Gone With the Nerd

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  "I'm excited to meet him, too." Seeing Margo happy with her fiancée would go a long way toward making Zoe feel better about that ugly business with Rob.

  "You hungry?" Margo asked as she got behind the wheel, closed her door, and turned the key. The engine coughed, wheezed, and finally caught. "We can swing into a drive-through before we head out."

  "No, I'm good." Zoe wanted to make sure they got to the cabin ahead of Flynn, who would be landing any minute.

  "All righty, then." Margo checked her makeup in the rearview mirror before pulling away from the curb. "Long Shaft, here we come. I stocked in some groceries, like you asked me to, so you can fix something once you get there. I'd love to treat you to a meal at the Sasquatch Diner, but you might not want to take a chance on eating in public."

  "Sasquatch Diner. Cute name."

  "It's sort of a town theme. You'll see. But I don't think you should eat there first thing. See if your disguise works. Love the twist ties in your hair. Nice touch."

  "My disguise worked great in the airport. Nobody had a clue who I was." Zoe wasn't as thrilled about that as she'd anticipated.

  "Nobody's gonna hear it from me, that's for sure. And I'm the only one besides you and your lawyer who knows you're here."

  "Well, that's not quite true. Flynn, that's my lawyer, thought he should tell his girlfriend."

  "Uh-oh. You didn't say he had a girlfriend."

  "I didn't know until I asked him to come here for the weekend. He insisted Kristen had to know about it. She lives in Massachusetts, but right now she's at a convention in Chicago, and I'm worried that she'll mention it to someone and word will leak out."

  "I think you have reason to be worried," Margo said. "You don't even know this person. Is he telling her exactly where you're staying and everything?"

  "Yep. All of it. He was afraid if the paparazzi showed up and got a picture of us together, then she'd freak if she saw it in the tabloids."

  "Yeah, she probably would. I mean, any woman would get nervous knowing that her boyfriend's spending the weekend with you. It's only natural."

  Guilt from the past whispered in Zoe's ear. She might be forgiven for Rob, but she doubted Margo had forgotten it. "This weekend is totally platonic," she said. "Flynn is the last guy I'd ever want to be involved with, so Kristen has nothing to worry about."

  "She'll worry anyway."

  "I suppose so. Well, she'll have e-mail and phone contact with Flynn all weekend, so that should help."

  "I just hope she doesn't shoot off her mouth and ruin your plan."

  "I hope not, either, but Flynn refused to come unless he could tell her, so there's nothing I can do at this point."

  "Guess not." Margo drummed on the steering wheel. "I guess he's crucial to the plan."

  "He really is." Zoe was still assimilating the new version of Margo. Although she'd packed on some extra pounds, she obviously paid attention to her grooming. Not a single one of her silver-toned nails was chipped, and her brows were perfectly shaped. She wore a medium-sized diamond solitaire on her left hand.

  "Have you set a date for the wedding?"

  "I'm thinking the first Saturday in June, if that's not too much of a cliché." Margo sounded worried. "Do you think that's too obvious, a June wedding?"

  Zoe was touched that Margo wanted her advice. "I'm no expert on weddings, but it's a beautiful month, especially in Northern California." She wondered if there was any way she could go without making the wedding all about her instead of Margo. Maybe not.

  "Then if June has the Zoe Tarleton seal of approval,

  I'll go with that," Margo said. "So what's it like kissing Viggo Mortensen, anyway?" "Not bad."

  "Zoe. What do you mean not bad, like it didn't affect you at all! Come on, spill. You can tell me. Were you ready to melt?"

  "That was a while back. I'm not sure I can—" "Oh, come on. You don't forget things like that. I mean, Viggo Mortensen. Of course he wasn't so famous back then, but still. I'll bet you were a little puddle by the end."

  "Okay, I was a little puddle." That wasn't exactly true. Sure, she'd had fun, and because her character was supposed to be hot for Viggo's character, she'd worked up some steam, but it was all in a day's work.

  At the very beginning of her career she'd fallen hard for a costar. The resulting affair and train wreck of a breakup had broken her heart, but worse, it had been splashed all over the tabloids. She'd decided right then to stick with fake publicity romances and not let herself in for that kind of misery again.

