“I don’t think so. Sometimes it’s hard to notice what’s happening until you’re away from everything and get a different perspective. But it’s good you have thought about it. Now you can make changes so you’re happier.”
“I suppose. I gotta say, you’ve been going with the flow, even after your house was crisped. When I saw the place, I figured your inner control-freak would have a total breakdown about it.”
Sara squeezed his hand. “Well, I did melt down a little and I’m sorry I snapped at you. I am glad I met you, even with all that’s happened. When we were sitting there in front of my house, I was frustrated because I couldn’t do anything right then. You were right that it could have been dangerous to go inside and better to call the police after we got to the H12. It doesn’t mean I don’t miss Holly or need to figure out where I’m going to live, but right now, I’m just enjoying sitting here being with you.”
“Me too. And the best part is we don’t have to eat fish.”
Sara laughed. “Yes, that too.”
After dealing with countless errands, Kat went to meet her friend Maria for a girl’s night in. Maria had been badgering Kat for honeymoon details and claimed she wanted to share her insights on local events at a Wine and Whine event at her apartment. Kat was too intrigued not to take the bait and she had to go to town anyway. But she prepared for the evening out by spending a good part of the afternoon throwing a tennis ball down the stairs to tire out Holly the Super Aussie. Kat didn’t want the dog to drive Joel nuts in her absence.
Maria lived in an ugly, nondescript, brick apartment building located on a side street in downtown Alpine Grove. It was within walking distance of almost everything and Kat often took advantage of the parking lot because she wasn’t particularly good at parallel parking Joel’s ancient and often curmudgeonly pickup truck.
Kat pulled into a space, walked to the apartment, and knocked on the door. Maria’s voice came from within, warning her cat Scarlett to get back. The orange tabby was a runner and it had become a contest to see who could get to the door first. Kat smiled as she heard Maria yell, “Gotcha!” and then a door slammed.
Maria opened the door and wrapped Kat in a hug. “Girlfriend! It has been forever. Come on in.”
“Hey, now that you’re the entertainment committee at the ad agency, you have quite the packed schedule.” Kat handed her a grocery bag. “Have a squash.”
The moment Maria opened the bedroom door, the orange tabby shot into the living room. Maria glanced down at the bag. “What is this?”
“Zucchini.”
“Are they supposed to be that large? I know size matters, but that’s disturbing.” Depositing the bag and grabbing her wine glass from the kitchen counter, Maria walked to the sofa, sat down, and put her feet up on the coffee table. “When those guys came from Russia, they said they wanted to talk about advertising, but really they just wanted to party hard. I was wiped out. But I’ve recovered enough for some wine now. How’s your gimpy factor?”
“I’m fine.” Kat limped over to the sofa and sat down next to Maria. The cat jumped up and crouched between the two women. Kat reached to stroke the cat’s soft orange coat. “I can walk okay and I didn’t need crutches or anything. But I guess I won’t be able to train for the Boston Marathon. Oh darn.”
“I share your sentiment about running.” Maria waved her wine glass for emphasis. “There’s no call for that type of behavior. I can’t imagine wanting to run on purpose. Unless I’m being chased by a lion or something, I prefer a more sedate, ladylike pace.”
“No kidding. After Joel aggravated his old leg injury by jogging with that Samoyed I boarded, I should know better than to take a dog owned by a runner. Maybe I need a screening form. Are you an athlete? If so, please check this box.” Kat waved her hand dismissively. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I figured something out to deal with Holly. So what’s all this local dirt you wanted to share?”
“Well, mostly I wanted an excuse for a Wine and Whine, but the word around town is that there was a fire. Everyone was talking about it.”
“Here in Alpine Grove? That’s scary, with all the trees. What happened?”
“They think it was started by someone from out of town.”
“How do they know that?”
“Witnesses!”
“You mean nosy neighbors.”
