living room window. It was the same diamond he gave her the first time but reset in a new band with five small rubies, one for each year of their first marriage. He’d been waiting for the right moment to give it to her.

Would that moment ever come?