The Naked Truth

by Maggie Aldrich

  “We’re just going to leave?” I looked at Darcy and Fritz working away at the table. “I feel like we should be doing something.”

  “We are,” Michael said, looking at me with eyes full of love. “We’re getting out of their way. And you will be forced to relax.” He wrapped his hands around my waist. “Which is just what you need.” He tipped his forehead down to touch mine, letting his hands slowly slide down my hips and around to cup my—

  “Good Lord, can’t you two keep your hands off each other for five seconds?” Fritz looked up at us with a sly grin. “Caught ya, didn’t I?” Darcy rolled her eyes and smacked his arm before she sat back in her chair and let out a big yawn, stretching her arms overhead.

  “Give them a break. They’re on their honeymoon.” She stood up to make herself some tea with the Keurig. “And you need to stay on task. I feel like something’s about to break wide open. Focus.” She returned to her laptop, fingers pounding away.

  “Yes, mom,” Fritz responded, shaking his head. He stood up to stretch out, wincing at the pain from his sciatica shooting down his leg.

  “You have any luck finding me a room elsewhere?”

  I shook my head no.

  “Well, shit. I hate to ruin your honeymoon.” He paused and rubbed his beard, looking toward the bedroom. “That barn door doesn’t look very soundproof.” Michael tried unsuccessfully to suppress a grin while sticking his chest out like a proud rooster. I blushed. “I think I’ve got some earplugs in here somewhere,” Fritz said as he dug around in his duffel bag.

  “Awkward,” Darcy mumbled quietly, keeping her gaze averted.

  “Ah, found ‘em.” Fritz held up some bright orange earplugs with a look of triumph. “You kids have all the fun you want. Get a couple of beers in me, and with the help of these puppies, I shouldn’t hear a thing. Just maybe try to keep it down a little.” He sat back down and continued working, as though blatantly talking about my sex life was all in a day’s work.

  Michael and I threw on some hiking shoes and went out to explore the property before heading to the spa for a massage. The fall Colorado weather could not have been more perfect. The sun was shining brightly overhead and there was just enough of a breeze to cause the gorgeous yellow aspen leaves to rustle lightly. The cool, brisk air was invigorating. The tall peaks of the mountains rose up behind us while the town of Elkston spread out peacefully in the valley below. It was hard to imagine such a beautiful place had its own share of problems, just like everywhere else. Violence, crime, drugs—the latter possibly thanks to my own dad.

  I didn’t know how to handle my emotions. They kept swinging from one extreme to another. Elation over the thought that my dad was alive. Anger and disgust at the thought of him being a drug smuggler and lying to me and my mom for all these years. My dad had been a good man…or so I thought. He raised me to be responsible and hardworking (okay, I admit that took a while longer than it should have). My mom ran charities, helped the homeless, and raised and gave loads of money to local nonprofits. She’s the one who found a speaker to come talk to my eighth grade class about saying no to drugs! How could my dad reconcile himself to the life he was leading? The hypocrisy of it all made me crazy.

  “Babe, uh, can you loosen your grip just a bit?” I looked down at my hand squeezing Michael’s and immediately relaxed my hold.

  “Sorry.” I sighed, taking it all in. I stared down at the valley. “My dad is somewhere down there. I just can’t believe it.”

  “We’ll find him.”

  “Right. And then what do I say when we do? ‘Oh, hey Dad, I thought you were dead! Thanks for not contacting me for eighteen months. And, by the way, what the hell were you doing in Honduras all those years, and what’s up with those Mexican drug cartel friends of yours?!’ I can’t even imagine the conversation. Really! What am I going to say to him?”

  “Maybe he can explain it all away,” Michael said, stopping and pulling me close. He circled his arms around my waist and held me to him. “Maybe there really is a good reason behind all of this.”

  “You’re too damn optimistic,” I said into his chest. “I’m a realist.”

  Michael laughed. “I wouldn’t say I’m optimistic so much as I’d rather stay on the good side of my father-in-law until I know all of the facts. You’re his daughter, and he’ll love you no matter what. He doesn’t know me from Adam.”

