Chapter Fifty-one
“Oh no! This can’t be good.”
Peter reached the beach in time to see Jessica stomping her way out of the Lake, swinging armfuls of water toward Erik who was in front of her.
“Coward,” Peter heard her yell. “Come back here and take it like a m,m,m,man.”
Her teeth were chattering when she finally caught up with Erik at the blanket.
“Hiding behind Becky won’t help,” she said trying to grab him.
Erik was laughing too hard to really get a hold of Becky who threw herself out of the way before Jessica launched her fully wet body at Erik. She tried to transfer as much of the cold water as humanly possible, and then for good measure attempted to shake her hair in his face.
Becky was holding her side she was laughing so hard. Erik joined in and finally even Jessica couldn’t hold back a smile.
“You are such a jerk,” she said, but the laughter in her voice took the sting out of the words.
“Anyone want to fill me in?” Peter asked, even though he had pretty much figured out what had happened.
He’d had been worried about what he would find when he made it to the beach; whatever he had imagined it hadn’t included Jessica being tossed into the water by Erik and then laughing about it.
Jessica stopped laughing long enough to glare at him.
“Oh, no. Don’t think I’ve forgotten that you deserted me this morning. In fact, if it weren’t for you I’d probably be dry right now.”
She plopped down on her own towel with her back to Peter, and started trying to wring out her hair and clothes.
“Well, thanks for your sisterly concern over my health,” Peter replied, deciding to take the offensive. “I was feeling really awful, and it’s not as if I left you high and dry. Well anyway, certainly not dry.”
Erik laughed and flopped down near Peter.
“Don’t mind her. She’s just bitter because she doesn’t like to lose at anything.”
“I am not.” Jessica clearly couldn’t stop herself from turning around to join in. “And anyway, I didn’t lose; you cheated. I kept my mouth shut the whole walk.”
Erik grinned at Peter and rolled his eyes but apparently Jessica wasn’t done yet.
“I thought you had a headache and wanted to go home,” she accused Erik. “You look surprisingly fine now.”
“You know, you’re right,” he laughed. “I feel much better. Thanks. But you should probably show some of that concern for your own brother or people will think you’re playing favorites.”
“Yeah right. And now I think I feel a headache coming on.”
“So guys, what are we up to tonight?” Becky interrupted. “And where is Blaise anyway?”
“Oh, he said he had a work emergency,” Peter answered. “Something he had to take care of. We’re supposed to do whatever without him.”
Peter tried to look sincere. That wasn’t all Blaise had said to him, but he thought it might be better to leave off the part where Blaise, in not so many words, told him to keep away from Becky.
“So, what say we go grab lunch somewhere and figure out what to do with the rest of our day,” Peter finished.
“You sure have made a miraculous recovery.” Jessica narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure you feel up to eating anything?”
Peter noted her suspicion and decided to back off a little.
“Yeah, I should probably just have some soup or something. Can we go somewhere for that?”
“Yeah, the grocery store,” Jessica answered churlishly. “I’ll make you some soup back at the condo.”
“Wow sis, I mean, I don’t want you to go to any trouble or anything.”
And anyway,” she finished with a sneeze, “I need to get back to see if Sandy or Mandy called.”
Peter had to duck the sand which flew off Jessica’s towel as she stood up and shook it at him. Oh well, he thought with a resigned sigh. Apparently it would be Campbell’s chicken noodle soup for lunch.
Chapter Fifty-two
Jessica stumbled her way into the kitchen the next morning hoping caffeine would rid her of the fog clouding her stuffy head. It was all Erik’s fault, she thought as she searched through the cupboards trying to determine where one of her roommates had moved the coffee.
“This is why I live alone,” she mumbled to herself.
“That and your morning hair,” Peter chuckled from behind.
She kicked a foot out hoping to catch his shin but instead connected with one of the cabinets.
“Ow!” She grabbed her toe in pain.
