After the week she’d had, the last place Hadley wanted to go was Hunter’s Happy Hour at Common Grounds, but she might as well size up the competition. Plus, maybe Brad would be there. Then again, maybe Noah would be there—she’d have to steer clear of him.
Hadley stepped from the bright sun into the shop, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the fluorescent light. She recognized some people from the kickoff rally in the corner sharing a table. A coffeepot was set up with all the fixings next to it just for the hunters. Hadley helped herself to a steaming mug and stirred in some fat-free vanilla cream and artificial sweetener while she listened to the buzz of conversations all around her.
One voice stood out from among the others. She peered around the group to find its owner. Ah, one of those guys. A middle-aged man with a tanning-bed tan and bike shorts. The kind of guy who wanted everyone to hear him and know what he was doing or saying at any moment.
“That’s Chuck.” Brad sidled up to Hadley, grinning. He nodded at the boorish man in the purple polo then turned his attention to Hadley. “But enough about him. How are you? I heard you took a spill?” He touched the bruise on her cheek.
Hadley shrugged. No sense letting him see her annoyance. “News travels fast around here.” She pulled her sleeve down over her beat-up elbow.
“Eh. Small town. The pretty new girl is all people want to talk about. They know you’re with me … so they bring me news.” He smiled as the words rolled easily from his tongue.
Hadley didn’t know which comment to process first—that she was the “pretty girl” in town or that she was “with” Brad. What did that even mean? Before she had a chance to ask him, his phone chimed.
“Oops. Have to take this.” He flashed the screen at Hadley and ducked around the corner for privacy.
In the instant the phone faced her, Hadley read CRYSTAL’S CELL on the caller display. Who was Crystal? And why did he have to take her call in the middle of their discussion? Wouldn’t Brad have been more discreet if it was someone Hadley shouldn’t know about? Unless he didn’t know she could see that far or read that fast. Or unless he wanted to make her jealous. Is that what she felt? Jealousy?
That was a first. Hadley had never been close enough to a man to have those pangs of fearful possession. Longing, sure. Loneliness, definitely. But jealousy implied some sort of ownership or claim. Did she even have a right to feel that about Brad?
Don’t look again—it smacks of desperation. Noah tried to avert his eyes as he watched the pain cloud Hadley’s eyes. She busied herself with her iced tea, but stole a glance at her watch every few seconds.
Finally, she covered the face of her watch with her hand.
Apparently, she no longer wanted the reminder of how late her date was. She held up a hand to signal the waitress. Noah leaned close enough to hear.
“I’m going to order. If my … um … friend shows up, he can order then.”
“Very good. What I can I get you, ma’am?”
“I’ll take the roasted fig and goat cheese crispini and the caesar salad.”
“Excellent choices. That’ll be right out.”
Taking his cue, Noah stepped to the table.
“Can I join you?”
Hadley flinched then recovered her surprise like a trained expert at hiding her feelings. “I’m expecting someone.”
“Stood up on your birthday? Come on. You don’t want to eat alone. Let me join you.” Please. Noah wanted an invitation to take Brad’s place at dinner.
Hadley raised her eyebrows in question marks. “You remembered it was my birthday?”
Should he lie and pretend the date had been locked in his mind forever? Nah. “Registration forms.”
Brad bounded in and strode to Hadley, turning heads as he came. “So sorry I’m late, doll. I had an unexpected visitor.” He bent down and lightly kissed her on the forehead.
Goose bumps appeared on her forearms.
Brad never glanced at Noah.
“Oh? The tooth fairy?” Hadley scowled, a hint of doubt creeping across her face.
Yes, Hadley, listen to the doubt. Listen to your gut. Noah cheered her on, begging her to see the real Brad for herself, knowing she’d never hear the truth from him.
“Very funny. Shall we order?”
“I already did.”
Brad’s eyes widened in surprise. Noah figured girls didn’t do things like that to Brad.
“Can I have your cell phone for a sec?” When Brad handed it to her, Hadley punched some buttons. “Oh, I am in here. I guess I assumed I wasn’t in your contact list, since you didn’t call when you were late.” She raised her eyebrows, and a slight grin spread across her face.
“Okay, okay. Enough. I said I was sorry.” He gave Hadley a stern look.
As fun as this was for Noah, he knew when he’d worn out his welcome—especially since he’d never received one.
As he walked away, the waitress arrived with Hadley’s food. “Would you like to order something, Brad?” She uttered Brad’s name with awe, like a fan meeting a celebrity.
“No. I think we’ll share. Thanks, doll.”
Noah glanced back just in time to see Brad reach across Hadley to snatch one of the triangle crispinis and tip it toward her. “Let’s eat.”
The refrigerator trembled when Hadley slammed the door. She regretted the outburst instantly—a good Southern woman wouldn’t do that, and it was sure to bring Norma scuffling in to see what was wrong.
And there it came, like clockwork, the flap, flap of Norma’s bedroom shoes as she came down the hallway to the kitchen. “Something wrong, dear?”
“No. I’m sorry, Norma. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
“Nonsense. Nothing interesting ever goes on in this house until you get home, so disturb away.”