  "I knew it! Viggo Mortensen is a god. He can have me any day of the week. Okay, so is Halle Berry that beautiful or is it all camera angles and makeup?"

  "She really is beautiful. Even without makeup."

  "That is so not fair!" Margo laughed. "Makes me want to kill her!"

  "I know what you mean. I just found out that without my makeup I don't turn a single head. By the way, have you heard from any of the other girls on the squad? Who's coming to the reunion?" She'd much rather talk about their classmates than Hollywood stars.

  "Mandy Estevan, who's now Mandy Ochoa, is coming."

  "I remember Mandy! She was so good at the sprits. So she married Richard Ochoa. How about that. How about Suzanne Guthries? Or Crystal Hildebrand?"

  "I think Crystal said she'd be there. I can't remember if I've heard from Suzanne. I'll have to check. Listen, do you ever hang out with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck?"

  "Um, sometimes." Zoe didn't remember Margo being fixated on Hollywood gossip when they'd talked on the phone. Instead they'd ragged on teachers they'd hated, tests they'd flunked and yearbook pictures they'd like to destroy.

  "Are Matt and Ben funny when they're together? I picture them as cracking jokes with each other all the time."

  "They like to joke around, yeah. Sort of like Jeff and Darin used to in English. Remember the time—"

  "They've been friends forever."

  "So they're still buddies?" Zoe was glad to hear it. She should have maintained a long-term friendship like that, but her lifestyle hadn't made it easy to do. "I always liked Jeff and Darin."

  "To heck with Jeff and Darin. I was talking about Matt and Ben. They wrote Good Will Hunting together and wouldn't sell it unless they could both be in it. That's loyalty. How about J-Lo? I saw a picture in People of you two coming out of a hair salon together. Are you friends with her?"

  "Not close friends. We go to the same salon." Zoe realized she'd be quizzed all the way to Long Shaft, so she gave up her fantasy of riding along with eighties tunes and pretending to be teenagers again.

  Margo wanted a glimpse into her star-studded life, and that was an understandable reaction. Zoe couldn't really blame her. Margo lived in a tiny town where not much went on, obviously. Zoe was her contact with the world of glamour and excitement. For the next half hour Zoe answered Margo's endless questions as darkness fell and they wound their way up into the pine country.

  About ten miles outside Long Shaft the lighted billboards started appearing. Long Shaft: Home of the Giant Sasquatch! Long Shaft Trading Post: THE Place for Bigfoot Souvenirs! Keychains, Dolls, Bumper Stickers, Posters and More! The Sasquatch Diner: Big Meals for Bigfoot Hunters! Stay at the Bigfoot Motel: More Sightings Than Anywhere Else in Town!

  The billboards were decorated with crude drawings of a large, hairy creature who didn't look the least bit like the creature Zoe remembered from Harry, the comedy about Bigfoot. This Bigfoot looked very unfriendly. Hostile, even.

  As the billboard parade continued, Zoe's uneasiness grew. "Is all this for real?" she finally asked.

  "What?" Margo continued driving down the two-lane road, which finally brought them to the edge of town and the granddaddy of all the billboards. It read: WELCOME TO LONG SHAFT, The Bigfoot Capital of the World!

  "This Bigfoot Capital of the World stuff."

  "Well, we do have a lot of sightings. As to whether it's more than anywhere else in the world ..." Margo shrugged as she pulled into town and passed the Bi
gfoot Motel, the Sasquatch Diner, and the Long Shaft Trading Post. "Couldn't prove it one way or the other by me. But it's Long Shaft's claim to fame now that the mine is closed."

  "So have you, um, seen Bigfoot personally?" Zoe got the impression Margo believed in this mythical creature, and she didn't want to offend her.

  "Sure." Margo slowed down for the town's only traffic light, which had turned red, although no one was coming the other way. "There's a whole family of them living near here. I've seen the male twice, the female three times, and the baby once. I hold the town record for sightings."

  Zoe peered at her, trying to discover if she was kidding around. "You're serious."

  "Of course! Number six was just last week, about midnight. I heard heavy footsteps and looked out the window and there the male was, walking through the trees. Plus I knew what it was, even without the howl or the smell."