“You got it. According to the grapevine, this old dude was hanging around a house on Aspen Street. Then the next thing they knew the place was on fire!”
“Aspen Street? I think that’s where Sara lives.”
“Really? You mean the woman who disappeared and ditched the dog that almost killed you at your place?”
“It’s not that bad. Holly is just overly energetic. But yes, I haven’t been able to reach Sara. It’s been days now and I’m beyond worried. What if she was in the house? That would explain why she didn’t come back to pick up her dog. What if she’s dead?”
“I doubt it. You’ve been here in town all afternoon and there could be a message on your answering machine, for all you know. And they didn’t find any bodies—I would have heard about that if they did. I guess the fire department came and a lot of people stood around. It turned out to be a lot of hoopla about nothing. Mostly it was a bunch of smoke. But the fire dudes got to pull out the fire engine and do their thing, so everyone was pretty excited about that. The firefighter who came into the bar said that they even got to use the caution tape, which he thought was cool.”
“So you heard about this at the Soloan? How’s Fred?” Kat smiled. Maria had been dating the bartender for a while, but like most of her relationships, it was a somewhat tempestuous coupling that was probably ultimately doomed.
“Fred is fine. I think he may not be able to keep up with me though.”
“I hesitate to ask, but what do you mean by keep up? Because I’m driving, you know I can’t have any wine. I’m not sure there’s enough wine in the world for me to hear about that anyway. If you start giving me too many sordid sex details while I’m sober I’m going to have to cover my ears.”
“Your loss, but that’s not what I mean. I mean, Fred is overly mellow—it’s not the level of excitement I need from a man. For one thing, he works nights and I work during the day. Then, even when he isn’t at the bar, he wants to sit around and watch baseball or football or whatever season we’re in now. I don’t even know. But there’s always some sports event going on. I mean always. It never stops. You would think he’d get enough of that at the bar, right? But no. Not even. I actually hid my TV and told him it broke.”
“That’s pretty drastic.”
“I know. I have to pull it out when it’s time to see what’s up with Ross and Rachel.”
“You’ve turned into quite the Friends addict.”
Maria held up her wine glass, nearly splashing burgundy liquid onto the cat. “When aspects of my life are questionable, I like watching people with no responsibilities or money worries solve all their problems in forty-two minutes or less.”
Kat nodded. “I get that. I feel like suddenly I have to be a grown-up. How did this happen? A year ago, it was just me and one small cat. Now, I have all these obligations. A house, ten animals, a fiancé, a business. I’m even on the board of a nonprofit and I had to get my own insurance. Oh, and get this: I might have a book contract.”
“Whoa! A whole book? That’s definitely grown-up. How did that happen?”
“I helped a woman on an online forum who is an acquisitions editor figure out a problem she was having with a program on her computer. It’s not for sure, but they have a software book that needs a writer. Anyway, it’s all a lot of changes and I think my inner child might be having a tantrum.”
Most of it’s good,” Maria said. “And don’t discount the fact that you have the engineer to cuddle up with at night.”
“I don’t. I feel like I love Joel more every day, but sometimes I think back on when I could do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I mean, there were
times when I lounged on my couch all day, binge-watching crappy TV and napping. I had no-pants weekends, ate ice cream from the container, and sometimes didn’t even brush my teeth. Then I’d spend two hours on the phone talking to you. I could goof off all day and not feel guilty.”
“Yeah, although the reason you were on the phone with me for two hours is because you were whining about the fact that you hadn’t had a date, much less sex, for way, way too long.”
“True. That was pretty bleak for quite a while. I know my life is much better now. Don’t mind me. I’m recreationally whining here. After all, this is a Wine and Whine.”
“I’d think you found the last eligible male in the vicinity, but this evening I did see this fine guy walking toward the Italian restaurant. He had all his teeth and these sexy gray bedroom eyes. Of course, he was with someone. And he had a weird sunburn, so he was probably a tourist. I can’t catch a break.”
