“Okay, honey,” James said as he lifted her into his arms and cuddled her to his chest, making her feel positively tiny. “How are you really?”
Winding her arms around his neck, she kissed him and said, “I was shaking in my boots when I got here but I’m doing much, much better than I thought I would. They’re both nice, and that was really sweet of Kendry to let me listen like that. He didn’t have to.”
“Before you arrived, he mentioned that he would be fine if you wanted to, or if we wanted to for that matter.”
“Wow.”
Vincent nodded at her car. “What’s in the trunk, fluff?” His eyes twinkled when she looked over at him.
James put her down and she beckoned to them. “Come see.” She untied the rope keeping the trunk partially closed, lifted the lid, and gestured grandly. “Voila!”
“Well, I’ll be damned!” Vincent said as the trunk light came on, illuminating the object within.
“Is that what I think it is?” James asked with hands on hips.
“Yes! It’s the tailgate to a 1986 Chevy short-bed 4x4 pickup!” Happiness rushed in when she saw their expressions.
The tailgate had been missing from the truck when Patterson purchased it and he’d never had the chance to hunt up a replacement from any of the junkyards in the area.
Predictably, James frowned at her. “What were you doing in a hot, dirty junkyard? You were supposed to be shopping and getting a massage and relaxing today.”
“I did all those things. It was perfect timing. After my massage, I drove past Dave’s Place. You know Dave the tow truck driver, right?”
“Of course.”
“He was hauling it into his scrap yard when I drove by. I was pretty sure it was the same year model as the truck so I zipped in there and inquired about it. Dave made sure the locking mechanism still worked and then removed it for me. The truck has some bad front end damage but he said you’re welcome to come and get any other parts you might need from it. When I told him who it was for, he wouldn’t accept any payment. There’s just one problem.”
“A problem?” James asked.
Giggling, she said, “If you turn it over, you’ll see.”
The men lifted it out of the trunk and did as she instructed. “Sweet Thang” was emblazoned in fancy script letters. “I’m assuming the truck was owned by a girl. You’d need to repaint it to match Patterson’s truck anyway but I imagine you probably won’t want to drive it around town until after that’s covered up.”
James and Vincent looked at each other and laughed. James said, “I think it’s perfect.”
“Wow,” Vincent said. “Of all the things for you to find for us…”
“I had a dream about Patterson this morning,” she said, and watched as both men turned worried eyes on her. “Not a nightmare. I dreamed of him and it was…well, it was amazing and pretty hot, to be honest. And he kept telling me to find the missing piece.”
Vincent raised his eyebrows. “The what?”
“He was with me and he kept telling me over and over, ‘Find the missing piece, fluff.’ I didn’t get it at first but then when I drove past Dave’s Place I thought maybe this was it. But that’s not all I discovered—”
Vincent grabbed her up and whirled her around. “Before you say anything else, I think we need to show you something, fluff.”
“You do?” she asked as he carried her back into their home. “What?”
“You’ll see.”
James followed them down the hall to the master suite and Vincent deposited her on the bed. He removed the book of Patterson’s poetry from the bedside table and began flipping through the pages. “I decided to take a look at Patterson’s writing last night. This is what I found.”
He handed her the book. The words were scrawled as if written in haste and there were a few places where he’d scratched through and rewritten, giving it the look of a first draft. She let out a breath and her vision went a little wavy as she read.
You need us in your life
I can see it in your eyes
It kills me to see that need
And listen as you deny.
Woman, it drives me crazy
Because we’re right here
Ready to be there for you
Aching to draw you near.
If you’d just give this a chance
The burden of your fear would ease
Let down that guard of yours
And find the missing peace.
The last word startled a gasp out of her and she looked up into their smiling eyes. “I…I thought he was referring to the piece that was missing in my life but he meant the inner peace I was missing out on.” A wave of heat shimmered through her as she remembered the dream and wondered if it’d all been a construct of her subconscious mind or if perhaps he’d somehow communicated with her.