Page 113 of The Two Last Moments

My eyes sink closed as I realize who knew. Denise, the barista from Sugar & Yeast Café. That morning, I left Travis’s camper before he woke up and took the bus into Solvang. I stopped by the café, hoping to see Cam and ask if I could borrow his car. I thought he’d feel bad enough about our breakup to say yes. Not very nice of me, but like I said—I was all kinds of desperate.

Cam wasn’t at work. But Denise was. And I was dumb enough to let slip that I was traveling that day. Denise wouldn’t let me borrow her car, so I took the bus.

Denise probably called Zander when Danny and I showed up later in Solvang, too.Unbelievable.No wonder he was able to follow us to the beach. Denise was full of sympathy, giving us freaking cookies, whileplanning to call my evil brother and snitch on me.

“Your friend called Zander,” Starla explains, enjoying every minute of this, “and he told me. Took me all of two seconds to guess your destination. If you’d reached this house, you would’ve ruined everything for me. So I told Zander to stop you.”

“You sent him to kill me.”

“I had him wait in a car on Nina’s street, just in case you showed up. And you did.” Her smile falters, and her grip on the strap of her bag tightens. “Then imagine my shock and concern when I heard the dramatic story about Danny saving a woman’s life. That, combined with Zander calling me in a panic. I was about ready to grab my cash and run. But apparently, you’d lost your memories. You showed up at the house—Ireallywas nervous then—but you had no clue who I was.”

My stomach burns as I think about that day. I shook Starla’s hand, oblivious to the fact that she had ordered my death. She was the villain hiding in plain sight.

And now she’s trapped me. How the heck am I going to get out of this?

38

Inever thought I’d see the day. But Nina and Travis are hugging, and I’m grinning and tearing up.

This is really happening.

The moment I told her that someone was here to see her, Nina looked at me with wide, shocked eyes. Like she knew. Then I waved him in, and immediately she started to cry. For a minute there I was nervous, given how weak she was from her ordeal earlier today. But then she opened up with the biggest smile I’ve seen from her in ages.

“Travis, come here and hug your momma,” she said, and then it was all over for the three of us. Laughing and sobbing and grinning ear to ear.

It’s impossible to describe. How the years seem to be melting away, even though all three of us are a hell of a lot older and worn down by the time that’s passed. Hopefully wiser too. Because now that it’s happening, I realize how foolish I was to question it.

Travis sits on the stool by Nina’s bed, while I stand on her other side. He holds her hand as they talk about what they’ve missed in each other’s lives. Travis keeps wiping his eyes as he explains why he stayed away.

It would be easy to blame my dad for interfering when Travis wanted to come home before. But after everything, I don’t want to be angry, and Nina certainly doesn’t. We’re focusing on the good memories instead.

“And what about this guy?” Travis says, gesturing at me. “All grown up. I bet you’re proud of him.”

Nina reaches for my hand. “Danny makes me proud every day.”

I tell Travis about my Army days. Joining WOFD. Nina shares about her exchange students, her adventures in retirement. Then she gets to her diagnosis. Cancer, and deciding not to have further treatment. Travis gives us an explanation about his car accident—his lowest point—and the winemaker he works for, a woman I suspect he’s smitten with. Laughter mixes with tears.

I don’t know how much time passes in what feels like the blink of an eye. But then Travis is asking me about Lark. How we ended up falling in love. And I can’t rein in my smile.

“I think I fell for her that first day in the hospital. She’d lost her memory, but she had so much personality. Making me laugh. I’d never met anyone like her.”

“Sounds like the Lark I know,” Travis says.

“From that very first day, Lark was—” I look around, realizing she’s not here.

Did she leave? Or did she not come in? She probably intended to give us a minute to ourselves, even though I would’ve loved to have her stay the whole time. This is where she belongs. Just shows how overwhelmed I’ve been that I didn’t notice her absence before.

A glance at my watch tells me it’s been half an hour at least that we’ve been here, reminiscing.

Where is she? We’re practically having a party, and she’s missing out.

Then Nina says the same thing I was just thinking. “Lark should be here with us.” Her words are slightly slurred. She’s getting worn down, but no way am I going to tell my grandmother to go to bed. I’ll wait for the nurse to do that.

And speaking of, where is Ryan?

A thread of worry winds around my heart.

39

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