  “You’re right,” I said, a thought suddenly popping into my head. “He doesn’t know you.” I started to pull away, looking up at his face. “You can help Fritz look for him.”

  “Well, sure I can, but—”

  “He doesn’t know your face. After all, he probably wasn’t at the wedding at all. He doesn’t know Fritz. But if he’s been here any length of time, he might recognize Darcy from TV, and of course he’d know me.”

  “I get it, but—”

  “We’ll have to split up. You two go into town asking around at coffee shops, gas stations, grocery stores. Take his picture and ask if anyone’s seen him. If they know where he might be staying.” I let go of his hands and started pacing. “Darcy and I will keep looking into the drug connection here and see what we can come up with.” I rolled my eyes. “God, I can’t believe I just said that about my own father.”

  “Babe, I’ll do whatever it takes to try and find your dad. You know I will. But we have to be careful here.” Michael ran a hand through his hair, his brow furrowed. “If your dad’s involved in the drug community and he or anyone else thinks someone’s after him…well, we just have to tread lightly.”

  I took a deep breath and sighed, my hands falling to my sides. He was right. I was getting ahead of myself. I needed to slow down. But tension coursed through my veins, making that nearly impossible. “I know. I’m just so antsy to get moving. I can’t sit here much longer while Darcy and Fritz data mine, or whatever it’s called. We’ve got to physically start looking.”

  “And we will,” Michael said, reaching for my hand, “in exactly one hour and thirty minutes. Right now, let’s take advantage of this elite resort we’re staying at and go get our couples massage.” He smiled down at me, and I couldn’t help but grin back. He was right. For the next hour and a half, I’d try really hard to banish the mystery of my dad’s whereabouts to the back of my mind and let Fritz worry about it. It was only ninety minutes. I could do that, right? I was going to forget about everything and relax and enjoy a deep tissue massage right next to my sexy, loving husband. I took a deep breath to clear my head. Man, I was lucky. I just hoped, in the next few days, that my luck wouldn’t run out.

  ●CHAPTER 16●

  OUR MASSAGES WERE INCREDIBLE, and I didn’t want to leave when our time was up. A ninety-minute massage always seems to fly by so quickly. One minute I’m lying there, listening to the relaxing spa music, falling into a near trance as my muscles are expertly kneaded. The next minute they’re telling me they’re all finished and it’s time to go. Michael and I languished side by side while our massage therapists left the room to give us time to get dressed.

  “You’re looking pretty sexy there all oiled up,” he whispered in his deep voice, smiling mischievously and slowly starting to sit up from the table. He lifted his arms overhead and stretched, flexing the muscles in his well-toned upper body. “What do you say we head back to the cabin and…” His face fell and he dropped his hands. “Crap. I forgot all about who was waiting for us back there. Dammit, dammit, dammit. My wife is naked and oiled up right next to me.” He groaned quietly and put his head in his hands. “And I can’t do anything about it. Ugh. Life is cruel. I need a cold shower.”

  I smiled and looked at my beautiful husband, clearly in a special kind of physical agony.

  “Well…like you said, we always have the SUV,” I whispered back at him. I got up from the table and let the sheet slowly drop to the floor. His head shot up.

  “I thought you didn’t—”

  “Maybe I changed my mind. We didn’t tell Darcy and Fritz when we’d be back, so…
maybe we have to run into town for a few things…and maybe it takes a little longer than we expected.” I winked at him as a smile formed on his face. “I’m sure we can find some back road to, you know, have a little quiet time together.”

  “You’re on,” he whispered huskily, getting up and pulling me to him for a slow, deep kiss. I didn’t want to stop, but the knock on the door from my therapist, telling me she had a glass of water waiting, brought me back to reality. Michael finally pulled back and I looked down and tilted my head.

  “I don’t know how you walk around with that thing.”

  He let out a belly laugh and kissed the top of my head before looking deep into my eyes. “Race ya!” he said, releasing his grip and reaching for his clothes.

