Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
M icah
Micah couldn’t believe Raine had gotten a package right before he’d gone to pick them up. Chills washed over him. It was obvious that Cheyenne was also having a hard time wrapping her head around it.
Raine sat on the couch and nodded for them to sit beside him. Micah sat and took Cheyenne’s hand. Whatever was in the package, it felt important.
Raine ripped off the top and then reached in, pulling out a stack of papers. The top paper looked like a note from Truman. There wasn’t much written on the page.
Raine cleared his throat and read it aloud, his voice catching. “ Hey, bro, I’m sending this out quick just in case. Hopefully, it won’t matter because I will have found the treasure. But I came across this map recently, one of the conquistadors’ maps. I thought I would make sure you got it in case I can’t follow through with it. I’m sorry about everything. I love you.”
Micah watched uncomfortably as tears slipped down Raine’s cheeks. He didn’t know what to do.
Raine rested the note on a table next to him, uncovering the next paper. It appeared to be exactly what Truman had said it was: the conquistadors’ map. He spread it on the coffee table, his fingers lightly traced the lines. “It feels like it’s going to turn into dust. How old is this?” He looked at the side marking. “1809.”
Micah and Cheyenne leaned forward, both staring at the map. Micah thought it depicted some kind of landmass, but there were no identifying marks.
Raine shook his head. “I guess that amulet would’ve come in handy for this.”
Micah’s heart picked up speed. In all the excitement, he had forgotten to fill in even Cheyenne on one crucial detail. “I forgot to tell you both that I couldn’t put the amulet back.”
Cheyenne’s mouth fell open, and her hand flew up to cover it. “What?”
“When I was trapped in that grave and went to return the amulet, I couldn’t get into the crypt. Someone had locked it.” He gave Cheyenne a half smile. “I guess we really haven’t had time to talk about this.”
She waved that away. “No time like the present. So where is the amulet?”
Micah stood and began to pace. “When the grave was covered, I realized it was probably because someone knew we had been there. I decided to put the amulet into one of the cracks in the stone wall at the bottom of the ladder. I didn’t want to come out with it and get us into even more trouble.”
Raine put his hands over his ears. “Shoot. I wish I hadn’t heard that. But I don’t think I would be called on to testify. You’ll have to go in front of the judge and tell him you were goofing around or something. I don’t think anyone would suspect this. Still, you should never lie. That’s never a good thing to do when you’re facing a judge.” He ran his hand through his hair. “But theoretically, we could go get that amulet and possibly read this map, right?”
Nervous angst ran through Micah. “Should we do that?”
Cheyenne didn’t say anything. She looked frozen.
Raine nodded. “You’re right. What am I thinking? I shouldn’t have even opened this with you guys here. I should take this map and tear it up. We should be done with all of it.” He scooped up the map and the letter from his brother and took them past the kitchen and back somewhere that Micah couldn’t see.
Micah returned to Cheyenne’s side and sat. “This is crazy, right?”
She turned and met his eyes. “We could get the amulet tonight. It won’t take long. No one would even know if we went and got it after we’ve already gotten in trouble. They don’t even know what we were doing.”
Micah sucked in a long breath. “I don’t want to get into more trouble. And I don’t want this to blow my chance to be a SEAL. I may have already blown it. I need to consult my dad.” He pulled his phone out and almost called his number.
“You’re right.” She sounded quiet. “We can’t blow your chances. We just can’t do that.”
Raine came back and started moving dishes from the dining room to the kitchen. Micah and Cheyenne followed his lead in helping him get food put away.
Raine waved a hand at them. “I’m really glad we’re not going to do this. If there’s anything we all know for sure, it’s that looking for a treasure never leads to anything good.”
Micah scraped food off a plate into the trash. “You’re right. You’re totally right.”
Cheyenne nodded. “True. Now Micah and I just need to think about how to face the music. Hopefully the judge will let us off easy.”
Raine moved to the sink and began rinsing plates and sticking them in the dishwasher. “This has been a crazy day. I never would’ve imagined getting a letter from my brother and then a call from you guys. It’s just crazy.”
Part of Micah wanted to call his dad and confess everything, and the other part of him wanted to finish what they’d started.
Cheyenne picked up a dishcloth and wiped the dining room table. “Thank you so much for dinner. And thanks for bailing us out of jail and giving us a talk. We have to focus on our future.”
“Me too,” Micah said. “Thank you.”
A few minutes later, they were done helping Raine clean up the kitchen, and he walked them to the front door. “Sorry you guys missed that dinner cruise, but you’re still young; you could do something fun.” He turned to Cheyenne. “When do you go back to school?”
She hesitated. “Two more days. Actually, I forgot I have a surf lesson tomorrow.”
Raine grunted. “You should see if you could get that money back on the surf lesson. Micah could teach you, and they have a bunch of boards at the inn.”
Micah took her hand. “Of course. I was planning on it.”
They only had two more days together. Then they would move on, and their lives would be different.
Micah looked at their hands. Every part of him wanted things to be different. He didn’t want to move on, didn’t want to jump headfirst into the future he’d planned.
Raine gave each of them a hug. “Why don’t you take tomorrow and just have a good day? Then you can call your families and let them know about the jail thing.”
“You think one day won’t hurt?” Micah asked with a frown.
Raine shrugged. “I think you can decide. I’m just letting you know I will give you one more day before I say anything about bailing you out of jail.”
Micah hesitated, then hugged Raine again. “Thank you.”
Cheyenne hugged Raine, too. “Yes, thank you.”
“You two have fun … and stay out of trouble.”
They both said goodbye as he shut the door.
Micah gave her hand a squeeze, and they headed to the truck. He opened the door for her, still feeling out of sorts.
Cheyenne hesitated, looking up to meet his eyes. “I can’t believe I only have two more days. It doesn’t feel like enough time.”
Even though they were in front of Raine’s house, Micah put his hands on her hips and pulled her in to gently kiss her. “I know.”
“Though I guess we will have to see each other again if there’s a court date.”
Micah chuckled, stroking her hair. This woman felt so good to him. He didn’t want things to be over. “I bet we can see if the judge will drop the charges. We can say we were being stupid. You never know.”
Cheyenne nodded. “Didn’t you say your real dad’s a lawyer? Nash just became one, but he’s new at it. Maybe your dad could help us.”
“I guess so. I mean, the rare times I talk to him, he always tells me I can call him if I’m in a bind.”
She leaned in and kissed him again. “I think we’re in a bind.”
“I’d say I’m in a huge bind,” he murmured, leaving a trail of kisses from her cheek to her neck. “Because my whole life just changed.”
“My whole life is changed too. How did that happen?” She laughed, but it sounded sad.
“I don’t know. I guess we did too many deal-breaking kind of things, and now it feels like there’s nothing you could do to break the deal.”
“I know. So where does that leave us?”
He searched her gaze. “Where do you want that to leave us?”
“I guess the adult thing to do is to just move on with our lives.” She let out a long breath. “After you’re done being a SEAL, you can look me up if I’m around. Right? Maybe I’ll be done with school and I’ll be a bigshot attorney.”
Determination pulsed through him as he kissed her and then pulled back. “Forget the adult thing. I want you in my life, Cheyenne. I don’t know what that means, but if doing the adult thing means that you’re not in my life, I won’t do it.”
She laughed again and kissed him. “I want you in my life too.”
He was elated to hear that. “We have one more day together before we face the music with our families. Then we’ll decide how to have each other in our lives.”
“I’ll take one more day.” She blushed. “And a lifetime after that.”