“You must be a very good business consultant.”
“The best. People call me and I save them from tanking their worthless enterprise into the depths of Chapter 11. So what happened?”
Sara leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “Depression is an ugly monster. To be fair, I don’t believe I was depressed in any clinical sense. Although I exhibited symptoms of depression, true clinical depression is a different thing. But some days at the hospital, I was so physically and mentally devastated by what I saw, it was overwhelming. I’d come home every night with knots in my shoulders from the stress and I couldn’t let it go. It’s not only the illness and the blood like you might expect. The families you deal with can be insensitive and mean. They always expected things to happen instantly. And miracles when no miracle could possibly happen. Then they blamed me, even though it wasn’t my fault. I was constantly running, frantically trying to keep up with all the requests, duties, and endless paperwork.”
“I guess all of that affected things at home too?”
“Yes. Whenever I wasn’t at the hospital, all I wanted to do was curl up and sleep. My family and fiancé kept asking me what was wrong.”
“So are you married now?”
“That was another thing that didn’t work out. I was engaged for two years. Everything for the wedding was all set up and I’d been planning the event since I was a little girl. It was a lovely day and everything was absolutely perfect. The decorations, my dress, the cake…everything. It was flawless, down to the tiniest detail.”
“You do seem like a planner.”
“I am. That hasn’t changed. Unfortunately, there was one thing I couldn’t plan—the actions of the groom. Josh didn’t show up.”
“You’re kidding! The guy left you standing at the altar? Like in a movie or something?”
“It’s actually much more humiliating in real life.”
“Wow, I’m sorry. Talk about sucking. That sucks great big donkey, um, well you know….”
“It did. There were all those people staring at me—I felt like the biggest loser in the world.” Sara straightened and poked at the fire with a branch. “But all that planning wasn’t a complete waste. The reception turned out to be a lot of fun. People still talk about it. After it was apparent the ceremony wasn’t going to happen, my parents encouraged me to let everyone go to the reception.
“I felt like everyone was whispering about me, but I couldn’t say no after all my parents had done for me. So I tried to put on a brave face and went to change into my party clothes. I looked at my wedding dress and it was like something shattered in my mind. I went from feeling totally embarrassed to totally furious. I grabbed the dress, took it outside, and made a fire ring on the lawn. Then I set my wedding dress on fire.”
Zack burst out laughing. “Oh man, that’s classic. You torched it?”
“Charred it to little tiny bits.”
“That’s so cool. I think I have a new respect for you.”
Sara smiled as she jabbed at the coals in the fire. “See, I’m not just bossy and organized. I’m a pyromaniac too.”
Zack chuckled. “No wonder you didn’t have any trouble starting this campfire.”
“Well, I have had some practice.”
After divulging her mortifying wedding story, Sara felt a bit self-conscious. She didn’t even know Zack. How did he end up getting her to blab every rotten thing that had ever happened to her? Standing up, she said, “I’m going to go get some more wood.”
“Yeah, I’m starting to see what you mean about the sun going behind the hills. It’s getting colder.”
“I want to gather the wood before I can’t see anything anymore.”
Zack stood up. “I’ll help you.”
They walked back up the hillside and hurriedly gathered as much wood as possible in the waning twilight. Away from the fire, it was downright cold wearing just shorts and a t-shirt.
Finally, it was too dark to see much of anything and they returned to the fire. Sara tried not to dwell on the fact that they probably didn’t have enough wood to keep the fire going all night. Tomorrow morning was going to be chilly. And the fact that there’d be no coffee made her want to whimper.
Zack sat down and huddled near the fire, watching while Sara added more wood and rearranged it with a long branch. She sat down next to him and Olivia curled up in front of her. Rummaging through her dry bag, Sara tried holding it closer to the fire in an effort to see what she was doing. Finally, she pulled out a small plastic package. “I do have it!”
Zack looked at her. “Have what?”