  "What howl?" Zoe kept waiting for the punch line. She'd never met anyone who believed in Bigfoot, let alone someone who'd caught a glimpse of an entire family group. This had to be a joke.

  "You'll know it when you hear it. Sort of like a mountain lion, only more volume. And they stink something fierce, too. Like about ten skunks letting loose."

  Zoe stared at Margo. Talk about bizarre. Maybe the whole town, including Margo, was staging some kind of hoax. If so, she didn't want to play. "Um, how close is your place to the cabin you rented for me?"

  "Not far. About half a mile down the road." Margo glanced over at her. "But don't worry. I know the pictures on the billboards are scary, but that's designed to pull in the tourists. They wouldn't be as attracted to a cuddly version. The Cahfornia variety of Bigfoot is huge, but I'm convinced they're harmless."

  Zoe took a deep breath. She could hardly wait for Flynn to get here. Solid, dependable, logical Flynn. She was absolutely positive that Flynn wouldn't believe in Bigfoot.

  Chapter Four

  Riding the cabin in the dark wasn't easy, but Flynn had an excellent sense of direction. When he pulled into the small parking area in front of the place, he found a neon green Taurus sitting there and lights on inside the cabin. If his Civic had been a huge step down for Zoe, riding in the Taurus must have been ground zero.

  Taking his overnight bag, the script, and his laptop case from the passenger seat of the rented car, he closed and locked the vehicle. He'd downgraded from the luxury class Zoe had ordered. She might not like that, but he couldn't see wasting the money on a Lincoln Town Car. Besides, if she wanted to learn the art of being a nerd, she'd have to start appreciating thrift.

  Speaking of that, he hoped she hadn't spent much on this cabin. Calling it quaint would be generous. Dilapidated was more like it. The peeling paint and sagging front porch struck a chord, though. His folks had lived in company housing like this for years. Now that they'd bought the bed-and-breakfast, they maintained its appearance, but his dad had never seen the point in sprucing up something he didn't own.

  If Flynn owned this particular shack in the woods, he'd make some changes. Huge pine trees grew right next to it, which spelled out fire hazard, wind damage, and roots in the plumbing. Sure, the trees smelled nice, but they were way too close for his peace of mind. Thankfully, structural damage wasn't his problem unless a storm toppled one of the trees onto the cabin while he was in it.

  With the strap of his laptop case over one shoulder, he carried the overnight bag in one hand and the script in the other. Slowly he climbed the creaking steps and walked across the narrow porch to the front door. The sound of voices, one belonging to Zoe and the other to her friend Margo, reminded him that he didn't want to do this. Given a choice, he'd get back in the car and leave. But Zoe would never forgive him, and he couldn't afford to lose her as a client.

  With a sigh, he glanced around, delaying the moment when he'd have to go inside. Maybe he could sit on the porch for a while. Or maybe not. A couple of flimsy rocking chairs looked as if they'd collapse under the weight of anyone over twenty pounds. The place was a lawsuit waiting to happen, if you asked him, which nobody had.

  Finally he stopped stalling and rapped on the door.

  The conversation inside ceased. "That must be Flynn," Zoe said clearly, and footsteps approached.

  When she opened the door, he stared. Then he closed his mouth tight so he wouldn't laugh. Her nerd outfit was way over the top. He'd have to teach her a little subtlety, or she'd never get the part.

  She must have figured out that he was trying not to laugh, because she became very indignant. "Nobody recognized me in the airport, so there!"

  "I believe you." He wondered if he would have recognized her in the airport. Yeah, he would have. One look into those trademark blue eyes of hers, even with the wire-rimmed glasses disguising them, and he would have known. Plus there was the faint dimple in her left cheek and the scent of her favorite perfume, some designer fragrance that reminded him of hot tropical nights.

  "Come on in." She stepped back and motioned to the woman standing in the middle of the cabin's living room. "Flynn Granger, this is my friend from high school, Margo Taggart."

  "Hi, Margo." Flynn put down his overnight bag and shook Margo's hand, which made her plastic bracelets click against one another. Margo was a shock. He couldn't figure out how a woman like her fit into Zoe's life. If they were truly friends, then his whole picture of Zoe was wrong. Flynn didn't know a lot about women's clothes, but he could spot a fashion disaster in progress.

