by Karey White
Copyright © 2014 by Mirror Press, LLC
Ebook edition
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief passages embodied in critical reviews and articles.
This is a work of fiction. The characters, names, incidents, places, and dialogue are products of the authors’ imagination and are not to be construed as real.
Interior Design by Heather Justesen
Edited by Annette Lyon
Cover image #153698303, Shutterstock.com
Published by Mirror Press, LLC
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Table of Contents
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Maggie's Song by Karey White
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Coming May 2014
Chapter One
Maggie checked the battery life on the satellite phone, tucked it into a pocket of her backpack, and zipped it closed. She’d never used the emergency phone in the six years she’d guided tours to Havasupai Falls, but if there was ever an emergency, she didn’t want a dead battery.
“Dan, don’t even think about touching the books while we’re gone,” Lucas said. His tone was stern, but his lilting Australian accent made him more charming than intimidating. Why did Maggie still have to feel like a Popsicle on a hot Arizona sidewalk every time he spoke?
“And please pay attention to details,” she added, eyeing her cousin. “No double bookings. I don’t ever want to have to scramble again like we did in July.”
Dan put up his hands in surrender. “Don’t worry, you guys. I can handle this. I’ll stay out of the books, and I’ll triple check the schedule before making any reservations.”
“The most important thing is that you get better,” Lucas said. “But don’t touch the books. Maybe I should password protect them.”
“You know, Maggie and I took care of the books while you were gone getting that degree,” Dan said.
“Which explains why it took me so long to get them back in shape,” Lucas said. They all laughed.
“Fortunately for you, you’re not a Jensen,” Dan said. He and Maggie were cousins who’d been born just twelve days apart. “None of us Jensens are very good with numbers.”
“I’m better than you are,” Maggie said to Dan.
“Don’t get cocky, Mags,” Lucas said. “I’ve seen how you are with numbers.”
Maggie smiled and waved him off. Lucas had been teasing her since the eighth grade, when his family had moved halfway around the world to Flagstaff. He’d been a tall, skinny boy with braces, had a mountain bike Dan had drooled over, and an accent Maggie couldn’t get enough of. The three of them became immediate best friends.
“Sorry you have to take my place, man,” Dan said.
“You know I still like guiding tours,” Lucas said. “All you had to do was ask. You didn’t have to fake appendicitis to get out of a few weeks on the trail.”
“Hey, Dan, it’s me you should be apologizing to,” Maggie said. “I’m the one who has to pick up the slack now that Lucas has gone all soft and desk-jobby on us.” She wasn’t serious. Lucas was as fit as he’d ever been. Maggie would feel a lot more comfortable about this arrangement if he didn’t look so good.
“It’ll be a nice change for you,” Dan told her. “Between Lucas’s guitar and his pizza feast, you’ll be begging me to break my leg next.”
As great as Lucas’s pizza feast was, and as much as the hikers loved it when Lucas pulled out his guitar and sang, Maggie still had misgivings. She’d done a good job of acting normal when all she had to do was see Lucas in the office every few days, but four days on the trail with his Australian charm, his rugged good looks, and that beautiful, mellowed accent might be more than she could manage.
It had been seven years since Lucas, ever the gentleman, had asked Maggie to senior prom. He hadn’t been interested in anyone else, and since no one else had asked her, going together made sense. Maggie had been elated. She’d found a silky champagne-colored dress that complemented her fair skin and chestnut hair. She’d even gone to Aunt Lucy’s salon for hair and makeup help. She’d wanted to look feminine and pretty enough for him to take note. She wanted him to think of her as more than a buddy.
At the end of the night, Lucas had pulled her in for a tight hug that had melted her insides.
And then he’d broken her heart.
“I’m so glad you and Dan are cousins,” he’d said. “I’d have never guessed I could be best friends with a girl if you two hadn’t always been hanging around. You’re not even like a real girl.”
Maggie had covered her disappointment with a laugh. “If I weren’t a real girl, I wouldn’t be in this dress or these heels.” She waved her hands over the silky gown that had been meant to catch his eye and the dreadful shoes killing her feet.
“Of course you are,” he said. “And you look really nice. But I like you better in hiking boots than heels. Those just look weird on you.” Her expression must have faltered just enough to tell him he’d said the wrong thing. “Sorry, Mags, but you know what I mean.”
“Yeah. Sure. I know what you mean,” she’d quickly agreed, and he’d looked relieved.
A few minutes later, behind her closed bedroom door, she’d thrown the dress and heels into the back corner of her closet and cried herself to sleep.
