Page 35 of Where I Found You


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“Did they?”

“Someone’s in the wrong. I’ve been told it’s the Heberts, of course.”

“I don’t get it. It was such a long time ago.” Zoey shrugged. “Why not just accept the fact that whoever holds the current title is the legal owner, and move on with your lives?”

“I’m not hung up on it, personally. I couldn’t care less about the land around the Blue Pirogue.” Elisa pressed her thumb against a rogue piece of fuchsia icing. “But it became about more than the land. You know it got personal for a lot of people—especially Noah’s generation. After his dad, well, you know.”

Zoey nodded. “Oh yeah. Scandal of the decade, apparently.”

“You’d think it’d been the scandal of a century. Besides, it’s not just the feud or the stories I’ve been told that have given me my opinion about Noah.” Elisa jerked her gaze to meet her friend’s. “I also have personal experience, remember?” The lending of one sump pump didn’t negate a decade of history.

“Maybe.” Zoey pointed at her with a ring-adorned finger. “But I also know what I saw when I pulled up at the inn the other night—and it wasn’t two people looking at each other like they were locked in an eternal battle.”

“Then you need glasses.” Elisa leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “You’d be cute in them, actually.”

“Don’t change the subject. Though you’re right.” Zoey ate a piece of cookie off the top of her pastry. “I’ve known you long enough that I’ve earned the right to point out the obvious now and then.”

Elisa pinned her friend with a stare. “And what’s so obvious that I’m missing?”

“Easy.” Zoey swiped crumbs off the table onto the floor. “Feud or not, history or not—you’re looking forward to this collaboration with Noah.”

Elisa sat straight, her chair squeaking on the tile floor. “I am not?—”

“You’re trying to convince me—and yourself—that you’re not, but you are.” Her friend nodded. “You’re into this, aren’t you? Tell the truth…and don’t make me pull the scout’s honor card.”

Elisa frowned. “We were never scouts.”

“Well, I was, for a day back in sixth grade. Then I realized I hate camping and brown isn’t my color.” Zoey grinned.

Elisa’s head pounded too hard to argue. “Maybe Iwaslooking forward to the hunt. But only because it had the potential to be fun. Following clues, solving a mystery, finding treasure…it’s a puzzler’s dream.” Her eagerness to get back to the clues surged just from speaking about it.

Then reality diffused the spark. “But I’m not sure how much it’s going to matter. We’re stuck on the first clue.” And now she had the soggy diner to deal with.

“Stuck already? That doesn’t sound like you.” Zoey furrowed her brow. “Though to be fair, it doesn’t sound like you had much time to solve it before the café caught fire, either.”

“True.” She could still remember the stricken look on Noah’s face as he grabbed her hand and hauled her off the Chug a Mug sofa, the way he’d blocked the café’s door with his arm to keep her from going in first…

So maybe it was more than the sump pump.

“The annual Scavenger Hunt is coming up this summer, right? That’s not scratching your puzzler’s itch?” Zoey stood from the table as a middle-aged couple strolled inside the shop, the chimes on the door jingling in their wake. She called to them, “Be right with you!”

“The Scavenger Hunt is a good time, but it’s a lot of work. And it’s a puzzle I have to plan for everyone else.” Elisa hesitated as the truth of her next words hit hard. “This one was planned for me.” Which didn’t make sense considering her lack of relationship with Gilbert Hebert. Still, she couldn’t deny that it made her feel special.

“Planned for you…and for Noah.” Zoey arched an eyebrow at Elisa. “Together.” Then without waiting for a response, she headed for the couple perusing the display case in their matching Magnolia Bay tourist T-shirts. “See anything you like?”

Before the couple could answer, the chimes sounded again, and Linc Fontenot barreled inside, a scowl sketched across his face. “Zoey Claire!”

Zoey jerked at his bellow. “Jumpin’ June bugs, Linc! What’s your problem?”

Elisa smirked. She might technically be Zoey’s best friend, but Linc had always been a close second. And Zoey might be the only person on the bay who could get away with talking to Linc like that.

He came to stand directly in front of Zoey, his eyes narrowed. “You told me the beignets were almond-free.”

“The ones you got were.” She crossed her arms, clearly not intimidated by his towering frame.

“Aye. Does this look almond-free?” He raised the hem of his long-sleeved T-shirt, revealing a six pack of abs covered in pink hives.

The middle-aged woman standing at the counter gawked until her husband nudged her. Elisa covered her mouth to hide her grin.