Chapter 31

Chapter Thirty-One

Charlie

I stared at my phone, waiting for the screen to light up. When it did, I picked it up immediately.

“Did it turn on?” Bess craned her neck in my direction. “Can I call my mom? If she’s driving here, I need to tell her where we are.”

“I think it’s best I call Rhonda first.”

“Why?”

Good thing she was confined to the armchair. Because I had a sneaking suspicion, I needed to confirm. “Rhonda is the only person we’ve had any direct contact with.”

“What do you mean? She said she told my mom.”

I nodded. “I’ll double check.”

Gran was a wild card. The phone rang twice before she picked up. “Charlie! Are you out of the woods yet?”

“Yes, we made it to a farmhouse outside of town. Getting a ride back from here.”

“So, everything’s alright? I can call off the search party?”

“You sent a search party?”

“A small one. I asked your father’s PI to trace the text message to the nearest cell tower, and we mapped out your likely location based on that and the coordinates of the retreat. Your father’s old buddy is canvassing the area in a helicopter. ”

“Who? John? Yeah, let him know.” I glanced at Bess who was listening to our call, leaning forward. “Now, you called Bess’s mom, right?”

“Of course!” There was a telling pause. “I told her you were camping with the group and out of cell phone range. It was late last night, after dark. I thought, why worry her unnecessarily? What can she do? She doesn’t have a helicopter.”

I felt like shouting ‘I knew it!’ but kept my voice calm. “That’s okay. We’ll handle it from here.”

Gran harrumphed at my clipped tone. “Think about it, Charlie. You’ve been through quite an ordeal. I thought you two could use some time alone before the family arrives.”

She was not wrong, and, irrationally, that made me even angrier. I ended the call and approached Bess. “I’m sorry. She told your mom we were camping. So, not the whole truth.”

“But, she said.” She looked up at me in disbelief.

“Welcome to my family and a whole new level of puppet mastery. If Gran thinks something is best for you, she’ll do it.”

“And how exactly is it best for me that my mom doesn’t know what happened?” Her voice rose a bit.

“Think about it,” I urged her softly, sitting on the rug next to her chair. “Gran has been playing a bit of a matchmaker.” I winced. “She gets a message late at night that we’re lost in the forest but safe. What does she think?”

She blushed. “Well, she’s not far off, is she?”

“No,” I admitted. “So, she’s excited and wants to let things play out.”

“But it’s not like my mom was going to barge in.”

“No. But she will. And we’re safe now. We’ll be back to the retreat soon enough. Do you want her here? If you do, I’ll call her myself, right now. But I think Gran wanted to give you the choice.”

“But she lied to me. To us. She said she told my mom.” She huffed, gently moving her swollen ankle, her hand protectively around it. “I was so relieved.”

“Which, again, was her goal, I bet.” I shrugged apologetically. “And she relayed the message that you were okay so your mom wasn’t worried, either.”

She huffed, but I noticed that angry, hurt look beginning to thaw.

“Gran traced the cell signal,” I continued. “She figured out our approximate location and organized a family friend to canvas the area with a helicopter.”

Bess’s jaw went slack as she stared at me. “Really? A helicopter? For a couple of fit, young people spending a night in a hammock?”

“My family sends helicopters for less,” I said. “John was probably on the way to his cabin. Searching for us would have put him an hour out of his way, tops.”

“Is he a local?”

“Someone we know from here; from the time we still had the cabin.” I stared out the window, at the mountain range ring-fencing the secluded farm. Mountains high enough to stop clouds in their tracks and change the weather. A constant presence. “I miss that place.”

“I’m sure you could buy a place up here if you wanted. How much do those cabins go for?”

I hadn’t even thought about it until she said it. “How much money do you think I have?” I chuckled.

She blushed. “I don’t know. I’m so broke I think everyone else is loaded, sorry. I have no idea what real estate costs up here, or even in the city. It’s one of those things that’s so far out of my reach that I don’t even try to keep up. I tell Celia it’s gazillions, every time she asks.

“She asks about real estate?”

“She asks ‘Can we buy that house?’ or ‘Can we live in that house?’ and I have to explain that we don’t have a gazillion dollars.”

I cringed at the thought. I didn’t have cash at hand, but I had investments I could pull. If I really wanted to buy a cabin in the woods, I could swing it. Something she saw as unattainable was very much attainable for me. I waited for the familiar urge to shop, to find the perfect cabin and buy it, but nothing ignited in me. The cabin felt meaningless, unless it was for her. With her.