  I swiftly grabbed my yoga pants and sweatshirt, pulling them on and beating him by a good thirty seconds as he struggled to zip his jeans. “That’s not fair,” he said, looking down. “I have an extreme disadvantage.”

  “Oh, poor you.” I gave him a sad face and threw my hair in a ponytail. “I’ll be sure to make it up to you.”

  We walked out of the room hand in hand and got our tiny cups of water from the massage therapists before heading outside. We briskly walked back toward the cabin to get the SUV. I texted Fritz and told him we had to run into town for a few things. He texted back, Food…beer. I felt bad that they’d been holed up working while we’d been hiking around and getting massages, so I made a mental note to pick up something really yummy to eat.

  We got in the SUV, and Michael peeled out of the parking spot before I even had my seatbelt on.

  “You in a hurry?” I asked with a grin.

  He looked at me and smiled deviously. “As a matter of fact, I am.”

  I put my head on his shoulder and slowly walked my hand up his leg. He let out a low groan and pressed hard on the gas before immediately easing up. “Damn winding mountain roads.” He navigated the twists and turns like a pro, commenting to himself that he should have been a race car driver.

  Halfway down the mountain, we came across an abandoned mining road. The sun was starting to set behind the trees, and we saw no signs of life in the area. Michael took the turn and carefully drove around a rusted gate with a faded “No Trespassing” sign dangling by a nail.

  “Why did you turn here?” I whispered, pointing at the sign. “It says ‘No Trespassing.’”

  “Emily, that sign’s ancient, this road looks deserted, and I really, really can’t hold out much longer. If you’d get your hand off my leg…maybe.”

  I pulled my hand back.

  “Kidding,” he said with a smirk. “Too late.” He stopped the SUV about 100 yards from the turnoff. The area was completely overgrown, and we could hardly see the main road. The light from the setting sun barely filtered through the dense tress, and we sat in near darkness. Michael turned off the vehicle and turned toward me.

  “Are you sure no one can see us here?” I giggled, feeling like a teenager.

  “I don’t really care,” he said, taking my face in his hands and kissing me.

  “Michael!” I swatted his chest, feigning annoyance.

  “I promise you no one is watching us,” he said, taking my hand and kissing my fingertips one by one. His eyes were dark and his gaze was intense. I felt heat course through my body and my heart began to quicken at his touch. The windshield immediately started to fog up. “Now come on over here and let’s finish what your oiled up, relaxed, naked body lying next to me started.” He moved his seat back, pulled me into his lap, and erased everything else from my mind.

  A little while later, I lay contentedly on Michael’s chest, breathing in the scent of him. I wanted to stay like this forever and not have to head back out to the real world full of secrets and lies.

  “I don’t want to go back,” I mumbled into his shirt. I was perfectly content where I was. “I want to stay right here and take a nap.”

  Michael laughed his deep laugh, and I could feel it vibrate through my body, making me smile. I put my chin on his chest and sighed.

  “Well, we definitely have to remember this spot for as long as we have houseguests the rest of this week. But hey, I’ll make you a deal,” he said, turning on his side and cradling me to him in our cramped quarters. “We’ll run into town real quick, and you can stay in here and get your nap while I run in somewhere and pick up food and beer. Sound good?”

  I looked up at him and grinned. He’s such a good man. Always making sure I’m happy and content. “You’re so sweet to me. How did I get so lucky?”

  Michael sighed and stretched his arms overhead. “Luck had nothing to do with it, babe. This was fate.”

  I was reminded of the Halloween party at my old sorority house nearly a year ago before we’d started dating. I’d worn an old bridesmaid’s dress and gone as the Bride of Frankenstein. Michael showed up, completely unaware of my outfit, as Frankenstein himself. He’d said almost the exact same thing back then. It was fate. We were meant to be together.

  I gave him a quick kiss and slowly crawled back over to my side of the SUV. He started it up and, once we were both settled, we began slowly creeping back down the abandoned road toward the intersection. It was completely dark by now, and had we gone much further into the forest, we might have lost the road completely. As it was, our headlights just barely made out the old gate signaling the intersection, and the SUV rumbled toward it.