“Oh, it’s really nothing. Just boy troubles.” Was it a problem though? “Or not. I don’t know.”
“What don’t you know?” Norma sank into a kitchen chair. “Seems to me like trouble is easy to feel when it rears its head.”
“But I don’t know if I’m expecting too much, too soon.” Why couldn’t Brad be more like … Noah?
“Ah. Well, there are certain things you should demand from the get-go. Respect is one of ‘em. The other things, like diamonds and such—they come later.”
“Okay, doll. Let’s see what you’ve got.” Brad grabbed Hadley’s list. “You’ve found eight caches already? That’s incredible. I’ve only found three.”
Hadley shouldered her backpack. “Just be sure you’re ready for this. I plan on three today. I have it all mapped out. We can do it on foot, but it will take about six hours if we stick to the trail.”
“Okay. I’m not sure I’m as dedicated to this as you are, but I’m ready to go. Besides, six hours of following behind you … mmm hmmm. That sounds mighty fine to me.”
Note to self: let Brad lead.
“So what have you found in your eight caches?”
“Oh, a couple of fishing lures, an Osage beach postcard, a charm, a Ram’s magnet, and a flip-flop.”
“A flip-flop?” Brad looked back in surprise. His dark eyes glinted in the sunlight.
“I know—weird, right?” Hadley shrugged. “Whatever.”
“So you know right where they all are?”
“Well, sure. I know where I found them.”
“How about if you just tell me then? You know, catch me up to you so we can win together.”
Hadley glared at Brad. “No way am I cheating. Don’t be silly. You can still win. You just have to pick up the pace a bit. It’s still early in the competition.”
“Okay, okay.” Brad laughed. “I was teasing, anyway.”
Somehow, Hadley doubted that. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she looked longingly at the lake. It stood so cool and refreshing to their left, just waiting to be called upon to heal their bodies from the heat. She had a bathing suit in her pack—if Brad weren’t along, she’d have gone for a dip. But there was no way she’d wear a bathing suit in front of someone—especially him.
“How are you doing, Brad?”
“We’re getting close to the first one, aren’t we?”
“Yep, we’re almost there. Right around this corner, I think.” They rounded the bend to find a clearing for picnic tables and an area to grill food. Too bad they didn’t have a nice steak with them. Or a salad. “Okay, here we are at the coordinates. Now we need to solve the clues.”
Handle all your food with care
Hide it well from Yogi Bear
Eenie, meanie, miney mo
It’s all about YOU, you know
“Seriously. Who wrote these?” Hadley laughed. “Well this one’s pretty obvious. It has something to do with the garbage cans. In one of the cans, or buried beneath it.” She gestured to the four rusty trash cans at the edge of the clearing.
“Are you saying we have to dig in those nasty things?”
“In or under—that’s my guess anyway.”
“What about the last line? Does it identify which can it is?” Brad whispered the lines.
“Ah! Miney is the third one, it’s like you, mine—YOU … get it?”
“Good!” Brad jogged over to the can. “So assuming left to right, miney is the third can. Let’s start under it. I can’t imagine they’d hide it in the can. What if the forest service came to dump the trash?”
“True.”
Brad pushed the can over on its side and rolled it out of the way, not even glancing at the trash that dumped out onto the path. In the circle of dirt beneath where it had stood, they saw a fresh mound. “That must be it.”
Hadley pulled a spade from her pack and began to dig. Just a few trowels of dirt later, she hit metal. “There it is.”
They stuck their fingers into the dirt and tried to pry the box from its spot. Hadley couldn’t wait to see who had signed the logbook before them and when. Finally, the box made its entry into the sunlight, and Brad opened the lid.
Inside the box they found a stack of Bible tracts and a logbook to sign.
“Oh great. God stuff.” Brad pushed the tracts aside and pulled out the logbook.
Well, that answered the question of whether or not Brad was religious. Hadley didn’t mind that much if Brad wasn’t, but it was definitely good to know.
“Cool.” Brad flipped the pages in the logbook. “Looks like we’re first to find this cache. We get to sign in, right?”
“Yep. But you have to make sure you log it in on the website if you want your points recorded.”
Brad grabbed a nubby pencil from his back pocket and scrawled his name on the logbook then handed it to Hadley.
Would have been nice if he let her sign it first, since she found it and led him right to it. Oh well. He must not realize the significance of being first. Not that there was any real meaning other than bragging rights. After all, they’d both get a point for the find. She reached into her backpack for a pen then signed her name and printed it beneath her signature. She added the date and a mention of the Rainbow’s End Treasure Hunt.
“Oh, are we supposed to put all of that on there?”
“I just thought it would be nice to add the information. No one said we had to.” Hadley shrugged and snapped a quick picture of the logbook.
“You’re really into this stuff, aren’t you?”
“I guess so. It’s fun. I had no idea how much I’d love it.” Hadley grinned and pulled out her GPS. “Let’s pick up all that trash and then move on.”
“Another one?” Brad groaned as he followed Hadley while she scooped up the remains of several picnics.
“Thanks for the help.”
“Sure. No problem.”
Men.