  "So you're the guy who's going to teach Zoe how to be a geek," Margo said.

  "That's right." He thought it a little ungracious of her to point that out, but maybe she didn't mean it unkindly.

  She surveyed him, her gaze lingering on his carefully knotted necktie. "I'm sure you'll do a great job."

  "Thanks." He decided to take it as a compliment. "That's my goal." Glancing around, he took a quick inventory of his surroundings. The inside matched the outside, and in this case that wasn't so good. The theme seemed to be Early Salvation Army, with a tattered couch in a brown floral print, a scuffed coffee table, and two beige armchairs.

  A mottled brown carpet camouflaged whatever had been spilled there over the years. The room's only saving grace was a stone fireplace, but there wasn't any wood stacked beside it, probably because it was still too warm this time of year to think in terms of a fire. Flynn wondered if Zoe would adapt to these bare-bones accommodations, considering that she was used to a luxury beach house.

  "I guess I'll be getting on home, then." Margo turned away from Flynn and focused her attention on Zoe. "If you need anything, you have my phone number."

  "I'm sure we'll be fine. And thank you so much." Zoe walked over and gave her a hug.

  "You're quite welcome!" Margo beamed at Zoe. "Don't forget to try the blueberry cobbler. Our cook Fiona at the diner made it last night. You're lucky to be here during a full moon, because that's the only time she makes it."

  "Why is that?" Zoe asked.

  "Nobody knows for sure, but it's like this ritualistic thing every full moon. Ray—that's her husband, who owns the diner—says that's the only time he gets sex, too." Margo winked. "But Fiona won't explain it even to him, and they've been married twenty-eight years, so I guess we'll never find out."

  Flynn shook his head. "That's weird."

  "Anyway, around here we all wait for the full moon. Ray, he has two reasons to wait, but the rest of us are after the blueberry cobbler. It's out of this world. My Bob just loves it. See you guys later." She whisked out the door, closing it behind her.

  Once she was gone, Zoe let out a long heartfelt sigh. "She believes in Bigfoot."

  "Who does?"

  "Margo. And if she doesn't believe, she's doing a great job of pretending to. It's a big deal around here. Didn't you see the huge sign at the edge of town?"

  "Well, yeah, of course. This is a logical place for Bigfoot sightings, up in the mountains."

  Zoe smiled. "I'm so glad you're here. I didn't dare make fun of this concept while I was with M
argo."

  "Who said I was making fun of it?"

  She paused a beat. "You're not?"

  "There have been some credible eyewitnesses over the years. With all that evidence, it seems logical that something's out there creating all the hubbub. Cryptozoology is a fascinating subject."

  "Crypto-whatzit?"

  "Cryptozoology, the study of mysterious animals like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster." Seeing the sign at the edge of town had reminded him of how he'd devoured those accounts as a teenager.

  "Flynn! I was counting on you to be the sane person around here."

  He shrugged. "Sorry. I think Bigfoot's cool. I've been reading the accounts about Sasquatch for years."

  "Then this place should be right up your alley." She didn't sound happy about that. "Margo told me there's an entire Bigfoot family living around here. She's spotted the daddy twice, the mommy three times, and the little baby Bigfoot once."

  "No kidding?" Flynn felt his old interest stir. If Margo's sightings were legit, he wouldn't mind talking to her about them.

  "According to her, she holds the town record for number of sightings. Which means she's not the only Long Shaft resident who believes in Bigfoot."

  "They keep track?" Flynn's excitement grew. A fascination with Bigfoot wasn't something he'd reveal ordinarily, but if he'd accidentally landed in the middle of a major Sasquatch area, lie wouldn't be able to resist checking it out.

  "I'm sure it's all a big hoax. They need tourist dollars, so this is their gimmick. There's no such thing."

  He wondered if she was afraid of the possibility. That thought touched off a wave of unexpected tenderness, followed by the urge to protect her from things that go bump in the night. "Of course they could be seeing something else and imagining it's Bigfoot. Maybe it's a large bear."

  "A bear?" Her eyes widened.

  Whoops, wrong explanation. He'd scared her even more. "Probably not a bear, now that I think about it. I doubt there are any bears left in this area." He knew squat about the bear population here, but he could BS with the best of them.