“The emergency blanket. It’s supposed to help you conserve warmth.”
“That little thing? Does it actually work?”
“I’ve never tried it. It’s made of Mylar, so it reflects heat. If we wrap it around us, we may be able to retain more heat from the fire.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Sara shook out the blanket and laid it behind them. She pulled one corner up over her shoulder and Zack grabbed the other end and pulled it over him. He pulled it closer. “This thing sure is thin. Does it do anything?”
“Some people call them space blankets because they are based on NASA technology. It should help you retain body heat. I do feel a little warmer. Do you?”
“Yeah. Score one for technology.”
They sat in silence for a while, staring at the flames. Sitting on a rock was starting to hurt parts of her backside, and Sara pushed on Zack, encouraging him to move over. She rearranged the blanket and her jacket so she could lie down next to the fire. Olivia curled up in front of her stomach.
Zack leaned over her. “So, uh, at the risk of being overly chummy here, is it okay if I still share the blanket?”
“Yes, that’s fine. Make sure to stay on top of the blanket, so you aren’t lying on the damp sand.”
Zack sprawled out alongside her and pulled the blanket over them, reaching down to tuck the end under their feet. He settled in behind her and Sara could feel his breath on the back of her neck. Body heat had a lot to recommend it. She rested her cheek on her arm, watched the flames dance, and tried not to think about things like sand fleas or all the pebbles and stones poking into her body in uncomfortable ways.
Behind her, Zack squirmed around and threw a rock over Sara toward the lake. “Ow. That old movie where they’re getting it on in the waves on some sexy Hawaiian beach makes lying in the sand seem like a lot more fun than this.”
Sara giggled. “I think the idea was that they were too busy to notice.”
Zack poked her in the ribs and Sara jumped, which caused Olivia to squawk in response. Sara looked over her shoulder at Zack. “Be nice, or I’ll take my blanket and go away.”
“So what grade do you teach? I’m guessing first grade.”
“Second.”
“Is there still nap time with blanket-stealing in second grade?”
“Very funny.”
“Fine. I’ll lie here and try not to think about the 300-million thread count sheets, down comforter, and big fat squishy pillows on my bed.”
“That sounds lovely.” Sara rolled over to lie on her back, so she could see him. “Where do you live?”
“LA.”
“If I ask you what brought you to Alpine Grove, will you tell me?”
“Maybe.” Propping himself up on his elbow and resting his head on his palm he continued, “But only if you ask nice and don’t hog the blanket.”
“I’m not hogging. So please tell me, why are you here? Really.”
“Treasure.”
She turned her head to look at his face and see if he was serious. “Give me a break. I think even my second-graders could come up with something better than buried treasure.”
“I’m not making something up. That’s seriously why I’m here. There’s supposed to be a treasure somewhere out here. I don’t know if it’s buried or not.”
Sara wasn’t buying it. Yes, she’d originally thought Zack l
ooked like a pirate, but treasure? He must think she was a complete idiot. “Right. And where exactly is this lost treasure of Alpine Grove supposed to be located? You have nothing except the clothes on your back, as far as I can tell.”
“Well, I haven’t found it yet. I’m working on it. Like I said, I may have gotten kinda turned around.”
“Because the prepared treasure hunter brings a compass. Not to mention water and food.”
Zack poked her in the ribs again. “Okay, so I’m not exactly Indiana Jones. I get it. You made your point. But I’m pretty sure I can find it. Probably.”
“So how is it that you know about this fabulous bounty and no one else has found it yet? Do you have some long lost relative who was a lake pirate? Do lakes even have pirates?” Sara waved her hand dismissively. “This is absurd. Why am I even asking you this?”
“Yo, ho, ho.” Zack grinned. “The answer is because you don’t have anything better to do.”
“I suppose I can’t argue with that. So answer the question. Where did this fabulous loot come from? And how do you, a business consultant from LA, happen to be the one to know about it? Unless you’re lying and you’re really Captain Hook, I don’t quite see the connection.”
