by Linda Palmer
I read the note again.
“Are you mad at her for not going to Chile?” he asked.
Our gazes clashed. “Don’t be stupid. I’m wondering if I should go to the hospital and sit with her instead of flying to Chile.”
“She specifically told me to not let you do that.”
“She did?”
“Yep.”
I still hesitated. “I wish I had a plan B.”
“You have. Me.”
“I’m not sure you’ll do.”
“Of course I will. Besides, I’m all packed.” Now he glanced at his watch. “And if we don’t leave right this minute, we’ll be late for our flight. Want me to drive? I can have us at St. Louis Regional in twenty minutes if I run some lights.”
“I’m driving, and there’s no need to break the law. The pilots won’t leave without us.” I shot past Kit to the elevator. He caught up, a battered backpack, camera case, and duffle bag in hand, just as the door opened.
Since the next half hour passed in a rush, we didn’t really talk until we’d boarded and buckled up in Phil’s jet. That’s when reality slammed home. I turned to him. “How much did Hanna tell you about the next four days?”
“She said you needed moral support because your parents had railroaded you into a trip to Chile. She also told me they were picking up the tab.” He grinned. “I didn’t have a problem with either, so here I am.”
Oh boy. “Do you even know why we’re going?”
“She said something about filming an episode of a television show for the OurPlanet network. I had no idea your parents were famous.”
“Infamous would be a better word.” I sighed. “We’re filming an episode of ‘Myths and Monsters.’”
His jaw dropped. “That cheesy paranormal show about Big Foot and little green men?”
“There’s no need to be rude. That ‘cheesy’ show has paid the bills for a decade. And there are tons of fans waiting to see what my parents uncover next.”
“No shit?” Kit appeared honestly shocked.
And though that pissed me off, I couldn’t be less than truthful. “Actually, the fan base is rapidly dwindling.” I explained everything.
“Hold the train. You’re going to Chile to film something that doesn’t exist in a last ditch effort to save a ridiculous series that should never have aired in the first place?”
I glared at him. “I should’ve left you at home. God, what I was thinking?”
He thought before answering. “That it’d be good to have a neutral party on board?”
“Hanna is neutral. You’re clearly not.”
He winced. “I’m sorry, okay? I was going nuts in St. Louis. I love to travel. I’m glad you brought me along, for whatever reason.”
“My parents won’t be.”
“They will if I want them to, and I do. I’m not going kick them while they’re down, Boone. I can be whoever I need to be to get the job done.”
“Is that how you lure all those women to your apartment? Being whoever they want you to be?”
He snorted his amusement. “Keeping tabs on me?”
“In your dreams. They’re simply hard to miss. Are they porn stars posing for a tripleX calendar or something? I predict it’ll be a huge seller in all the best sex shops.”
I got his hoot of laughter instead of an answer. He shifted gears. “So what’s the plan today?”
“My parents are meeting us at the Hyatt in Santiago. Mom will have an itinerary and everything we could possibly need. I don’t know all the details, but I do know the four of us and their crew will most likely hike to the nearest cave and look for the Cherufe.”
“What the hell is that?”
“A monster that doesn’t exist.”
“Then there’s really no danger.”
“I guess one of us could fall down the mountain and break a leg.” I shrugged the unlikelihood of that.
“So why do you need moral support? Are your parents abusive or something?”
I bristled. “My parents are nice. The problem is me. I have a bad case of claustrophobia, and Mom seems to have forgotten it.”
I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t his cracking up.
“This isn’t funny!”
“Sorry, sorry. You’re right.” He cleared his throat and got serious. “It isn’t funny, but it is ironic, don’t you think?”
I’d had enough. Shifting in the seat, I turned my back on him.
Chapter Four
With a couple of stops to refuel, we arrived in Santiago that evening. A taxi took us from the airport to the Grand Hyatt. I’ll admit I felt a little thrill. One of the things I’d liked about traveling with my parents was the hotels. Whenever we could, we stayed somewhere plush and luxurious. More often than not though, we roughed it—a native’s home, a tent, the car—I’d slept in all of them.
