Page 89 of The Hermit on the Hill

"Bring the dessert and we can eat it at the bakery," I said. "Whatever you need to tell me, you can do it there."

His expression gave nothing away. I couldn't tell if he was disappointed or sad.

I was sad. So very sad that our relationship had come to this, so sad that I had to keep the man I loved at a distance to protect myself.

He followed me downstairs and back outside to the bakery. We found a table in a far corner and sat. There were about ten other customers inside, but they all faded away as I faced Sam across that table.

He handed me the box of goodies, and I opened it. "Want a bun or a cupcake?"

"Nothing," he said. "You eat. I'll talk."

I lifted the cinnamon bun to my mouth, but I couldn't eat. My stomach had twisted into a hard knot and my hands trembled from more than just the air conditioning.

"You talk. We'll eat after."

He dipped his chin. "I figured out the last charm, Jenna. I know where to look next."

That wasn't at all what I'd been expecting him to say. That hope I'd pushed down flamed up and burned to ash.

Still, curiosity won out against despair and hurt. "What is it?"

His smile was wry. "It wasn't a charm at all. It was Nana's recipe for apple pie."

"Apple pie?" I thought it over. "Okay. The sugar cane makes sense, the white stuff must have been flour, but what was the moldy stuff?"

"Cheese. Cheddar cheese."

I stared. "Cheese in apple pie? That can't be right."

"It is. I spoke with some women who knew my grandmother at the… Um, well, I spoke to them—"

"At the intervention? Mom told me about it. I'm so happy for you, Sam. Does this mean you're staying in town?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks pinking. "That's embarrassing. But, yes, I guess it was an intervention. I'm not moving all the way to Wyoming, but whether I stay in town will be up to you."

"Up to me? Why?"

He shook his head. "I'm fucking this up. What's important for you to know right now is that Nana's apple pie had cheese in it. The next clue or the treasure, I'm not sure which, will be in her apple orchard where she picked the apples she used for the pie."

"Wow. So she just changed all the rules in the middle of the treasure hunt."

He grinned. "Yeah, pretty much. She never was much of a fan of rules. Anyway, I was hoping you'd go with me to search the orchard."

I shivered, feeling all the emotions at once just as baby boy kicked me in the ribs. "I'm not sure that's a good idea. Maybe you could just text me a picture of what you find?"

He met my gaze head on, and the determination in his eyes scared me. "I fucked up, Jenna. I saw the way people in town were treating you at the festival, and I wanted to protect you. Removing myself from your life seemed like the best way to do it."

"I figured that out. You're a good man, Sam. We don't have to be friends or search for treasure together, we just need to be good parents to our son."

He leaned across the table. "What if I want more than that?"

"You'll find it some day. You'll meet a woman you can't help but fall in love with and—"

"Hey, Jenna." May plopped into the chair next to mine like she belonged there. "Hi, Sam. How are you?"

I sighed in relief, grateful for the interruption. Hopefully, Sam would give up and head on home to find the treasure himself. I really wanted to see it, to have that moment of finding it, but… Well, this was better.

"I'm great," Sam said. "I was just trying to convince Jenna to go back to the house with me to find a buried treasure."

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