The Treasure of the Hairy Cadre (An Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy Book 8)

by Susan C. Daffron

  Zack stirred behind her and huddled closer. “Ugh. My whole body aches. Those pretty pictures in magazines of tents pitched in the middle of nowhere look all serene and peaceful. What they don’t tell you is that sleeping on the ground hurts. A sore back really cramps my serenity.”

  “I need to start over with the fire. It went out and I don’t think there are enough coals left that I’ll be able to revive it.”

  He wrapped his arm around her waist more snugly. “Well then, it’s not going anywhere. And if you leave, I could turn into a Popsicle.”

  “That’s unlikely. I don’t suppose you’d like to restart the fire, would you?”

  “Hey, Sparky, you’re the pyro, not me. I think we’ve established that my camping skills are pretty much zero. So the answer is no. I’d like to be warm again someday.” He tapped his fingers on her waist slightly. “C’mon baby, you know you wanna light my fire.”

  “Thank you for that Jim Morrison tribute, but you’ll have to let go of me.”

  “What if I don’t want to?”

  Zack moved his head and did something extremely erotic and sensual to the back of Sara’s neck, which caused tingles to shoot down her spine like an electric shock. She launched out from under the blanket and Olivia squawked at being suddenly dislodged. Brushing some sand from her shorts, Sara gazed down at Zack, who looked somewhat alarmed. She crossed her arms in an effort to ward off the chilly morning air and pulled her jacket out from under the blanket. “I’ll go get some more wood.”

  Zack curled back under the blanket and Olivia resettled. “Fine. The cat and I will be here huddling.”

  Sara put on her jacket and hustled up the beach toward the forest. At least getting her blood moving again would help her stay warm. It was definitely time to arise, since Zack’s definition of “chummy” had evolved substantially. Although he seemed harmless enough, the whole personal-contact situation was getting far too confusing.

  There was no way she could go off treasure hunting with him either. The whole thing was ridiculous. How would anyone ever find them? The smart thing was to stay on the beach, where they had a chance to flag down a passing boater who could take them to safety. And in the short term, with any luck, she could catch another fish for breakfast. Her stomach growled loudly in agreement. Last night’s meager meal felt like a long time ago.

  Feeling more settled now that she had a plan, Sara returned to the fire with an armload of branches and added them to the pile. She’d tell Zack that she wasn’t leaving the beach. If he wanted to run off somewhere looking for some mythical treasure, that was his problem.

  Zack was still under the blanket, his eyes peering at her over the Mylar. He raised his eyebrows at her, but didn’t say anything. Olivia was curled up in a tight tabby ball in front of him.

  Sara busied herself restarting the fire. At least she still had matches. They would have been in big trouble if she’d left her emergency kit back at the house. It was possible she could have gotten a fire going using long-dormant Girl Scout skills, but the damp sand and wood would have made it difficult. She sat back on her heels. How was Holly doing? By now, Kat probably thought she was stuck with a new dog. The woman had no way of knowing that Sara would never, ever willingly abandon Holly.

  The fire began radiating warmth and Sara relaxed a bit, crouching down and rubbing her hands together in front of the flames. Zack de-cocooned himself, lifting an edge of the blanket so the fire-warmed air could reach him. He rolled over on his stomach and propped himself up on his elbows. “Sorry if I did something to upset you before. I’ve never seen a woman move away so fast.”

  She turned her head to look at his face. Did he not realize what he had done? “That was…unexpected.”

  “You seemed to be enjoying yourself, so I was exploring new ways to generate warmth.”

  “You were all over me.”

  “I guess I crossed a line, huh?”

  “Yes! I don’t even know you.”

  He sat up with a suitably contrite look. “Okay, I apologize. My therapist says I have boundary issues. Sometimes I don’t clue into what other people might be thinking. I guess I misread your reactions. But if we spend time looking for treasure, you’ll probably get to know me, whether you like it or not.”

  “You have a therapist?”

