With her alarm blaring before the sun brightened the sky, Reagan wondered why she’d agreed to start the search first thing. She popped the snooze button then pulled the pillow over her head. It wasn’t like any of the caches would disappear if they waited until a reasonable hour like, say, ten.
“Reagan?” Garrett pounded on her door, and it popped open. No matter that he didn’t want it locked in case she needed him, she’d bolt it tonight. “Time to get up and at ‘em.”
“What are you? My drill sergeant?” she grumbled.
He laughed, making her want to throw the clock at him. If it happened to find his chest, oh well. Maybe then he’d let her sleep. “Come on, Sleeping Beauty.”
“I’m getting up.” Sheesh, what happened to the baby brother she’d had to drag out of bed in the morning to do anything? She’d like him back right about now. With a groan, she threw back the covers and headed to her small bathroom. Ten minutes later she joined Garrett in the kitchen but skidded to a halt when she noticed Colton standing at the stove, flipping an omelet. “I thought you had your own condo.”
“Your kitchen is nicer.” He smirked at her. Yes, smirked.
This early in the morning? She knew there was a reason she didn’t want to like the guy. Too bad the food smelled amazing, with the scent of ham and onion floating toward her. “What would you like on yours?”
“Whatever Garrett’s having.”
His eyebrows spiked. “Really?”
“Wait. Unless he’s having you lace it with jalapeños. Nix the spicy.”
“All right.” He went to work cracking eggs and whipping them before filling the frying pan with a layer of egg, then cheese, onion, ham, and red pepper. Maybe she could get used to this. It sure beat her normal bowl of microwaved oatmeal. In short order he handed her a plate with a steaming omelet. “Madam.”
Her mouth watered as she accepted it. “Thanks.”
“We ready to hike?” Garrett rubbed his belly then pushed his empty plate away. It looked clean enough to put back in the cupboard. The boy must have been starved.
“How far today?” Reagan wanted to think she could tackle a long hike the first day, but reality remained. The calendar was too close to tax season for her to be back in non-tax-season shape.
Unless you considered round a shape.
Which she had until Mr. Omelet Chef showed up. He looked like he could hike twelve miles without breaking a sweat. She tugged at her waistband, evidence she’d spent too many hours glued to her chair and computer this year. Maybe she’d start exercising discipline by leaving a few bites on her plate. At least that was one form of discipline that didn’t involve sweat or hideous gym clothes.
Colton turned to the map Garrett had taped to the pantry door. “Four miles.”
“Round trip?” Please, God. “Each way.”
“Oookaay.” She could do this. Especially if she stopped somewhere along the trail and let them get her on the way back. Would Garrett go for that? She could only hope so.
“Is that a problem, Grandma?” Garrett’s grin let her know he poked at her, even as she heard his serious tone.
Fine. She’d match him step for step. “Let’s do it.”
Colton held up a hand. “Don’t forget to grab a couple water bottles each. The humidity is more than we’re used to.”
“We’re only a few hours from home.” Garrett grabbed one with a frown. “Do we really need it?
“Trust me.”
“We have to carry it?” She wrinkled her nose. “Better than carrying you.”
True enough.
Could Reagan be any cuter when her nose wrinkled like that? Colton knew the answer. She struck him as the bookish type who didn’t realize she turned heads with her quiet charm and beauty. He’d love to change that about her. Help her see the amazing person God had created.
He’d have to take it slow. She’d warmed up since their custard run last night, but had looked less than pleased to see him in the kitchen.
While he waited for her to do whatever women do first thing, he sank onto the couch and tightened his pristine hiking boots. Hoped he didn’t regret wearing them without an initial test hike. The last thing he needed at the beginning of a long competition like this was a series of blisters. Not his idea of fun.
Maybe the extra layer of socks would provide the protection the salesman promised. “How long does this usually take?”
Garrett looked up from the business magazine he held. “Depends on her mood. Might as well settle in and wait.”
“It can’t take that long.”
“You’d be surprised.”
Finished with his boots, Colton knew he couldn’t idle and decided to work on the kitchen. He’d never been great at waiting. Maybe it came from being the oldest son in a family of doers, but sitting didn’t feel right. Like he must be missing something. Something he should be doing, achieving. Soon the dishwasher stood loaded with the breakfast dishes. Then he grabbed a couple of bottles of water for each of them from the fridge. Added reusable bottles to his mental list. No sense filling a landfill while they worked their way around the lake.
He pictured it in his mind’s eye. The lake looked more like a caterpillar squiggling along the area, dozens of inlets fingering out from it. Those inlets probably provided some excellent hiding places for caches.
