Page 129 of The Last Goodbye

Josephine

Josephine Sinclair was a badass.

She was fearless about raising me on her own. She didn’t want his money. She stood up to him in a way I was fairly certain no one else ever had.

I held the third and final letter against my chest and leaned back, allowing the tears to fall.

I love you, Mama.

thirty-one

​. . .​

Bass

It had been four days since Briar left Blue Sky Bay. Four fucking days, and I hadn’t heard a word from her.

She hadn’t responded to my texts or my calls.

I’d just called her brother Denton because I was—not okay.

Of course, I’d had this brief thought that maybe I’d really been played by this woman. That maybe she’d known all along about the plan to put a high-rise in the middle of a small fucking town. That maybe it was all a lie, and she’d left Blue Sky Bay that day with no intention of ever returning.

But then I thought about Briar. About the woman I’d gotten to know over the last few months.

The woman who lit up every room she walked in.

And I fucking knew her. I knew who she was to her core. I knew her fears. I knew her power and her goodness.

Something more was going on, and I needed to get to the bottom of it.

“Hey, Bass,” Denton said when he answered the call, which almost surprised me, considering she had completely ghosted me.

“Hi. I haven’t been able to reach Briar in four fucking days, and I’m worried about her.” I paced around the deck of my houseboat.

“Listen, Bass, this is not my story to tell,” he said, and I could hear the frustration in his voice. “There’s some serious family shit going down. I think she’s let her phone die, because I haven’t been able to reach her, either. I went by her apartment yesterday, and she said she didn’t want to talk right now and she wasn’t feeling well. She said she’d call me soon. I can keep you posted when I hear from her.”

“Fuck that. I’m not letting her deal with whatever the hell is going on with your family alone. It’s what she’s had to do since the day she lost her mother. No more. Text me her address now. I’m getting on a plane.”

He was silent for a few beats, and then he spoke. “Glad to hear it. I’ll text you the address.”

“Thank you.”

“And Bass,” he said, his voice sounding a bit less sulky now.

“Yeah?” I asked as I hurried down the steps of my boat and opened my laptop to book a flight.

“Let her know that I found a way to hold up the deal on the land in Blue Sky Bay. But I don’t know how long I can hold things off.”

“I mean this with all due respect, but I don’t give a fuck about the hotel or your family business. I’m coming for one reason only. To bring my lady back home where she belongs. Text me the address.” I ended the call and quickly searched for direct flights leaving today.

I booked my flight, called Winona and told her that I was going to find Briar, and she told me she’d get the restaurant covered and she was happy I was going there.

I tossed some clothes in a bag and texted the guys to let them know what was going on.

I can’t get into the details now, but I’m catching the next flight to New York.

Cannon