  “Hey, everyone has stuff they need to work on. Don’t knock it until you try it.”

  “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry.” Sara waved her hands in a gesture of surrender. “I’ve thought about it, and we shouldn’t leave the beach. Staying here is our best hope for being rescued.”

  He pointed toward the trees. “The treasure is up there. I can’t say I’m excited about climbing that hill. That’s half a mountain right there—the steep half. But we need to go that way. There’s an old cabin somewhere in that direction.”

  “Well, that’s not exactly a precise location. We could wander around this forest for years and never find anything.” Sara sat down cross-legged in front of the fire. “I’ve probably already been fired from my counselor job, but I still have to get back to the camp. And also go pick up my dog. Everyone is probably worried sick about me by now. I’m never late.”

  “So you want to wait around here?”

  “Yes, that’s the best plan. I’ll catch some more fish. Our food options are much more limited in the forest. I also have water purification tablets, so we won’t get dehydrated.”

  “I like the food part, but I’m not so good at waiting around.”

  “Then you’ll have to go…wherever…by yourself. I can’t go with you.”

  Zack gazed at the sky, the bright colors of the sunrise reflecting in his eyes. “So how come you’ve gotta do this camp thing anyway?”

  “I need the money.”

  He looked at her. “Being a camp counselor can’t possibly pay well. Even worse than teaching.”

  “No, but I wanted to be around children.”

  “Really? You don’t get enough of them from wrangling second-graders for nine months a year? Don’t you want a break from the little monsters?”

  Sara looked down at her hands in her lap. “I was supposed to have children of my own by now. It was all planned. I’d have three months with the baby before returning to part-time teaching in the fall. We had it all figured out. With two incomes, I would have been able to cut back on work.”

  “That’s some serious planning. I guess the whole wedding fiasco put the kibosh on that, huh?”

  “Yes.” She wanted kids so badly. It was like an ache that got more painful as her biological clock kept ticking its way down to zero.

  “Hey, there’s no way you could have known what would happen. Sometimes sh…I mean, life happens.”

  Sara stood up. Someone like Zack would never understand any of this. Josh had always been on board with her plans, and they’d always said they made a wonderful team. Until everything fell apart. She cleared her throat. “I’m going to go over to the rocks and see if I can catch another fish. Please keep an eye on the fire.”

  He nodded. “If we’re lucky, maybe some of your mad pyro skills have rubbed off on me.”

  Sara gathered the fishing supplies and walked down the beach to the rock outcropping. Why on earth did she keep telling Zack her most intimate thoughts? What was she doing? She was having a real problem keeping her mouth shut around him.

  Chapter 4

  I’m Walkin’

  Kat rolled over in bed. The sun was up and Joel wasn’t next to her. Why was she still lying around sleeping away the morning? Normally, Joel got her up after he made coffee. Apparently, that didn’t happen. The house was suspiciously quiet, which meant he also must have let the dogs out and fed them breakfast, since hungry dogs were significantly noisier than full ones.

  Murphee, Kat’s black-and-white tuxedo cat, moved from her favorite snooze spot at the foot of the bed and marched across the quilt to meow plaintively in Kat’s face. She stroked the sleek black fur. “Hi Murph. Where did Joel run off
to?”

  With a flip of her tail, Murphee turned and leaped off the bed, landing on the floor with a resounding thud. Maybe it was time to cut back on the cat food. The move to Alpine Grove and increased competition for kibble from the other feline residents had led Murphee to chow down as if some type of Little Friskies Apocalypse were imminent. The cat was starting to have an unfortunate resemblance to a bowling ball. Being a black cat did have some downsides in that regard.

  Kat threw her legs out from under the covers. Holly, the boarding dog, was still in residence, so it was time to get going with the day. That dog was probably getting seriously squirrelly by now. Kat put her feet on the floor and a searing pain shot up her right leg from her ankle. With a sigh, she sat back on the edge of the bed. Time for more ice and elevating her foot on a pillow. It was going to be a long day, but she didn’t want to go to the doctor. This ankle problem was going to have to go away on its own.

