She murmured, “It ain’t my secret to tell.”
“It’s not my mother’s. She’s gone. She’s dead.”
“Your mother ain’t the only one in this secret. There are others involved, even though they don’t know it or not. It’s more their secret than mine.” She nodded. “You get it from them. Not me.”
“But—”
“I’ve had enough of your family. I don’t want anything more from anyone with the name of O’Hara.” Mrs. Bendsfield harrumphed, and she took a faltering step toward the door.
“Wait.”
She looked back, right in the doorway. “I know who your daddy is, and he comes around every now and then. He checks in on you three. He was at your little sister’s funeral.”
The milking door, white and rickety, shut behind her.
“He checks in on you three.”
Mrs. Bendsfield was outside, GoldenEye was eating grain out of her hand. Their eyes caught and held, and Dani knew she’d never come back. Whatever secrets were still there would remain there. She’d find out from someone else.
She just had to find out whom that someone else was.
She headed for the cave, knowing she would find Jonah there.
Trenton spotted her first as he popped up from a dive. He flashed a blinding smile, even more striking against the backdrop of his black wet suit. “Hey, Dani, you come to help us dive?”
“Maybe,” she murmured and sat on the edge with her toes dipped into the water. She rolled up the ends of her pant legs and waited as Trenton dove back down, and a second later, Jonah popped up in his stead.
“Hey.” Jonah grinned as he hoisted himself up beside her. “What are you doing here?” He moved his bucket between them and rubbed off the dirt and grime from the mussels. He dunked them in the river to further clean them.
“Jake stopped by yesterday.” He knew about Boone, but they hadn’t talked about her other visitors.
Jonah paused in his washing.
“He said you have a fight brewing. It’s with Boone’s brother, isn’t it?”
“It is.” He nodded, the teasing left in a flash. “But I can’t talk about it. I can talk about how this mussel is going to save our town’s economy. I can talk about how we don’t need to keep exploiting the river, but about that—I can’t. I’m sorry, Dani.”
Dani nodded. She understood.
Jonah frowned. “How’d Jake know about that anyway?”
She shrugged. “He said the police make it their business to know what’s going on, in case they need to protect someone.”
“That’s bullshit,” Jonah cursed swiftly. He kept washing off the mussels. “Jake’s interested because you’re my business. He’s never cared before, and if he says the police are involved, that’s even more bullshit. The police force around this town don’t want anything to do with my ‘battles.’ They want the conglomerates to come into town because it means more money and they can hire more staff.”
“I don’t think Drew Quandry is going to threaten me. Boone wouldn’t want that.”
Trenton broke the surface again. “Man, I just hit another bed.”
“You did?” Jonah transferred the mussel he’d been holding to Dani and jumped into the river.
Trenton dove after him.
Dani spotted a loose pair of goggles and snorkel. She grabbed them without thinking, shimmied out of her pants, and dove in after them. It was dark in the water, but she followed the trail of bubbles, and within another moment, she saw Jonah’s and Trenton’s floating figures as they ducked inside another cave of the river.
Dani kicked her legs and put forth a burst of speed until she was behind Jonah. She tapped on his shoulder, and when he whirled, his eyes widened when Dani pointed to his mouthpiece and her own.
He nodded, took a deep breath from his oxygen tank, and removed it.
Dani expected him to give her the oxygen mouthpiece, but instead Jonah fused his lips over hers and breathed out his air of oxygen. His lips lingered over hers before he gave her the oxygen piece, and Dani drew in enough breaths to tide her over.
He took a few breaths before handing it back over. They traded evenly. Trenton tapped Jonah’s shoulder and jerked his head toward the bed again. He skimmed it with a flashlight. Dani’s eyes widened at the vision of black mussels upon black mussels. There were possibly twenty dozen, and they were blanketed by fish who were trying to eat the decoy fish.
Dani caught a flash of something and swam to grab it.
Her hand pushed through the swarm of fish. She felt the cool slide of mussels against her hand, but her fingers dug into the river’s bottom until she felt what she thought was a pearl. Grabbing it, she swam back to Jonah and lifted up the grey pearl.
Both men nodded.
Trenton gave her a thumbs up as Jonah handed over the oxygen again. Once she took a couple breaths, he took it back, then placed his hands on both sides of her face. He leaned in and touched his lips to hers. He kissed her hard.
Dani softened, her arms went around his shoulders. They fit together, and Jonah continued to kiss her. She was content to let him, her lips moving against his. She could’ve kissed him forever. The heat enflamed again, as it had before, but Jonah pulled back. His hand found hers, and he tugged her to the surface. Their heads came up, inside an air pocket in the cave. There was a large slab of dry rock in the corner. A bunch of bags were stored in the corner.