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I had his attention now.

“Go on.” The words rolled out smooth and glib.

“We’ve been promised a secret treasure.” I widened my eyes to punctuate this revelation.

“A secret treasure. Interesting.” Pringle rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “What is it?”

“Nobody knows. That’s what makes it so exciting.”

The raccoon narrowed his eyes at me.“Hey, you’re not trying to pull one over on me, are you?”

I shook my head adamantly.“No, of course not!”

“Hmmm…” Pringle rubbed at his chin some more. His lips began to move as he mouthed words, but no sound came out. Finally he smiled and said, “Okay, sold.”

“Excellent.”

He switched from business mode to action mode so quickly, the change was almost visible on his face.“Now where can I find that flock?”

I filled him in on all the details—or at least as many as I could without losing his attention—and suggested he start by heading over to Dewdrop Springs. “I’m on it,” Pringle promised before dropping the phone to the ground and scampering off.

Crash! The sound of the phone colliding with the hardwood floorboards sounded like a peal of thunder on my end of the call.

“My phone!” Charles cried from his side.

I couldn’t help but laugh as he retrieved the fallen gadget and searched it for any signs of damage.

“Not funny,” he said but laughed along with me. “I sure do miss you. Have a great time, but hurry home, okay?”

I agreed, and we said goodbye. A huge part of me wished I’d never agreed to this trip in the first place. But I saw Charles live and in person several times each week. Octo-Cat only ever got to speak with his girlfriend over the Internet. They needed this trip to keep their relationship strong. As obnoxious as my cat had been this entire trip, at leasthe was happy. That made my short-term discomfort worth it, especially if the two cats had a great time this week.

“I’ll need a payment, too, and you can’t trick me like you did the raccoon,” Octo-Cat informed me from his place in the torn-up back seat, proving that he couldn’t go longer than a few minutes without complaining about or demanding something.

I didn’t turn to look at him, because I knew it would send a new pain twinging down my neck. Stupid car accident. Maybe Grizabella’s human could recommend a good chiropractor while we were in Colorado because I needed to do something to treat this pain, and I really didn’t want to have to endure another long drive and a whole week of waiting before getting it.

“I’m not paying you anything,” I muttered and stretched my arms out in front of me with a yawn.

He tsked and declared,“Ah, ah, ah. Finder’s fee. It was my idea to bring him in, wasn’t it?”

Darn it. I really couldn’t argue with him on that one.

Chapter Sixteen

Somewhere amid the rolling hills of Iowa, we finally settled into our drive. In fact, I didn’t even argue when Octo-Cat asked to listen to his audiobook a second time.

“I just want to make sure I’m one hundred percent prepared to woo and wow my love, Grizabella,” he explained with a contented sigh.

And it could have been a byproduct of just how boring it was to drive on the expressway for thirty-plus hours at a stretch, but the things Dr. Roman was saying actually started to make sense the second time around.

Romance is a verb because it requires action.

On the surface level, Charles battling the seagulls on my behalf wasn’t exactly romantic. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was the best gift he’d ever given me. In just about a week’s time, I could be standing face to face with my long-lost biological grandmother, and it would be because Charles had stepped up to help.

I owed him one heck of a souvenir from Boulder, although I already knew nothing could come close to what he’d already freely offered me and my family.

“Nan,” I asked after internally debating whether I should broach this topic at all. Ultimately, I knew it would eat at my insides until I finally let it out. “Are you sure you’re okay with me reaching out to my other grandmother?”

She was the one driving now, and as much as I didn’t want to upset her by talking about difficult topics, I just couldn’t get this particular one off my mind. If anyone could understand the need to let it all out, it was my nan. She had a habit of letting it all hang out—for better or for worse—and her choosing to share my secret with her online friends was even more proof of that. Still, as angry as I was with her for that, I would never voluntarily hurt her feelings. I needed to know I had her blessing for whatever happened next with my bio grandma. I needed to hear her say it was okay and to believe her when she said it.

Nan clenched the wheel so hard her knuckles turned white. Not a good sign.“It was wrong of me to keep her from you for this long. I just hope you and your mother can one day forgive me for that.”

“We already have,” I promised, placing a hand on her shoulder so she could feel all the love I had for her, still and always.