  After reassessing her mobility, Kat hopped into the kitchen. A piece of paper was leaning next to the coffee pot. She grabbed the note, which said simply, “Exercising Holly.” Well, that explained where Joel was. If they were going to be stuck with this dog, Holly was going to have to meet the other dogs so she could join the regular walking program. So much for the “easy” day-care dog-sitting job.

  Kat poured the coffee into a mug, set the carafe aside, and turned off the coffee pot. Limping to the dining room table, Kat held the mug out in front of her in an attempt to avoid splashing coffee all over herself and the floor. It figured that she’d managed to hurt herself when she had agreed to take possibly the most physically fit dog in the universe. Why was she always such a klutz?

  Berating her lack of agility was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. Linus barked and Joel paused to glare sternly down the stairs at the dogs before he walked into the kitchen. Kat raised her mug toward him. “How come you didn’t get me up?”

  “I figured you could use some more healing time.”

  “Gravity is so unforgiving. I feel sort of thrashed.”

  He walked over to the table and crouched next to the chair. “How is your ankle? Can you walk on it today?”

  “If by walk you mean hobble, sure.”

  Peering under the table, he said, “It still looks swollen. You need to go to a doctor and get it looked at.”

  Kat shook her head and clutched her mug with both hands. “No way.”

  Joel sat down at the table. “You may have seriously hurt yourself. They’ll probably want to do x-rays to see if you broke something.”

  “I don’t want to pay some doctor who will say, ‘put ice on it’ and hand me a bill for an exorbitant amount of money that would be better spent on something else.”

  “It won’t be exorbitant. You’re exaggerating. Hand them your insurance card and call it good.”

  “What insurance card? I don’t have health insurance.”

  “What do you mean you don’t have health insurance?”

  “I mean I don’t. I’m unemployed, remember? Do you have insurance? You refused to go to the doctor when you hurt your arm last fall.”

  “That was just a bruise and of course I have insurance. I’d be insane not to have it.”

  Kat crossed her arms across her chest. “Well then apparently I’m nuts, because I don’t. After I quit my job, I got the notice about the insurance extension thing and I had two months to decide. There were a bunch of rules and forms. I wasn’t sure what to do and it was going to cost a fortune. I also was incredibly broke and not sure what was going to happen with the house and everything here, so I didn’t do anything.”

  “That means you’ve been uninsured for months.”

  “I know.”

  “I had no idea. Why didn’t you say something? What if something had happened?”

  “It didn’t.” Kat took a sip of coffee. “Well, until now, I guess.”

  “Exactly!”

  Kat gestured with her mug at the room. “Hey, I almost never get sick.”

  “Except when you got that creeping crud last Thanksgiving.”

  “That wasn’t my fault! I can’t help it if your nephew is Typhoid Johnny.”

  Joel raised his eyebrows. “Oh, come on. You’re going to blame a seven-year-old for giving you the flu?”

  “He brought evil elementary school germs here.”

  “Every time you leave the house, you encounter germs. I told you there’s probably sick-baby drool lurking on every shopping cart handle you touch at the grocery store.”

  “Eww. Thanks for the reminder. Maybe you can do the shopping from now on.”

  Joel put his hand on hers. “I’m serious; you need to do something about this. What if you were in a car accident?”

  “I’m a good driver.”

  “So was my father, but it didn’t stop someone hitting us and killing him.” Joel squeezed her hand. “Do you have any idea how much all that time in the hospital and those surgeries on my leg cost when I was seventeen?”

  “I guess I never thought about it.”

  “Me neither, until I saw the bills. My life would have been completely different if my parents hadn’t had health insurance. My sister’s would too.”

  “I guess it makes sense you’d be uptight about this.”

  Joel scowled. “I don’t think I’m being uptight. More like acting like an adult.”

  “So you’re saying I’m behaving like a child?”

  “You do have a tendency to ignore things you don’t want to deal with.”