For years, Maggie had buried her feelings, afraid of spoiling the closeness the three friends had shared. She’d worked alongside Lucas and Dan during the summers as the three of them had started Wild Country Hiking Tours. She’d smiled through her devastation as she’d congratulated Lucas on his engagement to Erica, a woman in his accounting program at Arizona State, and then pretended to be sad for him when Erica got a job in Los Angeles and broke it off. Maggie was a pro at pretending to be one of the guys, at never showing any sign that beneath their friendship was a girl who’d spent years hoping that someday Lucas would come to his senses and realize that they were perfect for each other.
“Mags? Did you hear me?” Lucas’s voice broke into her memories.
“Oh, sorry. What did you say?” Maggie asked, hoping she wasn’t blushing.
“Just asked if you needed anything when I go gas up the bus.”
“Oh, no thanks. I think we’re good.”
“All righty then. I’ll see you bright and early. Actually, it’s not bright at 4 a.m. It’ll only be early.”
Maggie watched him walk out to the bus. Why couldn’t she just move on?
Chapter Two
“Ladies and gents, welcome to The Adventure Bus,” Lucas said into the hand mic. The Adventure Bus was a short school bus they’d bought from a school district in southern Utah two years earlier. They’d removed the back two seats to make room for gear and painted it white with Wild Country Hiking Tours in dark green along each side. After each trip, they handed out Sharpies to their guests, who signed the bus, marking the completion of their Wild Country experience.
Dim lights gave the inside of the bus a glow and made it possible to see each other. A few passengers smiled. For others, it was too early to respond.
“In about two hours, we’ll be watching the sun rise at the trailhead of one of the most stunning places on earth. Since we have a little while before we get there, we’d like to take a few minutes to get acquainted with each other. After that, we’ll have a short safety briefing. Then we’ll let you catch a little power nap. Since everyone in your group already knows each other, I’ll tell you a little about Maggie and me, and you can tell us about you. Hopefully within the hour, we’ll be best mates.”
From the driver’s seat, Maggie rolled her eyes. She’d forgotten how much Lucas played up the rugged Australian outdoorsmen for the tourists. Lucas noticed her expression from across the bus and grinned. Maggie loved that smile, especially when it was directed at her, even though sometimes it felt like it was wringing her heart out.
“Since we want our lovely driver to focus on the road, I’ll tell you a little about her. This is my good friend, Maggie.”
She looked at the passengers in the big mirror above her head, smiled, and waved.
“She tries to fool you into thinking she’s just a wisp of a little lady, but she’s one of the toughest guys I know. Once I broke my leg, and she carried me out of the canyon on her back.”
A few of the passengers glanced at one another, and Lucas laughed. “I’m just playing with you. But she really is tough, and we’re lucky to have her. She knows these trails better than anyone. She graduated from Northern Arizona University with a degree in elementary education. Someday she’ll be teaching little tykes how to read and write, but we’ve talked her into waiting a few years for that. If you’re extra nice to her, she might make you the most amazing skillet brownies you’ve ever eaten.
“My name’s Lucas, and I’m originally from Adelaide, Australia, but I’ve lived here for about eleven years. I graduated almost two years ago with an accounting degree, so if you’re bored on the trail, grab me, and we can have a riveting conversation about accounts payable or microeconomic pricing models. Now let’s go around the bus and learn a little about you.”
The tour was made up of Dennis and Barbara, a couple in their fifties from Fernway, a town outside of Pittsburgh. Barbara was divorced, and Dennis had been widowed. This was the first vacation they’d taken with their blended family, most of whom were adults. Maggie tried to put the names from the reservation information with the faces in the bus, but it was difficult from the driver’s seat.
They were a carefully friendly group, and Maggie was suddenly glad that Lucas was here to help smooth over any step-family first-vacation awkwardness. He was good at warming people up and making them feel comfortable.
Lucas shared a few safety precautions then settled against the window and covered his head with his hat like a spaghetti-Western cowboy. Maggie glanced in the mirror; a few people were watching the horizon as it turned from inky-blue velvet to yellow-tinged lavender. Others settled in for a few more minutes of sleep. Two college-age girls were whispering and watching Lucas. Of course. Maggie watched the road ahead and allowed herself a few minutes to enjoy her own daydreams about Lucas before she locked her heart back up for the next four days.
Chapter Three
The sun’s rays were warming the far side of the canyon but hadn’t yet reached the bus as they unloaded their gear and put it in the small plywood shed at the far end of the parking area. A few men from Supai Village would bring their mules up the side of the canyon in the next hour to pack up all of the gear and haul it down to the campground.
Maggie was locking the back of the bus when Lucas draped his arm over her shoulders. His touch sent a jolt through her, and she jerked up straight.
“Mags? You okay?” he asked, his arm still around her. It was difficult to think with him standing so close.
“Yeah, you just surprised me,” she said.
“I was just checking to see if you want me to take the front or the back. I’ll do whichever.”
