“Yum.”
Charlotte sighed. “Your cat was just making the same appreciative noises.”
Jane snorted. “Are you comparing me to our alley cat?”
“Your alley cat, and yes.” Charlotte paused and met Jane’s eyes. “Where’s your car, still up at North Diamond?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll drive you to get it after breakfast.”
“Thanks,” Jane said gratefully.
“Of course.” Charlotte paused, studied her for a moment. “You want to talk about it?”
“About what?”
“Almost dying.”
“I was being dramatic.”
“Jane, you’re never dramatic. Tell me. I get it, you know.”
Jane did know, and to her surprise, found herself fighting emotions. “I was coming home from work when the storm hit, it all went bad, and— Oh, no.” She broke off, set the food down, and clutched at her throat where her necklace normally lay.
It was gone.
“I lost it,” she whispered. “That’s what happened. Dammit.”
“Your grandma’s necklace?”
“Yes.” And the only thing Jane had of hers. She pulled out her phone and called North Diamond’s urgent care. No one picked up, so she left a message, detailing the necklace she’d lost, also asking them to check with ski patrol.
Knowing exactly what that necklace meant to her, Charlotte came around the island. “Honey.” She slid an arm around her. “Someone will find it and contact the resort.”
Jane nodded, but the dread in her gut told her it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
“How about pancakes with your veggie lasagna and eggs?”
Jane wasn’t the only one who could distract with the best of them. “With chocolate chips?” she asked.
“Is there any other kind?”
Chapter 5
The waves washed over the pebbled sand rhythmically, waking Levi. He took a deep breath. Fresh pine trees and cool, fresh air. Nice. The stunning sky matched the color of the lake in front of him, a sea of blue, surrounded by the jagged Sierra peaks. Next to him on the beach sat an urn.
Amy’s ashes.
Lake Tahoe had been her favorite place on earth. Levi had been her favorite person on earth, going as far back as middle school, when they’d crashed into each other on the monkey bars and cracked heads.
She liked to say he’d knocked himself right into her soul, that there would never be another for her. She’d known that from age twelve. He’d never fully understood it.
Or appreciated it.
Guilt washed over him in tune to the water hitting the sand. Except . . . hold up. The sound was shifting from gentle waves to an obnoxious beep, beep, beep . . .
“Levi? How we doing?”
He didn’t recognize the voice, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to open his eyes, because suddenly something was hammering away at the base of his skull. A sledgehammer. He actually lifted his hands to his head to hold it on his shoulders and felt the tug of an IV.
Damn. That, along with the scent of antiseptic, was a dead giveaway.
He cracked his eyes open and immediately regretted it because the pain behind his eyeballs exploded. “Jesus,” he gasped.
“Take your time. Slow breaths or you’ll get sick.”