Lost and Found: Sara Martin Series

by Danelle Helget

  I walked into my room, and Lily went into hers. I set down the bag I'd grabbed from the living room and went to the window. It was such a beautiful property, nothing like in the city, when you look out and all you see are the neighboring apartments and their lovely, trash-ridden, parking lots. This was so serene. I could literally feel my blood pressure drop.

  I opened the window to let in the now cooler air. I inhaled and filled my lungs. My view was of the driveway and back yard which was nice and backed up to the large, thick woods. That was the side of the yard where the elevation was higher. If there were neighbors nearby, you wouldn’t be able to see them or hear them through that. I saw our cars in the driveway and noticed that the window was still down on my Jeep. I better remember to shut that later. I didn’t think it was suppose to rain but better safe than sorry.

  I pulled on some jeans and a red tank and stopped by the bathroom quick to throw my hair in a ponytail and swipe on a quick fresh coat of mascara. I was one of the blessed that had nice skin tone and medium beige color so I didn’t wear a lot of makeup, but I always put on massacre and eyeliner. It helped to make my brown eyes a little bigger. My thick, long, wavy hair, however, took some work, and I didn’t want to deal with it right then, so I said a quick, mental thank-you to the inventor of the pony tail and sauntered to the kitchen.

  Lily was made up nice, sporting a cute, yellow, ruffly, sleeveless shirt and white capris. Mark and Jake were just putting a few things out on the island counter top. They looked like they were preparing a buffet-style line. I added some napkins to the beginning of the line, and Lily grabbed four cold ones from the fridge.

  “Go ahead and start,” Jake said. “I think it’d be nice to sit out on the patio. What do you guys think?” We all agreed and start dishing up all the great-smelling food.

  There was a nice, four-person, glass-top table and chairs set on the patio. It had an umbrella in the middle that I noticed a cord coming from, so I turned the handle and the umbrella opened. This exposed a switch for a light, I spun it, and low and behold, we had light! Perfect. It had started to get pretty dim as the sun had already set. We all gathered around and started in.

  “Boys, the food is amazing. Thank-you for cooking,” Lily said, with a smile.

  “Yes,” I added, “thanks. It was so nice to relax while you made it. We owe you one. Tomorrow we’ll make brunch for you guys. I know Jake said on the way up that he wanted to get the boat out before dawn. So when you get back, we'll have it ready.”

  Mark smiled and nodded in agreement. When he finished chewing, he asked Jake what he put in the potatoes. Jake told him it was his grandmother's recipe.

  “It’s just peppers, onions, garlic, and mushrooms, sauteed in chicken stock. Then you add a little fresh thyme, mix it into the already smashed spuds, sprinkle it with shredded cheddar cheese and you've got thee best potatoes in Mille Lacs County,” Jake said proudly. Jake's grandma lived in Milaca a small town of about three thousand. She’d been well known there for her cheesy potatoes. She died about two years ago and left Jake the recipe.

  We all finished and eased back in our chairs. It was pretty dark, and the bugs are getting bad, so we decided to move to the fire pit and start a fire. I ran inside to grab the stuff for s'mores. Mark followed me in to get more beer. I was rummaging though the cupboards, trying to find the marshmallows when Mark backed up against the counter next to me, arms folded across his chest.

  “Did Lily mentioned anything about the distance between us?”

  “Yeah,” I said slowly, not wanting to got caught in the middle, “she just said pretty much the same thing you said, that she just felt that you two are kind of drifting apart.” I saw the hurt in his eyes and added, “Maybe this weekend will help. I think we all need to reconnect, ya know. We have all been busy with our jobs, and life just gets in the way. Jake and I have our ups and downs too. Everyone does.”

  “I hope you’re right, I don’t want to lose her. She's my world. I’ve loved her since the first moment I saw her, and I can’t even bear thinking about a life without her.” He turned and looked through the cupboard by him and handed me the marshmallows. We headed back outside to see Jake and Lily talking and laughing, and they’d just clinked bottles as we came out the door.

  “What are we toasting to?” I asked.