“I’m definitely not Captain Hook. More like Cap’n Crunch. I’m not a big fan of crocodiles though.”
“Most people aren’t. So how do you know about this treasure?”
“It’s a long story.”
“We’ve already established I have nothing else to do. The longer, the better.”
“Okay. But I’m getting cold. Is it okay if I move closer to you?”
“All right.”
Zack stretched out on his side and Sara rolled over to face the fire again. He snuggled up behind her and wrapped his arm around her waist. “Thanks. That’s a lot better. It’s not supposed to be cold in the middle of summer.”
“The temperature fluctuations in the mountains are more extreme than they are down near the coast.” She gripped his hand and shook it. “Stop that! Don’t change the subject again.”
“Yeah, okay, about the treasure—I found out about it originally when I was a little kid. Like I said, I was in foster care, so I moved around a lot. I met some interesting people over the years. At one home, the kids used to brag that the guy next door had a million dollars in buried treasure.”
“Kids always exaggerate like that.”
“I know. I wasn’t that much of a sucker. By that time, I’d figured out that half of them thought teasing the foster kid could be fun. So I didn’t buy into much of anything anyone said to me.”
“I’m sure being placed into strange environments like that must have required a lot of adjustment.”
“It was a drag. For years, all I wanted was a permanent home. Instead, I aged out of foster care. If you get old enough, they boot you.”
Sara turned to look at him. “Oh, I’m sorry. That’s terrible. I don’t think I ever considered that possibility.”
“Well, it’s all in the past, but like I said, you hear things when you move around like I did. So at this one place, I heard about the treasure and I thought it was all a big load of sh…um…stuff. I figured the kids in the neighborhood were making it up to piss me off.”
“But now you think it’s real?”
“Yeah, I read a newspaper article about a guy who claimed he was a treasure hunter and that he’d hidden a treasure somewhere in Cedar County. Apparently, he used to go hiking around here and he says he knew about a treasure in the mountains. I looked at the picture and I couldn’t believe it—the photo was of the same guy I knew from the neighborhood.”
“So why are you here? If he knows where it is, why doesn’t he have it?”
“Well, I guess he did have it for a while. But then he got cancer and decided that he wanted someone else to have the thrill of discovering the treasure. So before he died, he hid it.”
“Do you mean it was here and he put it back? Who does that?”
“I dunno. I don’t know what the treasure is exactly. I guess he might have spent some of it. Supposedly the rest is out there though.”
“How is anyone supposed to find it?”
“I think he wants me to have it. He wrote me a letter before he died. I guess he remembered me and tracked me down. Because of my business, I’m pretty easy to find. I always thought he was telling me all those tales of treasure to entertain me because I was a sad, lonely foster kid. But now I think he wasn’t making it up.”
“Did he tell you where the treasure is?”
“Not in so many words. But he used to get drunk and talk to me all the time. He told the best stories. At night I’d go out my window, crawl down the fire escape, and hang out at his place because I hated my foster home so bad.”
“Does anyone else know about this?”
“I think so.”
“Is that the person with the knife?”
“Yeah.”
Sara sat up and looked down at Zack’s face. “So you’re telling me that there’s someone out here with a knife who wants this treasure?”
“Not at the moment. When the guy heard that first crack of thunder, he blazed outta here in his boat. It was a seriously nice boat with major horsepower too. Not like the little piece of junk I rented.”
“So you were running away from him when you went into the woods and got lost?”
“Yeah. And then I found you.”
“I’m not sure what to say. Are we in danger?”
“Maybe.”
Sara curled back down under the blanket and pulled Zack’s arm around her waist again. “This is a lot of information to take in.”
“How do you feel about helping me find the treasure? I could really use your outdoorsy wilderness skills and all those tools and little thingies you have in your bag too.”
