Page 85 of Treasure and Tarot

“Hank said to keep an eye out just in case, you know, because of…reasons.”

“Right. Reasons. Yeah, good idea. Stall, but yeah.”

“Sounds perfect. I’ll talk to you later.”

He hung up, his heart racing.

One of the cookbooks flew off the shelf and slammed down on the ground, the sound like the cracking of a whip.

“Stop it.”

Colton raised an eyebrow, not even flinching before bending to pick it up. “Problem?”

“Mmm. There are some folks at the Grand Springs Hotel asking how to get here.” He looked pointedly at Abby. “To talk to you.”

“Sh—ugar. Abby, baby, can you go get that present we wrapped yesterday? It’s in my big desk drawer. The one on the bottom that has the little horse you like in it.” Colton beamed at their girl.

“I can, Papa. I get it.” She hopped down and ran off skipping happily and managing to sound like a herd of elephants.

“They can’t see her. I will not allow it. I want to be perfectly clear with you on this point.” There was absolutely nothing he would not do for his little girl, and those people did not have her best interests in mind.

“No, they cannot see her. That’s not part of the deal, and that is if they came with a written apology and a billion dollars in a college fund for her. They tried to steal my daughter from me.” Colton looked green around the edges.

Sebastian didn’t point out that they did steal three years—four years, really—from both of them and Abby, because Colton didn’t need him to make it any worse. “So long as we’re bothclear. I don’t know when they’ll come, but I don’t want them here. They’re not welcome in our house.”

“Damn it.” Colton growled low under his breath. “I swear to God, I want to just go down there and tell them to get the hell out of Secret Springs. Don’t they dare come up here.”

“Yeah, unfortunately that’s not how life works. You can’t run them out of town until they do something terrible. Like something new and terrible. Or like, illegal, terrible.”

“Do you think I should go down and see them, tell them to leave us alone?”

Sebastian shook his head, rejecting that idea with all he was. “No. No way. This is our Valentine’s Day—our first Valentine’s Day, the first one you get with Abby. Don’t let them mess this up. This is important. It’s late to be starting up the mountain pass when you don’t know where you’re going anyway.” Sebastian winked at him. “And the snows are supposed to come back tomorrow.”

“Yeah, that’ll be fun.” Colton took a deep, calming breath. “I like that idea.”

“They can just stay there in the hotel. I think we should let Hank know for sure.”

Colton nodded. “I can see that. He can keep an eye on everything, and it’s not like he doesn’t know every single person in that town. They can keep my parents occupied until they have to fly home.”

Sebastian nodded and reached out for his hand. “And if they call?”

“Then I’ll tell them exactly the same thing I told you. They’re not welcome here. This is our home, our family, our babies. Our ghosts. They don’t have a place at this table anymore. They gave it up.” Colton held onto his hand, then pulled him into a hard hug. “I’m so sorry. They suck.”

“They don’t belong here.” Sebastian leaned in, and then he heard the familiar thud of Abby’s feet. “Here comes our girl.”

“Good deal.”

“Papa! I finded it! I finded the present!”

“Aren’t you a brave, smart girl?” Colton beamed at her. “I love you, little chicken.”

“Loves you too, Papa. And Daddy will like his box.”

Sebastian raised an eyebrow at Colton. “After supper. We don’t want to ruin Daddy’s surprise by telling him what it is, huh?”

“Nopes.” She handed the wrapped box to Sebastian. “S’from me and Papa.”

“I can’t wait to see it after supper, baby girl,” Sebastian told her. “I know it will be amazing.”

---