The Hyatt in Santiago had a lobby so beautiful that I wished I’d spruced up before leaving the plane. I checked us in. A suite with two bedrooms had been reserved. During the ride up the plush elevator to the ninth floor, I called Mom and announced our arrival. When we entered our room, we crashed.
For several minutes, I lay face down on the couch with my eyes closed, fighting an unreasonable panic. It had risen with every mile south even though we’d arrived without a hitch. I blamed that on worrying about Mom’s reaction to Kit, but I knew it was more than just that. I wanted to prove to them that my life choices were valid, and while I might not be a cable TV star, I was happy. Well, mostly, anyway. While the day had resurrected some nice memories, a bad one—getting lost in a cave—dwarfed them all.
“You okay?”
I realized my suitemate was warily watching me, so I flipped onto my back. “Fine. You’re going to be nice when we meet up with my parents, right?”
“I told you I would. Don’t you trust me?” He motioned for me to move my feet so he could sit.
I did it grudgingly. “Not really.”
“What’s with you? I’m nice people.”
“Sure you are.”
“No, really. Have I ever done or said anything objectionable?”
“Just every time we’re together.”
“Oh, come on, Boone. Forget the verbal sparring. I’m talk about me doing something truly despicable. Have I ever?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Thank you. And I won’t tonight, either. So chillax, babe. I’ve got this.” He patted my leg.
With a doubtful sigh, I swung my feet to the carpet and stood. “I’d better clean up. We’re meeting them in an hour in the bar. Mind if I hog the bathroom for a while?”
“Actually, there are two.”
Of course there were. I grabbed my bag and retreated to one of the bedrooms, where I showered, put on my face, and straightened my long hair. After that I practiced relaxed smiles in the mirror. Above all, I didn’t want my folks to realize how freaked out I was, especially Dad. He was the parent who’d taken my fears seriously and talked Aunt Mags into letting me stay with her for the most part of every year from ages seven to eighteen.
Sometimes I wondered if MaM was as important to him as it was to my mother. I didn’t really know whose head had hatched the series. I did know that Mom had already written several cryptozoology books before she married Dad, who’d been her editor. If he’d agreed to everything just to keep her happy, he was a saint.
She loved the trappings of their so-called fame and preened whenever they stood in the spotlight. My parents owned a huge house they seldom occupied. They drove a luxury car, but were usually chauffeured. Dad had looked so tired the last time I saw them. And going back, I remembered how tightly he’d hugged me.
Now that I thought about it, I realized their age difference, though not that big, had become more obvious with every birthday. That made me wonder if saving the series was even what Dad wanted. Should I have nixed Mom’s big scheme? Was the “surprise” aspect of my appearance a result of her wanting to reverse a process that could b
e his ticket out?
I heard a knock on my door. “Shouldn’t we be going?”
Squashing my recurring doubts, I joined Kit, who’d cleaned up very nicely. In fact, I loved his chocolate brown camp shirt, khakis, and trail boots. He looked very fit and tan. I could easily picture him on safari. I, on the other hand, wore a long-sleeved midi dress and high-heeled boots.
Kit’s gaze swept me. “Very nice.”
“Thanks and ditto.”
Once downstairs, we paused at the entrance of the bar. I easily spotted my mother, who could’ve been a model for a Land’s End catalog. Natural makeup, chin length highlighted hair, sporty casual outfit. Dad had his back to us, but I knew his salt-and-pepper buzz cut. Tonight, he wore brown pants and a corduroy jacket with patches on the elbows.
So glad to see him, I slipped over and whispered “Boo!” in his ear before giving him a huge hug from behind.
“Ellie!” He jumped up to properly embrace me. We stayed like that forever.