  Jake raised his beer and said, “To great friends and peace and quiet.” We all lifted our beers and took drinks. While tipping mine up, I looked around and again got the feeling that I'd walked in on something. I looked at Jake, who was looking at Lily, and they were smiling. Then I looked to Mark who was looking at me as if to say, “Yeah, I noticed it too.”

  “Well, who want’s a s'more?” I asked, reaching for the marshmallows. We all enjoyed the warm fire, gooey s'mores, and a couple more beers. “I’m beat,” I announced. Not really but I was tired of the uncomfortable thoughts I was having and thought maybe a change of scene would do me good. “I think I'm going to call it a night. Jake, are you coming in with me?” I asked.

  He looked over at me and smiled. “Yeah, I’ll be right behind you.”

  I grabbed my empties and the s'more stuff and went in. After I put everything away. I remembered my Jeep window was open so I went out the front door with my keys in hand. I was a little hesitant because the porch light wasn't very bright. I walked slowly, fear in my gut, thinking the whole way how childish I was. You’d think that by the time I was an adult I would've outgrown being afraid of the dark. I got to the Jeep and opened the door. I stuck the key in and quickly raised the window. Then shut and locked the door. As I was walking back to the cabin, I noticed something to my left move. I froze in place and slowly turned my head. It was so dark, I couldn't really make out what I was seeing. It looked like a young girl in a white dress standing in the woods. She was waving. Then she turned and walked farther into the woods, all the while waving like—follow me, this way. I stood there not knowing what I was seeing. I was scared, and there was no way I was going to follow her into the dark woods. I closed my eyes. When I opened them again a moment later, she was gone. What the heck? Did that just happen? Was it just a weird shadow? Wait, shadows don't wave. I ran as fast as I could back to the cabin and shut and locked the door behind me.

  I stood there for a minute, my back to the door, wondering if I should tell the others what I’d seen. But I wasn't even sure what I had seen, and they'd probably think I was crazy. So I decided that a shower and sleep would be my best plan of action. If that girl did exist and needed help, she knew where to find me. I jumped in the shower and washed up quick. After I dried, I pulled on a t-shirt and sleep shorts and combed through my wet hair, which fell to the middle of my back and was getting pretty heavy when it was wet. I might need a trim soon. I'd dyed it dark-brown about six months ago and had kept that look. It was nice and easy to throw up for court dates. The firm where I worked wanted the lawyers to look professional. Making women lawyers put their hair up, in this day in age, was a little old fashion, but whatever. If they kept paying me what they did, I’d shave my head for them, if they asked. I chuckled at the thought. I brushed my teeth and headed to the bedroom. Jake wasn't there yet, so I flopped down in the middle of the bed, and I was out instantly.

  2

  I woke to Jake snoring, loudly. It was light out, and he was in bed still, which meant he'd overslept on his plans to get the boat out before dawn. I looked at the alarm clock, eight-fifteen. The alarm was set. I pushed the button and sure enough, it was set for evening. “Jake? Jaaake,” I gently rubbed his belly. “It’s eight-fifteen, you set the alarm wrong. Do you want to get up?”

  “Unn ahhh,” was all I heard as he flipped over. He buried his head in his pillow and made a few more noises.

  “Hey,” I said quietly, “what time did you come to bed?”

  “Huh, I don’t know, one maybe,” he mumbled. He stayed under his pillow and didn’t move.

  One, huh? I thought that he was right behind me, and I took a shower first. Guess the
re must have been good conversation going on, too good to join me.

  “Good morning,” Jake said, about five minutes later as he rolled over to hold me. He grabbed me and pulled me in close, and I could feel that he was in a good mood.

  He kissed the back of my neck and asked if I was in a hurry. I turned to meet his lips.

  “Nope,” I said. “I have all day!” He moved in closer, if that was possible and a half hour went by.

  We were laying there quietly, when we heard Lily and Mark come out of their room. “I bet they're still in bed.” Then BAM BAM BAM on the door. “Hey, you horny fools, get up! Where’s my breakfast Sara, huh?” Mark yelled.

  “It’s coming right up!” I yelled back. That got everyone laughing.