Maggie dragged her thoughts away from his hand on her shoulder and his voice so close to her ear. “Why don’t you take the front? I’ll take the back.”
“Swell. This is going to be fun. I’ve missed guiding with you.”
“Yeah.” She wanted to say more— she always wanted to say more— but at the moment, she couldn’t trust her voice to sound normal.
“Hey, Lucas?” It was Dennis at the front of the bus. Lucas gave Maggie’s shoulder a little squeeze then joined Dennis. Maggie took a deep breath and leaned her head against the cool metal of the door. When she turned around, she caught Barbara watching her. The older woman winked, and Maggie felt her face flush.
When Lucas finished talking to Dennis, he and Maggie called the group together and ran through a checklist with each hiker. Did they have sufficient water? Check. Had they applied sunblock? Check. Had they used the restrooms? Check.
Maggie lined up the group at the top of the canyon and took a photograph. Several years ago, she’d started a wall of before and after pictures at the office. It was fun to see the difference four days could make. Today the hikers looked clean and shiny and had a sparkle of anticipation in their eyes. In just four days, they’d look different. There were the obvious changes— new hiking boots would be old and broken in, clothes would be dusty and sweat soaked. Men almost always finished with facial hair, some scruffy and uneven, some with the beginnings of a beard.
But the differences Maggie noticed were more subtle. In just four days, some people looked a little stronger, some of their softness turned more angular. Their fresh, eager eyes had a look of satisfaction and accomplishment at having taken on a challenge and won. Maggie had seen the trail change lives and mend broken relationships, and sometimes the camera caught glimmers of those changes. These were things that kept guiding new and interesting, even though she’d traveled the same trails again and again.
Maggie pulled her backpack onto her shoulders and adjusted it so the weight was distributed evenly. When everyone was ready, Lucas led the way down the first switchbacks, already chatting with Dennis’s teenage son, Braden. The others fell into line behind them, and Maggie took her spot at the back, behind Dennis and Barbara, who were talking quietly.
The sun slowly moved across the canyon as it rose, nudging its way closer and closer to the hikers. In the early-morning shade, the November air was cool and brisk, but as the sun continued to move across the vast canyon landscape, the temperature slowly moved up with it.
The group moved and shifted order. Braden slowed to have a conversation with his brother, Mike. Barbara’s daughter, Jane and her roommate, Montana, the college students, moved closer to Lucas. The only people who kept their spots in the procession were Lucas, who stayed in the lead, and Barbara and Maggie, who remained in back.
They’d been on the trail less than an hour when a rumble moved toward them. “Pack mules coming,” Lucas called back to the group. “Move to the wall.” Everyone slowed and shifted close to the canyon wall as a short, dark man jogged up the trail with ten mules tethered together.
“Hello, Maggie,” he said as they passed.
“Hey, Clifford,” Maggie said.
An hour later, it was Maggie’s turn to call out a warning. “Pack mules coming down.” The group again scooted to the wall. The loaded animals ran past the hikers with Clifford riding the front mule. The animals’ hoofs pounded the packed dirt. Jane and Montana squealed.
“They’re going to run right off the edge,” Barbara said to M
aggie.
“Sometimes it seems that way, but they could run this trail with their eyes closed,” Maggie said.
“I told Dennis I wanted to ride one of those to the campground, but if they go that fast, I just changed my mind.”
“It’s not a very comfortable ride,” Maggie said. “About three years ago, I cut my shin climbing down the mountain to Mooney Falls. We wrapped it up, and Clifford hauled me out on a pack mule. I hope I never have to ride one again.”
“That fun, huh?” Barbara asked.
“I’d definitely rather walk out of here. Mules aren’t graceful like horses.” Every step was jarring. Maggie adjusted the strap on her backpack. “What made you decide on this for your first big family trip?” Maggie asked Barbara.
“Dennis has been dreaming of doing this for thirty years. He and his first wife had booked a trip right before she got diagnosed, so it never happened. I told him we’d better do it before we’re too old, and he suggested we invite the whole family. Truthfully, this isn’t my kind of vacation. I like hotels and dressing nice and good shopping, but I figured I could suck it up so we could all do it together. Let’s hope I make it.”
“Of course you will,” Maggie said. “The general store in Supai Village may not be quite what you had in mind for shopping, but they do have some cool jewelry and pottery, and they’ll ship it home for you.”
“I like jewelry.” Barbara lowered her voice. “I brought makeup. I was afraid I’d scare Dennis and his kids if I went four days without any. And I brought a sequined sweatshirt for hanging around camp. I may be roughing it, but Dennis is going to think I’m pretty doing it.”
“I’ll tell you a secret. I always bring mascara, so we’re even.”