“Serves you right for trying to kick me.”
Peter quickly jumped out of the way again to avoid another kick. “What’s up with you, anyway? You’re awfully grouchy this morning.”
Jessica sniffled onto the back of her hand and wiped her snot on his shirt.
“That’s what. I feel like crap. No thanks to you or Erik.”
“Gross Jess! And how’s it my fault Erik decided to dunk you?”
Jessica glared at him. She wasn’t sure herself, but she wanted to take it out on someone.
“Never mind. I’m going back to bed,” she snarled and pushed past him. “Good luck finding the coffee.”
Later, as the morning sun climbed higher in the sky, Becky sat on the couch with the guys waiting for any sign of life from Jessica.
“Do you think we should wake her?” Becky finally asked. “She really wanted to go to Vikingsholm today.”
“Vikingswhat?” Erik laughed.
“Vi-kings-holm,” Becky said like he was five. “You should be all over it. It’s supposed to be this very cool castle.”
“Isn’t it sort of a hike to reach it though?” Peter asked. “Given how Jessica looked this morning she can’t still want to go, can she?”
“I’ll go find out,” Erik said a little too eagerly.
“Uh, no!” Peter and Becky both interrupted before he could leave the room. “That’s definitely not a good idea.”
“I’ll go,” Becky said. “She won’t hit me.”
“Hmmm, whah?” Jessica mumbled a moment later when Becky tried to turn her over in bed.
“Jess? Wake up. Jess…. are you ok? You’ve been asleep for, like, three hours. Do you want me to go away and let you sleep more? Or, I could get you something. Do you want coffee or tea or orange juice or…?”
Jessica sat up in bed and waved her hand in Becky’s direction.
“What I want is for you to wait for a minute so I can think.”
Jessica rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and glanced over at the clock.
“Oh my God!” Even in the other room the boys could hear Jessica’s screech. “It’s 12:30! Why didn’t you wake me up? What about Vikingsholm?”
Becky rushed to get out the door before Jessica’s flying pjs hit her in the face.
“Well,” she said to the boys, “Jessica’s up.”
Less than 20 minutes later Becky and Blaise were squished in the back of the car next to Jessica who had refused to let Erik sit anywhere near her. After shuffling people around, Blaise had ended up in back with his knees up to his chest.
“I can’t believe how selfish you are Jessica. You know I’m taller than Erik. This is terribly uncomfortable.”
Jessica tried to ignore his whining and instead focused on directing her sneezes towards the back of Erik’s head.
“Achoo!”
Proud of herself Jessica laughed when Erik turned around to yell at her.
“Really, Jess!”
“I hope you get sick too. So there.”
She waved her hand at him to get him to turn around again.
He was still wiping at the back of his head when they pulled into the parking lot at the top of the trail that led down to Vikingsholm. Jessica pulled out her notebook and looked for her cross references to Ian and the old castle.
“It says here he likes to hike up a trail on the other side of the road,” Jess mumbled to herself. “Okay, well then, I g
uess we start by heading up for a little bit. We’ll check with any other hikers we meet to see if they’ve ever seen him here.”
Blaise shook his head at her and then opened the car door to get out.
“You can do what you want,” he said. “Becky and I came to see the castle and that’s what we’re going to do.”
He started getting stuff out of the car while everyone else sat there staring at him like he was an alien.
“What? You can’t tell me you really think Jessica is simply going to happen to come across someone who knows Ian Drake all the way out here?”
“That’s not really the point, Blaise. We’ve talked about this.” Becky’s stare was laser sharp.
“So you want to just head up the mountain aimlessly?” He waited patiently like maybe the rest of them simply hadn’t kept up with his superior mental acuity. When everyone remained silent he shook his head in disbelief. “That’s totally ridiculous and continues to supports her delusional behavior.”
He stretched his legs to un-cramp them and then turned back to the car.
“Fine. Let’s go Becky.”
