Page 193 of Love & Heart Braking

For helping to save Nepos? For spreading love and friendship around? For being a great person? “What for?”

She looked past me. “For finally bagging Devereaux Vincori. You have no idea how painful it was to see him single all those years. Got to the point that we didn’t care who he got with—just that it should be illegal for a man who looks like him to be alone. So on behalf of all of us, thank you.”

Soleil snorted.

I winked at the women. “Happy to help.” And because I was a generous kind of gal, they could even perve at him in his baseball uniform at practices and games.

As long as I was the only one who got to take it off.

When I turned to watch the game, my foot caught on my tote. The heavy bag disappeared through the gap and thudded to the ground under the bleachers. “Shitballs.”

“Let’s hope it didn’t kill anyone,” Soleil said drily.

I’d laugh, but had it?

We squeezed along the row and hurried beneath the bleachers.

Soleil and I both gasped.

The strap of my tote had caught on a hook. Every, single item in the bag was sprawled over the ground.

It couldn’t be.

“Is it time?” Soleil asked.

A feeling akin to reverence filled me. “I think it is, Sol.”

With the respect this moment deserved, both of us approached the first of the objects and crouched. My brows rose. “Another hot sauce bottle.”

“What happened to the other one?”

“Smashed it over a guy’s face.”

She accepted that response without batting an eyelash. “Look. A box of condoms.”

“Really?” I only kept them in my bedside table or date purses.

She read the back. “Expired two years ago.”

Ah. They’d been from precurse times. I found the keys to the manor, then the keys to Yearning Hearts and Yearning Harmony. I pocketed them. There was any number of chocolate wrappers covering the ground.

Nail polish.

Five nail files.

Soleil returned with a stack of notebooks. “Guess I’ve found where every notebook I’ve ever given you went.”

I grimaced. “Oops.”

“Probably my fault for thinking you might get organized one day.”

True. “Oh, check it out. Austin’s fire.” I held up the black box.

“You keep that in your tote,” she said slowly.

Perhaps this was a priceless kind of gift. I shrugged. “I wasn’t aware it was in there or I wouldn’t have.” I’d put it under my shapewear in my new, larger wardrobe.

Our search continued, yielding three full sets of toiletries including toothbrushes, toothpaste, body wash, face cleaner, shampoo, conditioner, and razors.

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