As everyone leaves, Meghan hands over a set of keys to the Lake Lure house.
“You three can stay there as long as you need to while the hearings wrap up. And we’ll all be back here over spring break,” she says.
I’ve changed my mind about Meghan. In a big way. She’s still scary as hell and a shark. But with everything she’s done for me, I’m humbled.
I wait until Christmas morning to let Herc open the small gift.
With a curious look, he unwraps it to reveal a small box with a hinged lid. Inside is a rusty, old-fashioned metal key.
“What is this for?” Herc asks.
My stomach flips over when it hits me. “That’s for the trunk.”
Confused, my twin shakes his head. “But, we already opened the trunk. We already spent a huge chunk of what was in the trunk. Why is he giving us the key now?”
Biting my bottom lip, I take a beat to think about the answer to that.
“Because we were in too much of a hurry. Maybe we weren’t supposed to open it until after the case was resolved,” I suggest.
I look at Titus, whose face remains oddly neutral.
“Yeah,” Herc replies. “Maybe everything was supposed to work out in its own time, and we messed up. Now, all that money’s gone.”
Titus finally speaks up, clearing his throat. “Not all of it.”
My twin and I turn to Titus and blurt out simultaneously: “What did you do?”
With the guiltiest look I’ve ever seen on Titus’s face, he says, “Who’s up for a road trip.”
Herc and I stare at each other, but Titus is already grabbing his keys.
“Dress warm, you two. I’ll grab the shovels.”
* * *
The sentencing hearingtakes place long after our friends have returned to school.
We have a quiet dinner with Herc when it’s over.
“Oh,” Herc says, “I have some news. The Twin Oaks Community Center fixed up the tennis courts.”
I smile knowingly, eating my roast beef and potatoes. “Did they?”
Titus eyes the both of us.
“Yeah,” Herc continues. “It seems someone anonymously dropped off a huge anonymous cash donation. And they’re going to start up the free tennis camp again. You wouldn’t know anyone who might be interested in teaching there this summer, would you?”
Titus interjects, “Are you two doing that twin ESP thing again?”
I turn and blink innocently at my boyfriend. “I don’t know what you mean. My brother was just sharing a bit of good news.”
Titus shakes his head and begins clearing the table.
Pushing back his chair, Herc announces that his friends from the football team are taking him out to get shitfaced on someone’s pontoon boat.
“Be careful,” I tell him, punching him playfully on the shoulder as I wave to the guys waiting on the dock.
“Wanna come?” one of them asks.