Blaise held out his hand, obviously expecting her to jump out and join him. When she continued to sit there he raised his eyebrows. After what seemed like 10 minutes of silence he finally slammed the door in her face and headed off down the trail.
“Good riddance,” Erik said until he caught Jessica’s glare.
“How about this,” Peter said watching Becky closely. “Erik…you and Jess head on up the trail. We’ll hang here till you get back and then we can all go down to the castle together.”
Confused, Jessica looked from Peter to Erik to Becky. She really shouldn’t leave her friend, but Becky seemed almost relieved by Peter’s suggestion.
“Beck, what do you think? Is that what you want to do?”
“Yeah,” Becky answered before Jessica had even finished her question. “You guys go ahead. I want to stay here and try to calm down a bit. Then we’ll all hike down.”
“Okay. If that’s what you want. You know Erik, you don’t…” Jessica began to say, ready to leave him there also.
“You guys go. Really!” Becky reasserted. “You should never hike alone.”
Jessica shrugged and opened the door.
“Okay. Come on Erik, I guess it’s you and me again. And today I’m sure you’ll have all the quiet you want.”
Chapter Fifty-three
The bewildered silence in the car lasted for a while. Becky and Peter stared out at the tall pines lost in thought.
For her part Becky was trying to figure out why she had been so obstinate with Blaise. Things had become increasingly tense between them since they had arrived in Tahoe. It seemed like every time they had tried to do anything he was grumpy and critical, and she was especially tired of him pressuring her to go along with whatever he wanted. Becky hadn’t known what to do.
“Well, that was a good way to get Erik and Jess by themselves again,” Peter said awkwardly as Becky said, “Somehow I have a feeling Blaise and I aren’t going to make it.”
Peter stopped and Becky, embarrassed, quickly looked over at him and tried to smile. What was she thinking? Guys didn’t want to talk about stuff like that. Not even Peter. It was just that, for a moment she had forgotten she wasn’t sitting with Jessica.
Peter took one look at her half smile and reached over to give her a comforting hug.
“I’m so sorry Becky. I know how much that sucks when you really like someone.”
Becky inhaled the gentle, clean scent of Peter. Sitting here with him was far more appealing than doing anything Blaise would have wanted to do. It made her suddenly wonder if she had really liked Blaise very much after all. She certainly hadn’t liked him lately.
“The thing is,” she wondered aloud as they both sat back again, “I’m not sure I do like him. To be honest, right now I’m feeling a bit relieved.”
Peter listened quietly, not saying a word.
“Well,” Becky continued, looking down at her lap, “maybe a little bit embarrassed too. And of course a little sad because you always hope it will work out.” She looked back up at Peter. “But then, after all that, mostly I’m sort of glad to not have to try so hard to work at it anymore.”
Becky felt so grateful for such a great friend. And a cute one, she thought as she looked into his calm, patient eyes. It wasn’t the first time she had thought Peter was cute, but it felt different this time. She knew she shouldn’t be thinking things like that since she was still trying to figure out what was going on with Blaise… not to mention he was Jessica’s brother.
Peter felt Becky’s intense look and clenched his hands in his lap. Neither one said anything, but Becky couldn’t seem to look away. Was it worth it? The answer came back clearly; Oh Yes!
“Peter?” she reached out but then drew her hand away again in fear and confusion.
Peter grabbed hold of her shaky hand and took his own big breath. It was only a moment, but Becky saw the same hope and fear that was mirrored in her own eyes. His eyes darted out the window, and then back to her as he slid closer; pressing them both against the door Blaise had just slammed shut.
The intensity of Peter’s kiss left Becky lost. She felt herself fade into him, hands on hands, his clothes next to her clothes, his lips and tongue against hers, then with hers. They were like puzzle pieces fitting together to make one image.
“Thank God,” he whispered, tickling her cheek, her ear, her throat with his breath. “Finally!”