  “Yeah, I bet it is.” Mark replied. “Hey, Jake, that alarm in your room working?”

  “Ah, yeah, it will be in about twelve hours. Sorry, buddy.”

  “No worries. I was tired too,” he said.

  We rolled out of bed, threw on some lounge wear, and I padded into the kitchen. Mark and Lily were already digging in the fridge. They threw together a quick and easy breakfast while Jake was in the shower. We finished our eggs and toast and discussed our plans for the day. We all agreed that we should pack a light lunch and head out on the boat for the day. The guys could fish and us ladies could read, swim and fix our pedicures. Sounded perfect to me.

  After the dishes were done, the guys went to the vehicles to get their tackle and poles. Lily and I stayed in the kitchen to make sandwiches and snacks for the boat. Then we went to our rooms to grab everything we needed for a day in the sun and met the guys on the dock.

  “Geez, girls, it’s a twelve-person pontoon and half a day,” Mark said. I guess it might have looked like we overpacked, but the “never know what you might need” was a good rule to live by.

  “Did you grab a cooler and beer?” Jake asked. I looked around at all the stuff we'd just sat down on the pontoon and then looked at Lily.

  “Shoot, Lily,” I said in a bad, southern accent, “we done gone and forgot the beer!”

  “Are y'all sure there’s room on this here boat for all that?” Lily asked, in her own southern accent. “Gee, Sarah, we best be gettin’ back to the cabin to round up what we can. Whada ya say?”

  “Sure thing, little lady. I’m right behind ya” I said, with a giggle.

  The boys laughed and rolled their eyes. Mark added, “Don’t forget toilet paper.” Toilet paper? Cool, the boat has a toilet. That’s awesome.

  A half hour later, the boys had decided on the perfect spot and finally dropped anchor. Lily turned on the radio and actually got a station to come in. It was a variety station, so we were all happy except Jake, who was convinced that we were scaring away all the fish. Oh, well, guess only the deaf fish would be biting then. Lily and I started moving stuff around and settled down in to our seats with sunglasses, cold beers, and magazines. The guys were readying their poles and talking fish talk that I didn’t pretend to know anything about. It was so relaxing. I looked around the lake. It was a nice, smaller-sized lake, and was very undeveloped. We only saw a few houses around the shore, and all three were right next to each other. Rumor had it that one family owned most of the land and just refused to sell it. Must be nice to pretty much own your own lake and only have a few neighbors, too. What a dream. It would be an awesome place for a moderately sized house, nothing too big. I didn’t enjoy cleaning, so just what I needed and nothing more. Throw in a couple of great kids and a dog and a handsome, loving husband and you’ve sold me!

  I looked over at Lily, and she was comfortably stretched out on the back of the boat, drinking her beer. I turned my head to see Jake just letting go of his line over the side of the boat, reeling up and getting ready to cast.

  “Five bucks on the first catch, Mark?” Jake asked, confidently.

  “Oh, yeah, but I should warn ya, this here’s a new reel and she’s special, Jake. This is a one of a kind, and it'll bring the big boys,” Mark sassed back.

  “Really?” Jake asked, turning around to check it out. “Where did ya get that?”

  “Ebay.” Mark said and did a so-what head shake I hadn’t seen since kindergarten. I was half expecting a tongue to stick out, too. We all chuckled. It was so nice to be out on the water. I didn’t really feel like drinking much. My stomach was a little uneasy. I mentally blamed it on the boat and put my head back in my magazine.

  It was quiet on the lake. The boys were casting and retrieving. Lily was reading, the radio was softly playing. There was a slight breeze. I looked up from my Glamour slightly to see Lily looking to my right. I turned just my eyes, which were hiding behind my sunglasses, just in time to catch Jake winking at her. She bit her bottom lip and looked back at her magazine. Jake cast again and didn’t miss a beat. I turned my eyes to Mark, who was happily fishing and hadn't noticed anything.

