Page 91 of 5 Golden Flings

“Then we’d better start looking.”

Wow, that wasn’t at all what she’d expected. Acceptance, maybe, but not help. “You’ll help me?”

“That seems like a safer alternative. What are we looking for?”

She shrugged. “I’d imagine a locked box or something that’s hidden. Otherwise, Maria would have found it by now.”

“You don’t think he’d give it to her?”

She shook her head. “He wouldn’t have put her in danger like that, especially knowing she was a single mom. That’s another reason why he hired the management company. It created a buffer between the two of them, so she could honestly say she didn’t know where he was if anyone asked.”

“Smart man.”

Brynn looked around at the decorations they’d hung up. “In so many ways he was. Smart. Sentimental. He cared for the land, and could see so many things others couldn’t. But he had his weaknesses, just like anyone else.”

She’d only caught him drinking twice when she was smaller, always late at night long after she’d gone to bed. Though he’d had quirks about being found or interacting with people when she was a teenager, it had been better...until he’d been diagnosed with cancer. By then, it had been too late for treatment. He’d simply waited too long to see a doctor.

“Let’s start back in the attic while its relatively warm,” Colby suggested. “Then we can close down the house was we go.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Brynn agreed.

A couple of hours later they both collapsed in front of the fireplace, tired and cold. Colby put a couple of pieces of the fresh load of wood they’d brought in onto the low fire to build it up.

Brynn sighed. “Well, we have nothing to show for that but some very dusty clothes and cold feet. I’d kind of hoped we’d find something more with a fresh set of eyes.”

“But look at it this way, we know where it’s not.”

Always the optimist.

“True.” Her brain tuned in to the whistling sound of the wind outside, distracting her from the sense of letdown. “I just wish I knew where else to look.”

“Let’s take the night off—after all, we aren’t going anywhere. We can come at it fresh in the morning.”

“I feel the need to be doing something.” Then she might be able to shake the jittery feeling inside.

“I know. But you’ve done enough today. What you need is to relax, especially since we will have to take turns keeping the fire going during the night.”

“You mean you aren’t going to take it on all by yourself?” she teased.

“Not now that I know you can.”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “Fine. I will contribute to keeping us warm.”

“Well, I’m happy to do my part. How about a hot bath?”

Brynn felt her muscles relax at just the thought of sliding into a tub of hot water. “That would be awesome, but I’d imagine the water in the hot water heater is already gone cold.”

“No problem. We can heat some over the fire.”

“Won’t that take forever?”

“I doubt it.” He pointed to a hook inside the fireplace. “Looks like the fireplace is already set up for cooking. I’d imagine, as old as the house is, there was a tendency to lose power like this. Maria probably has pots specifically for heating water. Let’s go check.”

Sure enough, there were a couple of large stock pots with handles perfect for hanging over the fire. Colby filled them up,then carried the heavy loads into the living room to heat. While they did their thing, he lit several candles in the bathroom. There wasn’t a way to heat the bathroom, but at least they’d be able to see something.

Shadows danced over the walls and fixtures as he poured enough hot water to mix with some cool in the deep claw-foot tub. She didn’t want to think about how romantic everything looked.

But she couldn’t stop herself.

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