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Back The Last Mile Save as PDF
Chapters (49)
  1. Also by
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Epigraph
  5. CHAPTER ONE
  6. CHAPTER TWO
  7. CHAPTER THREE
  8. CHAPTER FOUR
  9. CHAPTER FIVE
  10. CHAPTER SIX
  11. CHAPTER SEVEN
  12. CHAPTER EIGHT
  13. CHAPTER NINE
  14. CHAPTER TEN
  15. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  16. CHAPTER TWELVE
  17. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  19. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  21. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  22. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  23. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  44. CHAPTER FORTY
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  48. EPILOGUE
  49. Teaser chapter

“You’re next,” Gage said, manhandling Abby into position as if he didn’t trust her to actually leave. Mateo followed. Skye, Trace, then Edge, Gage, and Foxx, then the captain and co-captain.

When they were all safely off the plane, Abby breathed a sigh of relief.

Gage strode up to her and pulled her into his arms. “Dammit, Abby, I love you too.” He cupped her face in his hands. “I wish things could be different.” And then he kissed her, long and deep. When the kiss finally ended, he turned and walked away.

It was the sweetest, saddest moment of her life.

CHAPTER FORTY

CHAPTER FORTY

THE NEXT FEW DAYS WERE HECTIC. ABBY SPOKE TO TAMMY, MADE arrangements to take over her best friend’s lease, and moved out of Gage’s apartment. She hadn’t seen much of him since their return to Denver. Several meetings with bankers and lawyers had forced them together, but aside from that, Gage was determined to keep his distance.

Abby felt the same. Every time she saw him, the pain of losing him surfaced all over again.

The day of King’s funeral was the worst. What Abby had envisioned as a small group of friends in the Ivy Chapel at the Fairmount Cemetery turned into a media circus. King Farrell had proven all of them wrong. He was hailed as a world-class explorer, the man who’d finally found the long-lost Devil’s Gold.

Everyone who had ever crossed King’s path showed up for the memorial service. When she hadn’t heard from Gage, Abby accepted Clay Reynolds’s offer to escort her. Clay made no secret of his interest in her, taking her to lunch on several occasions, then supper at the elegant Ocean Prime Restaurant.

Clay had been entertaining and solicitous, and having him with her at the funeral seemed better than facing the ordeal alone.

Clay took her arm and guided her down the steps as they left the chapel, both dressed in black, the crowd following them across the grass to the graveside, where the minister gave another, shorter account of the long and spectacular life King had lived.

Mateo was there, Edge, Skye Delaney, and Trace Elliott. Skye had picked up Zuma and Carlos and brought them with her. All of them had come forward to express their sympathy and give her a badly needed hug. Afterward, Zuma had remained a few minutes longer to say a personal good-bye to King.

Finally, everyone but Abby and Clay were gone. Standing in front of the grave, she clutched the map King had left her all those weeks ago, the worn piece of parchment showing the trail through the Superstition Mountains that had begun her amazing adventure.

Abby kissed the map, leaned over, and tucked it under the blanket of white roses that draped her grandfather’s coffin.