By the time we broke apart, my eyes had filled, and so had his. I examined his face closely, noting just a few new wrinkles. Mom gave me a hug next, one that almost took my breath. It was nice, but a little odd. She wasn’t usually so demonstrative in public. “Mom, Dad, this is Kit Macchioni. Hanna had a last minute emergency, so he kindly stepped in. Kit, Leigh and Rich Boone.”
“It’s a pleasure.” Kit flashed a killer smile as he offered each of them a handshake.
“We’re lucky he had a passport.” I slipped into a chair that put Mom to my left and Dad to my right. Kit caught my eye. “Ginger ale for you?” He knew I didn’t drink.
“Yes.”
When he got back with our beverages, he sat in the chair across the table from me.
Mom jumped right in. “How did you two meet, Ellie?”
“We’re neighbors.”
“I see.” All smiles, she zoned in on Kit next. “And what do you do, Mr. Macchioni?”
“It’s Kit, and I’m a freelance photographer.”
“He’s about to start a new job.” I glanced from one parent to the other. They looked surprisingly…pleased…about the situation. “Photographer for World Wonders.” Kit shot me a look of surprise that made me wish I hadn’t embellished. “I, um, think it’s time to share our plans with Dad, don’t you, Mom?”
Dad’s smile widened. “Plans? What plans?” His gaze pounced on my left hand.
Belatedly I realized what they were thinking. “Kit’s going to hunt the Cherufe with us.”
Dad’s smile vanished. “Are you serious? You hate caves.”
Mom hastily launched an explanation I thought would never end. Poor ratings. Dwindling viewers. Phil’s threats. Her solution.
When she finally stopped for air, Dad sat back, his gaze locked with mine. “You don’t have to do this, Ellie. We’ll come up with something else, and if we don’t, well, we’ll change careers. Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“What!” Mom was nothing but outraged.
“We’ve chased zoological anomalies for years. Maybe it’s time to chase tornadoes, or dolphins, or each other around our bed.”
“B-b-but—” She sputtered nonsense.
Dad caught my hand in his. “We could end the series right here and now and enjoy a nice vacation with our daughter and her boyfriend.”
Now I sputtered. “Kit’s not my boyfriend.”
Dad just smiled.
“No, really.” I flicked a look at Kit. “Tell them.”
“Why hide it?” he said.
“What!” I sounded as outraged as my mother. “Believe me, he’s nothing more than a hastily thrown together plan B.”
“That hurts, Boone.” Kit pretended to be shot in the heart. “That really hurts.”
“Oh shut up.” For good measure, I kicked him, something neither parent could see under the table.
They still laughed out loud, giving me a tiny glimpse of the past, when we found fun and adventure in everything. I thought of some advice my art teacher had once given me: Don’t try to make a living doing something you love. Before long, what you love will be what you hate.
At the time, I’d blown him off. People should love their jobs, shouldn’t they? And what better way than doing something they enjoyed? Now I suspected he was right. Baking cakes wasn’t nearly as much fun as it used to be. Is that what had happened to my parents? Had they turned my mom’s obsession into a job that was dragging them down? If so, I was doing no one any favors by helping prolong it.
“I’d love a vacation with you guys and even Kit, here. But I have to be sure you understand that he’s just a neighbor, and he only came because Hanna asked him to step in for her.”
Kit pretended to fall back in his chair. Fatally wounded, I guess.
Mom wasn’t ready to give up. “There’ll be no vacation this trip. We’ll hike into the mountains as planned. I mean, we’re here, aren’t we? I’ll have Phil beef up the usual episode teasers and maybe even run an ad in ‘Entertainment Weekly.’ The show won’t air for weeks, so there’s time. I think we can turn things around. I know we could if you’d come back to the show.”
Here we go. “I already have a job—one that I love.” I avoided Kit’s heavy stare.
Mom persisted. “Don’t you miss the travel? That was always your favorite part of each assignment.”
“I do, yeah, but there’s really no time for that these days.” Not to mention I couldn’t afford it.
She drew in a breath to argue. Dad cut her off. “Leave her alone, Leigh. She’s got every right to live her life the way she wants.”