“So the whole televised-sports issue is a big enough problem that you’d ditch Fred? He seems like such a nice guy.”
Maria peered down at her wine glass. “I know. He is, but the spark isn’t there, ya know?”
“That’s too bad.”
“Do you know how hard it is to meet a hot guy here? Actually, I know you don’t. You cheated. You had one stop by your house and fix stuff.” Maria looked around the room. “Maybe I could get some repairs done here.”
“Well, I guess it couldn’t hurt. Your cat does have a destructive streak.”
“No kidding.” Maria waved her hand. “Okay, enough depressing talk. Tell me about the honeymoon planning. That’s almost as good as Friends.”
Kat went over the decisions on timing and the costs of getting to Hawaii. Maria ate up the travel details as if she were starving.
Maria raised her wine glass in a toast. “To a fabulous honeymoon! I am so outrageously jealous, girlfriend.”
“Well, now that you’re not as broke anymore, you should take a vacation. You know so many people here in town now, I bet you could get someone to come over and tend to Scarlett. Maybe go somewhere with Fred that doesn’t have television.”
“I think I’ll keep that idea in reserve for when I find a guy who revs my engines a little more.”
“Yeah, I see your point. That’s the best part of the whole honeymoon idea.”
“You know it, girlfriend.”
After dinner, Sara and Zack walked back to the H12. The message light on the phone was flashing madly. Apparently while they were eating dinner, everyone finally had gotten Sara’s messages and returned her calls. Even Sara’s parents had called from the road. After they found out Sara was missing, they had cut their vacation short and were on their way back home.
While Zack lay sprawled out on the bed petting Olivia, Sara returned the calls. When she hadn’t picked up Holly, Kat had called the camp and the next day Bob had called Sara’s parents, who were the emergency contact on her employment forms. She and Zack hadn’t been missing long enough for the police to undertake an official search, but as Sara had predicted, everyone was extremely worried and she no longer had a job at the camp.
After talking to her mother and reassuring her many, many times that she was unscathed from her adventure and in perfect health, Sara stretched out on the bed next to Zack. “Thank goodness that conversation is over. I think I may have given my poor mom a few new gray hairs.”
He put his arm around her and stroked her hair. “Yeah, I could tell from your side of the conversation that she was pretty freaked out. I’m sorry I dragged you into this whole mess.”
She sat up and looked at him. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t drag me anywhere. We were stuck.”
“Going after the treasure was my idea, and then we didn’t even find it because my brain is so whacked. And I probably put you in danger, thanks to Ozzy and whoever else was out there.” He took a deep breath. “You were right when you said it would have been better if you’d never met me.”
“I told you I didn’t mean that. I was upset.”
“Yeah, well, it sounds like you can pick up your dog and stay with your parents for the time being, while your house is being cleaned up. I gotta get back to LA anyway.”
“You’re leaving? Already? What about the treasure? What about Ozzy?”
“I’m giving up on that. Whatever the treasure is, it may not even be out there, for all I know. And if I leave here, Ozzy will probably follow. Unless he found the stupid thing, in which case, he can have it.”
“You can’t leave!”
“Sure I can. I’ve still got my ugly rental car. At least Ozzy didn’t steal that.”
Sara looked into his eyes. “No, I mean I don’t want you to leave. You’re the most interesting, funny, unusual, infuriating, sexy man I’ve ever met.”
He grinned. “I guess that’s flattering. Sort of. Or maybe not. I’m not sure. But the sexy part is good. I’ll take that one.”
She leaned down to kiss him. “I mean it. Now that I’m not worried we’re going to die, I’m finally getting to know you better. You can’t leave now.”
“I’ve gotta go back to my real life, Sara. So do you. All the plans you just made for picking up your dog and meeting your parents start tomorrow. ”
“I suppose. What if you went with me?”