  Just as we approached the main road, a large black truck with blinding headlights veered around the gate, zoomed past us, and raced up the abandoned road, narrowly missing our bumper. Michael slammed on the brakes, jerking us back.

  “Where the hell did that come from?” he asked in surprise. “You okay?”

  “Yeah? You?” My heart was racing at the near miss. “Did you see who that was?” Michael shook his head. The truck had flown by us, but as it turned, our headlights had clearly shone on some serious helmet head. “It was Dirk and Savannah. What do you think they’re doing out here?”

  “I don’t know,” Michael said, pulling out on the main road after looking each direction twice, “but he was flying.” He looked at me and smirked. “You think we’re not the only ones that need a place to get away? There’s absolutely nothing down that road.”

  Blood rushed to my face as I realized just how close we’d come to being caught in a compromising position. We had to find another place for Fritz to stay.

  As my heart rate settled down, I checked some local hotels on my phone again, hoping for a cancellation, but still saw no vacancies. Hoping I’d have better luck tomorrow, I put it out of my mind and instead looked up local restaurants and called in an order at a barbecue place.

  We continued down the mountain and drove into town. Michael stopped at a local brewery and bought a few six-packs of their seasonal ales – Pecan Ale, Octoberfest, and Hard Apple Cider. I stayed in the car, sinking down in the seat, trying to look incognito while surreptitiously stealing glances at people walking by, hoping to get a glimpse of my dad. I knew it was a long shot. But if I did see him, what would I do? In my heart, I knew I’d run up and hug him and not let him go. But if he saw me without me knowing it, he was likely to hightail it out of town. He’d made that much clear by never trying to find me in the first place after he’d disappeared. I knew I had to be the one to find him. I couldn’t risk him seeing me accidentally and fleeing.

  Next, we swung by the barbecue place and picked up our food before heading back to the cabin. Everything smelled delicious and my stomach growled in anticipation. Sitting in the car with the food in my lap all the way back up the mountain was pure torture.

  The warmth of the fire greeted us as we walked inside the cabin. The firewood had been replenished, and Darcy and Fritz remained focused on their work at the table. The only difference from earlier was that Darcy’s hair was now falling out of a loosely tied ponytail, and Fritz had changed from a Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts into a white T-shirt and Parrothead sweatpants.

  Darcy was very quiet
and intent, eyes focused on the screen, a serious and somber look on her face. Fritz, however, had turned on some Doobie Brothers, and was alternating between playing the air guitar and using his hands to pound out the beat of the drums on the table.

  “Will you stop that and turn off the prehistoric music, please?” Darcy finally asked when Fritz’s mock drumming landed some of her notes on the floor. She threw her hands up in frustration. “I’m trying to work here!”

  “My bad, my bad,” Fritz said, leaning over to pick up the fallen papers. “I’m not used to working with other people around. That’s the benefit of a one-man shop.” He fished some earbuds out of his bag and took them out of their case. “I do keep a pair of these things on hand for flights and such, when people might not share my fine taste in music.” He gave Darcy a pointed glare while he struggled to put them in, fishing around through a forest of ear hair before getting them just right. “That good?” he yelled.

  Darcy gave him a thumbs up as the music disappeared and continued to type away.

  “Oh Mississippiii, she’s hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmm,” Fritz quietly sang out, head bopping, as he jotted down some notes of his own.

  Darcy dropped her head and let out a low growl. Michael set the beer down on the counter, put his hands over his ears, and walked to the bathroom. I giggled quietly at Fritz’s inability to stay on tune. He was ruining a good song.

  “I’d like to hear some doodoo doodeedoo, pretty momma, doobeedoobeedoobeedoo.”

  Darcy coughed out loud in an attempt to get Fritz’s attention.

  “…hand…pretty momma! Gonna bambambah banaa aaall night long.”

  “Omigod, I’m done here,” Darcy said, slamming her laptop shut and standing up. “I need to get going anyway.” She grabbed her vest and put it back on, winding her scarf around her neck.