Mom didn’t bat an eyelash or shift her gaze from me. “You pretend to be happy with an ordinary nine-to-five job, Ellie. But I think you’re settling. In fact, I distinctly remember you saying you wanted to go around the world a hundred times before you died.”
“I said that?”
She nodded. “Yes. You were five.”
“I don’t remember it.”
Mom gave me a tight smile. “That’s not surprising. All your focus is on the negative aspects of monster hunting these days. Now are we going to do this or not?”
I looked at Dad. He looked back. We both shrugged.
“I’m in,” I said.
“Then I’m in, too.”
Mom sniffed. “Thank you.”
“But you have to drop the boyfriend-girlfriend thing.” My solemn gaze moved around the table, lingering on Kit. “We really aren’t dating.”
Mom’s jubilant smile said it all. “Whatever you say, sweetie.”
On the elevator later, I gave Kit hell for not backing me up when I denied having a relationship with him. “What were you thinking?”
He never missed a beat. “Just trying to be what your parents wanted me to be. I mean, I said I would.”
My jaw dropped. “My parents do not want that. They don’t even know you.”
“That’s not how it felt to me.”
“Oh my God. Are you for real?”
He shrugged. “Just calling things as I see them.”
I tapped my foot on the elevator floor until it slid to a stop and the doors opened. “You’re full of it, you know that?”
Kit laughed and trailed me down the hall. I dug into my purse for the door card.
“You’re really defensive around your parents.”
“I don’t want them to micromanage my life.”
“Maybe if you—”
Reflexively, I covered his mouth with my hand. “I don’t need your advice.”
He nodded. I took my hand back.
We didn’t talk much once we got back to the suite. Kit watched TV. I hid in my bedroom, checking out emails and checking in with Leslie. I also called Hanna, who told me her dad was stable, but still in the ICU.
I went to bed early again. Although the time change had been minor, I felt jet lagged.
I stuck my head inside a shiny new Fiat and smelled…the cave. A diabolical chuckle made my skin crawl. Again? My heart rate kicked up a not
ch in confirmation.
Suddenly, the chuckle became a choking cough and then a strangled curse.
“Beat it, asshole.” Topher, thank goodness.
“Wasn’t going to hurt her. Damn, you’re prickly where this chick’s concerned. Is it love?”
“I said ‘beat it’.” I heard another laugh and then the air felt lighter, fresher. New car smell tickled my nose. “Starting without me, were you?”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Not on purpose.” Topher’s presence cocooned me. Peace replaced panic. “If you’re a dream catcher, what’s your brother? A walking talking nightmare?”
“He’s a freakin’ idiot. Don’t worry about him.”
“What if he shows up when you’re not around?”
“Impossible. I’ll never be farther than a whisper away.”
My eyes flew open, but the dream was still vivid in my head. Was it love? How could it be? Topher was as inaccessible to me as Bradley Cooper or Liam Hemsworth or Jake Gyllenhaal.
No, he was even less available that that. Why? Because they were alive.
Was I losing my mind? At the moment, I could believe it, and that made me sad. Somehow I was deeply involved with a fantasy boyfriend of my own making. We talked. We laughed. Sometimes we touched. But only in my head. How pathetic was it that the only guy who caught my eye didn’t even have a pulse? Yeah. Some psychiatrist would have a wonderful time cracking open the nut case that was me.
After this was over, I really had to get a life.
Mom had rented a Ford Expedition with third-row seating and a luggage rack to get us to the foot of Tupungato, about fifty miles away. Dad drove. Once we were loaded and on the road, she gave Kit and me fact sheets to study. That told me she really did intend to let him join us on our search instead of sticking to base camp with the tech.
Up until now, filming MaM involved a lot of people, one of the things I’d suggested should change. Usually they had two videographers, a medic, two techies, and a local guide. Personally, I thought production should be more spontaneous. What went wrong was much more unforgettable than what went right. So I was glad that Mom had trimmed her entourage to one tech, the medic, and one just-in-case videographer.