  “Sometimes they go away.”

  “Usually they don’t.” He held up a hand, preparing to count off items. “Would you like a list?”

  “No thank you. I don’t need that level of analysis. Sometimes it stinks that you know me as well as you do.”

  “I do. And I love you.”

  “I know, and sometimes that fact strikes me as remarkable.” Kat took another sip of coffee. “I suppose you’re right. So how am I supposed to get insurance?”

  “Call around. Get quotes. Sometimes you can get group rates if you are a member of some type of association. That’s what I did after I lost my job and the insurance extension ran out.”

  “You joined Geeks–R-Us?”

  “Ha-ha. But yes, a bunch of associations for engineers do exist.”

  “Maybe there’s an organization called Technical Writers Anonymous for those who have left the field. As a group, we’re all a bunch of introverts and we don’t want to admit to the drivel we used to have to write.”

  “You’ll find something.” He moved to stand up. “In the meantime, call the doctor so we can get your ankle looked at.”

  “Do I have to?”

  “Yes, you do.” Joel gave her a kiss on the cheek and whispered, “You’re about to open a boarding kennel, and I’m not going to walk all those dogs myself. That was not part of the deal.”

  “I know.” She looked up into his eyes. “I’ll call around. Thank you for walking Holly this morning. Speaking of which, I need to see if I can track down Sara. I’m officially worried now. There’s no way that woman would have left her dog here overnight, unless she had absolutely no choice.”

  “Okay, but call the doctor first and let me know when your appointment is. I’ll drive you.”

  Joel went downstairs and Kat hobbled closer to the phone that hung on the wall. She grabbed the skinny Alpine Grove phone book and got down to the business of making a doctor’s appointment, getting insurance quotes, and talking to anyone she could think of who might know Sara. Maybe she could sell someone on taking some gigantic zucchini while she was at it.

  After talking to what seemed like a substantial portion of the population of Alpine Grove, Kat had an appointment for x-rays, a new appreciation for why she’d never coughed up the bucks for insurance before now, and absolutely no clue what had become of Sara.

  Kat tried to ignore the pain in her ankle as she got up to go get dressed. What a disturbing morning.

  Sara sat on
a rock staring out at the lake, hoping a sleepy fish would wake up, see the worm on the end of her hook, and want a snack. So far, the fish were not cooperating. Maybe fish didn’t buy into the old saw about early birds. Like Sara, the worm was sitting there doing nothing, waiting for something to happen.

  She looked down the beach toward the campsite. Zack’s back was to her, but he was sitting up, poking at the fire with a stick. It would be nice if his ministrations didn’t put it out. There were a limited number of matches in her emergency kit. She curled her hands under the edge of the sleeves of her jacket to help ward off the morning chill.

  At least it was clear and likely to be sunny. With any luck that would bring out the boaters. It was so aggravating to have to wait. She didn’t want to admit it to him, but Zack wasn’t the only one who wasn’t good at waiting. Sara was a “doer” and became anxious when she didn’t have her actions laid out. Waiting wasn’t much of a plan. It was boring and she was hungry. She glared down at the water and a movement caught her eye. Was that a tail? “Come on, you guys. Somebody down there bite. Do something! I’m tired of sitting here.”

  As if responding to her plea, the line jerked and Sara carefully pulled it in. She wanted to cheer. It was another huge one! Thrilled at her catch, she gathered up her supplies. What a relief. At least they weren’t going to starve immediately.

  She carried the fish back to the campfire and proudly displayed it to Zack. “Check it out!”

  He grinned. “Hey, you’re good at that. Maybe you should give up teaching and become a fisherman, or woman, or person. Whatever.”

  “No thanks. I like fish, but even I am going to be sick of it by the time we get out of here.”

  Once again, Sara busied herself cleaning the fish while Olivia and Zack looked on. She also replenished their drinking water by treating some lake water with one of her water purification tablets. After the excitement of the meal, a pall fell over the small group. Even Olivia was subdued.