CHAPTER 27
During the first week of the New Year, a snowstorm hit the central plains of Kansas. School was canceled, and everyone went into a mid-westerner’s hibernation with crock pot meals and kids sledding the highest incline they could find.
Lainey didn’t mind spending an afternoon cuddled up with a good book and a warm cup of tea. But not Robert. Every morning, he ran outside and lifted weights on the set he’d moved into Lainey’s garage.
His possessions as a whole took up only a fourth of Lainey’s garage. They wouldn’t close on the new house for another thirty days, but he had moved off base and in with her and Viv.
Lainey was in the middle of a Val Daniels novel when he walked in from the garage, tools in hand, making a B-Line for the kitchen. She heard an appliance scrape against the floor. “What are you doing?” she called out.
“I need to get started on fixing things around here, so Theresa can list it,” he said.
She entered the kitchen and discovered he’d pulled the stove unit away from the wall. “Do you want my help?” she asked.
“I have mortar to secure these loose tiles back into place. I’ll grout the seams tomorrow once they’re set,” he said, pushing the stove even further back. “They’re loose underneath here too,” he grunted.
He crouched down and started lifting tiles. “You could bring me a vacuum to suck up the ...” he stopped mid-sentence.
“What? What is it?” She looked over his shoulder.
They both fell silent. Neither could believe their eyes. It was the coins. The missing Eisenhower silver dollars. Geoff had removed the tiles, cut the subfloor underneath the stove and hidden them there.
“Oh my God,” Lainey gasped.
Robert stood up and shook his head. They both stared at the shiny silver discs people had lost their heads over. In Mac’s case, literally.
Lainey swallowed. “Call Jake. Tell him we found the coins.”