“It can’t have been meant for us,” Faith protested. “How would they know we’d dig there?”
“We’ve been searching for the treasure for a month. If they have the other journal, as we suspect they do, they’d know we’re searching for treasure.” Georgie tugged on her fringe.
Not knowing when something could happen would be incredibly stressful. Penelope felt for the whole family.
Darcy sighed. “Looks like it’s time to go through everything again.”
Sam shifted next to her. “I might take Penelope home.”
She glanced at him, surprised. She’d been certain he would want to help his friends.
Brandon smirked. “Good idea. No point us all going through this again.”
His words made no sense, but the smirk did. He figured she and Sam would pick up where they left the kiss. Heat flooded her cheeks. “We can stay and help.”
“They’ve got this,” Sam said, and held out his hand to help her up.
Penelope waited until they were on the road before she asked, “What are you and Brandon planning?”
He glanced at her, a picture of innocence. “What do you mean?”
“You two and Dot and Nhiari have something planned.”
He pressed his lips together.
He didn’t trust her. She shouldn’t be surprised since they’d only just met, but it hurt. “Never mind.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you,” he said. “I promised I wouldn’t.”
“All right.” She respected that. “Did you see a lot of weapons caches when you were in the army?”
“More than I would have liked. We got used to expecting the worst with everything.”
What an awful way to live. “Could Georgie’s parents have been involved in something the children don’t know about?”
Sam jolted. “I hadn’t considered that.”
“Would there be any way of proving it?”
He shrugged. “I’ll discuss it with Brandon.”
Penelope’s stomach rumbled. She hadn’t eaten since her very early breakfast and it was already mid morning. “Do you want to get a bite to eat when we get back to town?”
He smiled. “Sure. Where do you want to go?”
“How about Ningaloo Cafe?” They might time it right to miss the breakfast rush and the lunch crowd.
“All right.”
She stared out at the passing bush. Today had not gone as she’d expected. She’d been hoping for a relaxing day at the beach, hunting for treasure and getting to know Sam.
Though the kiss had been pretty epic. Maybe they would have a chance to revisit it after lunch.
She sneaked a look at Sam. He tapped his hand on the steering wheel, his focus on the road. A slight frown creased his forehead and his mouth was set in a straight line. Probably thinking about the weapons cache. She hated that he had to go through this sort of thing again, especially somewhere he considered safe.
She stayed silent for the rest of the trip into town, content to let him process what had happened. When he pulled in at Ningaloo Cafe, the car park was about half full.
“Can you get us a table and order me a coffee?” Sam asked. “I just have to call someone.”