  What the hell was that? Now my stomach was really turning. Was that totally innocent? Was I over reacting? We'd been friends for so long, I was sure it was nothing. Or, we had been friends for so long, maybe it was something. No way! Lily would never hurt me like that. And Jake too, he would never cheat on me. Oh, my gosh, they’re having an affair! No, no . . . I was so quick jumping to conclusions. I overreact a lot. I would not this time. It was just a friendly gesture, I was sure. But now I was thinking about last night and Jake seeming so distant lately. And Mark, he said that Lily had been working hard lately. Does that mean, working late? I sat there looking at her from behind my sunglasses. She had an amazing body and knew it. Her bikini was as small as could be and she filled it just right. I was sure I wasn't the only one in the boat who noticed this. I took a sip of my beer and stood up. I needed to stretch and shake the thoughts from my mind. I decided to let it go. Instead I took my sunglasses and cover up off and walked to the front of the boat and looked over the edge.

  “You gonna brave the water?” Mark asked.

  “Yea, I think I’ll take a dip, cool off a little.” More than you know. I responded with a smile. I dove in, came up and said what else? “The water’s great. Come on in!”

  “I think I will,” Mark said, and sploosh, a cannon ball splash not two seconds later.

  “Hey, how am I gonna catch fish with you two making all that ruckus?” Jake yelled.

  “Don’t bet on it. I’ll catch the first fish. You know I will,” Mark yelled back and threw some water up at Jake.

  “Come on, Lil!” Mark hollered.

  “Not yet. I’ll come in later. I want to be good and hot first,” she yelled back.

  “Are you gonna join us, Jake? Come on, the water’s great and the fish already left the area,” I said.

  Jake looked at me smiled and said, “Okay, but if we’re swimming, then we’re all swimming.” Then he set his pole down, turned around and scooped Lily up and jumped in with her in his arms.

  Lily was holding on for dear life and screaming, “Noooooo!” Splosh! They came up laughing, and she was playfully hitting his arm, saying, “You jerk,” while holding onto his neck. I couldn’t see where Jake's hands were but it didn’t look good to me. Now I was beyond annoyed. I paddled over to the boat and climbed up. After I grabbed my towel and wrapped it around me, I slammed the rest of my beer.

  “Hey, are you done already, Sara? We all just got in. Come on, you’re right, the waters great, get back in here,” Lily said.

  I bit my tongue at what I wanted to say and instead used the beer and bathroom as my excuse. If they were having an affair, I wanted to be sure before I said something that might hurt people’s feelings or make them uncomfortable. I noticed Mark’s face as I walked to the bathroom and it was about as gray as mine. I bet he was thinking the same thing.

  3

  It was about four by the time we got back and unloaded the boat.

  “Let’s not forget that we made dinner last night, so I think it’s the girls’ turn tonight. Don’t you think, Jake?” Mark asked.

  I jumped in, “Ya know what
, Jake, I think that you and I should make dinner tonight since Lily and Mark made breakfast this morning. We could make spaghetti and meatballs with salad and garlic toast. And spaghetti is your specialty.”

  “Sure, sounds great,” Jake responded, but didn’t seem excited.

  “If you two want to enjoy some time together while we cook, we can plan on dinner at eight,” I added.

  Everyone agreed and we all headed in. That gave us some time together as couples, which I thought we would all benefit from. I needed to use this time to feel closer to Jake so that I could shake the feeling I was having.

  I showered quickly and threw on a t-shirt and my best-fitting jeans. Then did a quick, five minute make-up job and squeezed some mousse in my hair. I hit it quick with the blow dryer and voila!. Good enough. I headed to the bedroom, but Jake wasn't there, so I walked down the hall to the kitchen. He had his head in the fridge and was talking to Mark, sitting at the island counter finishing a beer and granola bar. “Hey, shower’s open.” I announced.

  Jake looked at Mark and said, “You go ahead, then you and Lily can go on that walk in the woods while we cook dinner.”

  “Okay, thanks, guys. Have fun,” Mark said as he threw his bottle and wrapper in the garbage and headed down the hall.

  I heard Lily say, “No way, me first,” and then a slap and Mark mumble something. They both disappeared into the bathroom. Next, I heard a giggle and the lock click into place. Guess we’re preserving water.