Page 67 of The Romance Adventure

“Ah, now the flamingos make sense. Love is in the air.”

Scrambling the eggs, I say, “You don’t make sense.”

“No, this map doesn’t make sense.”

“Is that Chip’s sextant?”

“Sure is.”

That reminds me of the bequests. “What’s the Salty Skeleton?”

My younger brother chuckles and goes back to his work. “Hop on board and I’ll tell ya.”

That means he wants me to talk to him about his theories. With a roll of my eyes, I set a plate with some toast in front of him.

“There’s more to the lost crown story, if you want to hear it.”

“Not especially, but I have a feeling you’re not going to spare me.”

CJ hitches a smile. “As you can imagine, with pirates involved, there was a lot of bad behavior. One of Márcia’s grandchildren was kidnapped and became a pirate herself, if the legends are true.”

“Let me guess, you’ve followed in their footsteps.”

“I’m not a pirate, Royal.” CJ’s brow furrows like I’ve read him all wrong. “The kidnapped granddaughter, Flávia, was eventually recovered, but the crown was lost and the Almeidas have been seeking it ever since.”

“I take it this includes you.”

“Chip left me with a commission.”

“Well, have fun looking for something that probably doesn’t exist. You realize he told us these stories so we’d have something to cling to after our parents died.”

CJ shakes his head slowly. “There’s a map in three parts. Supposedly, if you put them all together and flip them over, it leads to the Coroa de Lágrimas.”

“I’m the one over here crying at hearing this story again.”

“No, the lágrimas are something else—precious stones, rubies, diamonds, pearls.”

“Dare I ask what you’ll do if you find this crown?”

“First, we have to find the lágrimas, then the map, the treasure chest, and last but not least, the crown itself.”

“Then what?”

“Then I will make things right.”

“You have a vendetta, too?”

“Remember what Chip said, When right is wrong, what do you do?”

I toss my napkin on the counter and walk off, not willing to think that anything having to do with the story of the lost crown will change my life.

After a shower, during which I think about last night and Isla, I head over to the Driftwood, which brings back to my mind everything CJ said. I tell myself it won’t be awkward to work together after the blind date or the kiss. Things are going to be perfectly normal between us.

As I pull into town, I notice a proliferation of flamingos in front of houses and various businesses. To be clear, they’re plastic flamingos. Maybe CJ isn’t as far out to sea as I thought. Cruising past Beans & Books, I decide to stop and see if Isla wants a ride to the worksite.

Her sister tells me she’s not here.

“Where is she?”