Last night he’d spent time reading through the locations, trying to map them out on the GPS. After awhile, he’d given up on entering all of them but had a decent sample for them to pull from. That is, if they ever left the condo. Didn’t Reagan know daylight wasted while they sat here?
He wiped the counter with a swipe that dislodged most of the crumbs. Crossing his arms, he leaned against it. What now?
A door closed, and a minute later Reagan stood in the doorway, looking ready for a day of photography with a large camera around her neck. Her long ponytail flipped over her shoulder as she tossed her chin. “Ready?”
She spun and headed to the front door, and he caught Garrett’s gaze with a question. Hadn’t they been waiting on her?
Garrett drove as Colton watched the blinking dot on the GPS. He glanced back at Reagan. She watched the terrain out the window, seeming not to really see anything.
“Turn right in two hundred feet,” the mechanical voice grated.
“Maybe there’s another voice.” Colton flipped through screens and hit buttons.
“Turn right in fifty feet.” The male voice was even worse.
Garrett laughed. “Turn it back. I’d rather listen to the woman.”
Colton turned down the GPS’s volume. They skimmed the edge of the lake and crossed the bridge on State Highway MM.
“Turn left now.” The quiet instruction reinforced the blinking dot.
Garrett slowed, but Colton couldn’t see on the screen where he should turn. “Hmm. Maybe this expensive gadget isn’t working right.”
A feminine snort reached him from the backseat. He turned and pinned Reagan with a stare. “Suggestions?”
“You might put the gadget down and look.”
Garrett slowed down even more. “I don’t see a turnoff.” “Up there.” Reagan pointed to a break in the trees. “You want me to take my car in there?” “I guess we could hike.”
Garrett pulled as far to the edge of the road as possible then parked. As the boys hopped out, Reagan adjusted her camera then made sure she had extra batteries in her pocket. She held the camera to her eye and pointed it out the window toward a cardinal sitting on a tree branch. Examining the screen, she smiled at the sharp image then deleted the picture.
After climbing from the car, she took a photo of Garrett and Colton as Colton adjusted his backpack. He’d filled it with enough water bottles and snacks to fuel a hungry Girl Scout troop. Colton turned as she pushed the shutter, and his grin stole her breath. He practically sparkled with excitement as he tossed her a water bottle.
“Hang on to this, and be sure to take sips as we go. Dehydration can sneak up on you.”
Reagan dropped the camera on its strap as she grabbed the water bottle. “All right.”
He could stop acting like she’d never ventured outdoors. Maybe she should mention she’d been a Girl Scout. Nah, she’d let her comfort with the outdoors surprise him. She might be deskbound now, but that had sneaked up after college.
Twenty minutes later, when she swiped yet another tree branch from in front of her face, she decided maybe it had sneaked a little further than she anticipated. Her breath came in short gasps, and she could hardly look around to notice any of the beauty. Keeping up with the guys and their longer legs just might do her in.
As another branch snapped back, she ducked under it then stopped. “Hey, guys.”
Both turned toward her, and Colton frowned. “What?”
“You mind slowing it down a bit? Last I checked this was more a marathon than a sprint.”
Garrett grinned at her. “Sorry, sis. Didn’t mean to leave you in the dust.”
Oh, she’d like to dust him after comments like that. Instead, she unscrewed her bottle cap and took a nice, long swallow of water. Maybe Colton hadn’t been crazy to shove so much water in his backpack.
“Can we continue?” He quirked an eyebrow. “Fine.” This could be a long summer.
An hour turned into two before they finally reached a clearing with a picnic table. The car had better be waiting when they finally returned to the road because she was not hiking back to the apartment. Reagan inhaled a cleansing breath, pushing her frustrations with the two macho men in front of her out with the carbon dioxide. They’d barely stopped as they pushed toward the prize. If she’d needed any proof that men were goal oriented, she had it in spades.
“So we’re here?” Garrett sounded skeptical as he studied the small clearing with its lone picnic table. “You’ve got to really want a table to hike here.”
“Yeah.” Colton clicked a button on his gizmo. “Okay, here’s what the note says:
The bread of life
Cuts like a knife
No meal, but find the cache
At its base.”
He frowned. “That doesn’t rhyme. At all.”
Reagan walked past him to the picnic table. “No, but there’s your cache.” She pointed at the ammunition box tucked in the darkness under the table.
After plopping it on the table, Colton opened the case and pulled out the logbook. The guys entered their names while she snapped a series of photos. Colton handed it to her. “Your turn.”
“No thanks.” Only a handful of people knew she’d traveled here. No way would she enter the information in a logbook anyone could find, especially one not well hidden. No reason to give her stalker a road map to where she was in case he decided to follow.
Nope, she preferred anonymity. Lots of it.