After a minute she felt him sit back and appear to struggle for control. They both stared at each other, breathing hard.
“I didn’t know,” Becky said finally. What an understatement.
“I mean,” she continued, “Wow! But also I didn’t know that you… I mean, is this only today, or have you… um.” Blushing she stopped her stammering.
Peter’s smile was sweetly teasing but also appeared filled with relief.
“Now, yes. But I don’t know, maybe for a while too. It’s so confusing with us being friends, and Jess and everything. I’ve never actually thought it could be anything.”
He stopped and then laughed. “But God… I hated Blaise.”
Becky smiled at him for a minute and then reality sunk in.
“I… Oh my God, Blaise.” She grabbed Peter’s hand. “I can’t stand the thought of anything else happening with us before I tell him it’s over.”
She looked up at him tentatively. “Do you understand?”
Becky felt Peter pull back and knew it wasn’t just physically.
“Just because we, you know, kissed… I mean I don’t want to make you feel like…”
“Peter, no!” Becky interrupted. “With or without this I would have told Blaise we were done. But I don’t want him to blame it on you… or me for that matter.”
“Well then,” Peter grinned, back to his easygoing self. “No rush, but let’s get hiking so you can get it over with.”
“Hmmm,” Becky teased as she followed him out of the car. “You’re so sweet to be so concerned with my mental welfare.”
“At your service.” He bowed, sweeping the pine needles on the ground with an imaginary hat.
Becky placed her hand on his arm to still him and show him how sincere she was.
“I know Peter; you always have been!”
Chapter Fifty-four
“Jess, be reasonable. We’ve been hiking for 30 minutes and there isn’t another soul on the trail.”
Jessica concentrated on the path ahead, ignoring him as she kept hiking.
“When are you going to admit you’re on a wild goose chase?” Erik tried again. He was sick of watching her do dumb things like this in order to win the bet.
“Making that bet with you had to be the stupidest thing I ever did,” he mumbled to himself.
“I thought you wanted quiet,” Jessica finally blew up at him. “And if you don’t, I do. Even if we did find him at this point you just told the whole for
est that it was all about a bet. How do you think that’s going to help me, huh?”
She glared at him and then took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Fine,” she said. “I’m starting to feel lousy again anyway. Maybe the others are at the car and we can just leave like everyone wants.”
She sneezed and pushed her way back past him on the trail. Erik squared his shoulders and tried not to sigh out loud.
“You can’t make me feel guilty, you know,” he said trudging behind her. “I’m starving and at least this way maybe we’ll get something to eat before dinner.”
Jessica continued to ignore him, speeding down the trail as if Satan were on her tail. Erik might be grouchy, but he wasn’t in league with the devil.
“Someone needs to keep you from killing yourself over this stupid bet,” he mumbled under his breath.
Twenty minutes later he was still trailing her down the hill.
“Wait,” Erik called as Jessica sped right by the clearly empty car.
He spied the picnic basket still sitting in the back seat and tried the door handle. Locked! Damn. Jessica was long gone, but there was no way he was leaving without the food.
He tried the other doors and finally found one that was open. Climbing over the seat he unlocked the back door and pulled out the basket. What on earth had Becky packed for lunch? It weighed a ton. No wonder everyone else left it behind. He struggled to get a good hold on the handles and made his way down the trail after Jessica, the basket hitting him in the leg every other step.
Jess was about half way down the trail when she heard the first clap of thunder. Minutes later the rain started. She quickly picked up her speed. Erik was nowhere to be seen.
“He’s probably nice and dry, sitting in the car right now,” she sniffled to herself.
“Ow, ow! What the hell,” she swore out loud putting her hand over her head to stop the rocks which were falling from the sky. Her hand came away with white pebbles. Dropping them, she looked around at the ground which was quickly becoming covered in white. The storm had turned hostile and was now dropping hail the size of golf balls.
Betting Jessica Page 19