“Well, until someone finds us, I guess I don’t have much else I can do. Whoever it is also stole my canoe. I’m going to be in big trouble with the camp if I don’t find it and return it to them. Bob is going to be so upset with me. I’m supposed to be there greeting campers bright and early tomorrow morning.”
“I think you’re gonna be late.”
“No, what’s going to happen is that if I don’t get back soon, I’m going to be fired. I really need that money too.”
Zack squeezed her hand. “If you help me, I’ll give you a cut of the treasure. You can buy them a new canoe. And it would help with your other financial problems too. Besides, how often do you get to go on a treasure hunt? It could be fun.”
Sara wasn’t so sure about that. With any luck, someone would find them in the morning and she could get back, apologize to Bob, and forget about Zack and all of this foolishness. She had enough problems.
After divulging his story, Zack snuggled up closer. His breathing became even and it appeared he had fallen asleep. Even though Sara was incredibly tired, sleep eluded her. It had been a long day, but hearing about people with big knives wasn’t much of a sleep aid. She lay on her side gazing at the fire, stroking Olivia’s fur, and trying not to jump every time a tree creaked. Normally she loved listening to the sounds of the forest as she fell asleep, but she couldn’t relax.
How could Zack just pass out like that? Wasn’t he worried? He’d already been attacked and wounded. Of course, the adrenaline crash after running away and everything else that happened probably had exhausted him. Her day had been bad, but from the sounds of it, his had been worse.
At least he was warm. It was best not to focus on how cozy it was to have someone curled up next to her. Even with the dirt and rocks under her, the contact was welcome. She closed her eyes and tried to pretend it was her fiancé Josh sleeping next to her instead of Zack. Okay, well, her ex-fiancé. The Josh she’d been hopelessly in love with before she hated his lying, cheating guts.
Not wanting to awaken Zack, Sara moved and carefully rummaged around in the sand in an effort to remove a stone that was digging into her hip. He groaned and grabbed her more tightly
, nuzzling his face into the back of her neck. Sara tried to rearrange herself, so they weren’t quite so cuddled into nested spoon configuration. Warmth was one thing, but getting felt up in the sand by some random scruffy guy she’d only just met was another. He was like a koala with his huge paws wrapped around the branches of a eucalyptus tree.
Sara lifted a big hand off her waist and placed it back next to Zack’s body. She sat up, put some more wood on the fire, and stirred it with another branch. Sparks flew and Olivia got up and stretched deeply, adding a mewing noise for emphasis. Zack rolled over on his stomach and rested his head on his arms. “What’s going on? I was having the best dream.”
“I noticed. Go back to sleep.”
“Hey, you might not realize this, but you’re all soft, curvy, and warm. I can’t help it if you inspired some stimulating thoughts. I wish I could remember what happened in the dream. All I know is that it was excellent. Come back under the blanket. It’s cold here all by myself.”
Sara glared at the fire, annoyed that he was right about the cold. She could feel the warmth being sucked away from her skin. “In a minute. I’m adding more wood.” With a sigh, she crawled back under the blanket and Zack curled up next to her again, obviously pleased to be reunited with her body heat.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Sara willed herself to forget about the fact that Zack had put his arm around her again and that she liked the feel of his warm koala paws more than she cared to admit. She was a grown woman, not a horny teenager, so it shouldn’t be a big deal. But underneath all the sand and sweat, Zack was attractive in many ways. Cleaned up, he might even be cute. Of course, half the time, she also thought he was a complete jerk. She repeated go to sleep over and over like a mantra. Finally, after Zack fell asleep again, she felt the first tendrils of drowsiness overtake her at last.
Sara was awakened by a gnawing sensation in her stomach. She opened her eyes and shivered. The first glimmer of light was appearing in the sky, but as she had anticipated, the fire had gone out. She also hadn’t been wrong about the temperature drop. It was freezing.
The Treasure of the Hairy Cadre (An Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy Book 8) Page 6