“You know that won’t work. What if Ozzy figures out where I am? There’s no way I want someone like him anywhere near your parents. After everything you told me about them? They’re the kindest people in the world. No way. And I’ve got a trip next week. I guess I also have to get a new laptop. I wonder when the last time was that I actually did a backup. Wow. Figuring that out is gonna be a mess.”
“I know we’ve only known each other for a few days, but are you saying we’ll never see each other again? Because that makes me want to cry.” A tear slipped from her eye and traveled down her cheek to emphasize the point.
“Hey, don’t you think I’m going to miss you too? Yeah, okay, you may be bossy and organized, but you’re an amazing woman and more fun to be around than I ever would have imagined.” Zack cupped her chin with his palm and smiled. “I still can’t quite believe everything that’s happened. I’ve never met anyone like you before.”
Sara gave him a watery smile in return. “I’ve never met anyone like you either.”
“I’ll try and figure out what Ozzy is up to. By then you’ll be back in your house, maybe even back in school, being everyone’s favorite teacher. I can give you a call. LA isn’t that far away, you know.”
Sara slumped down on the bed next to him. “You promise you’ll call?”
“Yeah, I’ll call you as soon as I get back to my apartment.” He propped himself up on an elbow and looked down into her face. “But I’m not leaving right now and we don’t have to get up early and hike for a zillion miles. It’s possible I might have more skills you don’t know about yet.”
Sara smiled and pulled him down to her. “I sure hope so.”
When she opened her eyes the next morning, Zack was curled up next to her, doing the clutching koala thing again with his large hands. She turned her head to look at him. His eyes were open and he gave her a sleepy smile. Rolling over, she kissed his neck and moved her lips next to his ear. “I thought you were asleep.”
“I was. That was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a long time. Beds are a great invention. Way better than the ground. I had more weird dreams, though.”
“Do you remember them?”
“I did, which is odd. Like I said, normally I don’t remember much from my dreams. And maybe that’s not such a bad thing. I hate to say it, but I think the fire I dreamed about before was from a dragon.”
“I’m guessing maybe I don’t need to worry so much about my house fire then.”
“Yeah, maybe not. I was probably freaking out for nothing. In the dream, I was the Dragon Lord and I could call a dragon just by whistling.”
“That sounds useful.”
“Yeah, it was pretty cool. So in t
he dream, the dragon’s name was Mary Lou and I decide to call her because I want to take a ride. She was supposed to fly in the window to pick me up, but she misses and hits the fire escape I used to climb down to see Ira. When she falls down to the ground, I’m all upset, so I go running down the ladder. Then I crouch next to her thinking she’s dead. I’m petting her iridescent green scales and then she stands up and gives me a hug. I’m relieved she’s okay because we’ve been buddies for a long time, but then I guess she gets a little too excited, and the next thing I know she sets the whole apartment building on fire.”
“Wow, that’s quite an elaborate dream.”
“I think those dream-analysis people would love the chance to do creepy tests on my bizarro brain. First I don’t dream at all, and then when I do, it’s totally weird.” Zack ran his fingers through his hair. “The other dream didn’t have Mary Lou, but it was even more strange in some ways. I was playing kickball with Ira with one of those big ugly red rubber balls they used to have in school. He kicks the ball to me and says, “Take a chance.”
“Dreaming about Ira could be significant. Do you think it means something about the treasure?”
“I don’t know.” He made a face. “Probably not, since the dream had a soundtrack. ‘Take a Chance on Me’ by ABBA starts playing, so I start singing and kick the ball back to Ira, but he misses and it hits a sword that’s sitting in the street.”
“Because you so often find swords on city streets.”
“Yeah, I know—what can I say? I told you—it’s weird. Anyway, the sword punctures the ball, which slowly deflates while ‘Take a Chance on Me’ fades out. I shrug my shoulders and say to Ira, ‘At least I took a chance.’”
“You have an interesting mind.”
The Treasure of the Hairy Cadre (An Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy Book 8) Page 15