My phone pinged with other missed phone calls and messages. I skimmed through them, catching up on work and sending quick replies to Trevor and Lee, making sure I didn’t hold up any jobs. I checked my investments and noticed I’d made five grand on a wild bet. I thought about riding it out to see if I could make more, but as my gaze snapped back to Bess, my fingers itched to cash out. Five grand could probably cover her rent for a while. Why was I risking it for a quick thrill?

As I sent through the sell order, another message pinged. It was from the office and made the hair on my neck bristle like I’d plugged myself into a socket. My eyes scanned the text in a frantic hurry.

… restructuring … economic downturn … refocusing our priorities…

It was the warning shot. The first cue before the redundancy packages were rolled out. Bess would be on that list.

Anger fizzled in my chest as I thought about my father, casually flicking through an email like that on a Thursday afternoon. He’d promised to wait until next week to announce the job cuts, but apparently the panic-stirring couldn’t wait. And he was probably hanging out at the golf club as his staff worked themselves into a frenzy. In a way, I felt grateful to be far away. But he had no idea how much him jumping the gun messed with my plans.

I needed more time. Could I stop Bess from checking her email? Her phone was useless and there was only one charger, so it made sense for us to charge mine first. Maybe I could delay the inevitable until I had a chance to talk to her. Why hadn’t I done it in the forest?

“Are you okay?” Bess asked. “What is it?”

I tried to relax my face. “Nothing. Stupid work stuff.”

“That campaign?”

“Yeah,” I lied. “But it’s okay. Once we present your ideas, they’ll change their tune.”

She said nothing, only watched me in silence.

Our host, Anna, barged in, wiping her hands on a tea towel. “Good news! My son Nash is on his way over. He’ll take you to town.”

“Thank you so much.” Bess smiled at her.

“Don’t thank me, thank him. See if you can get more than one word out of him in response. He can be a bit moody.” She rolled her eyes. “But I’ve bribed him with pumpkin pie so you can expect a swift journey.”

I inhaled the aroma coming from the kitchen and my stomach growled like a ventriloquist dummy.

Anna’s eyes widened. “I’m so sorry! When did you last eat? Stay for pie. It’ll be done in a minute. Nash can have his reward in advance.”

I saw Bess’s head about to shake and jumped in before she could politely refuse and ruin this chance for both of us. “That sounds amazing! We had some muesli bars, but it’s been hours.”

“Hours of carrying your girlfriend? You’re quite the hero, Charlie.” She gave me a warm smile, her head tilted.

My brain kept searching for hints of sarcasm, but there seemed to be none. Yet those words twisted like a knife in my gut. “I’m really not. I’m the reason we got lost. I wanted to see the elk mating, so we followed the sound of bugling and then it got too dark.”

“Oh! Did you see them, though? It’s quite the sight. Might be worth a bit of extra trouble. Drop a good video like that in the town chat group and people go nuts!” She chuckled.

“We got a video, didn’t we?” Bess looked up at me. “Maybe we can share it.”

Anna clapped her hands. “Fabulous!”

I brought up the videos I’d taken on the binoculars and let Anna have a look.

“This thing records video? What do you know!” She held the binoculars to her face. “Can you send this to me? My email is up on that board because I keep forgetting it.”

The oven timer rang. “That’s the pie. I’ll bring it over, so you don’t have to move with that sore leg.”

We chuckled at her email address, printed, and laminated, on a corkboard by the shelf.

The front door opened and a huge guy with a dark beard stepped in, eyeing us with suspicion. “You’re the young couple who got lost up the hill?” He made it sound like we’d walked in circles in his backyard like confused toddlers. Which we kind of had.

I straightened, offering him a friendly smile and a handshake. “That’s us.”

I introduced myself and Bess, and by the time we’d confirmed this was Nash, our ride, Anna barged in with a tray of pumpkin pie and plates. My mouth filled with saliva and Nash’s expression thawed considerably.

Maybe it was best he got his reward in advance, so he didn’t eat us.

Anna poured us cups of coffee and cut us generous pieces of pie. We dug in, too busy stuffing our faces to engage in small talk. Nothing had ever tasted so good. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten something home baked, anyway.

Feeling a lot more alive, we said farewell to our host and gathered our things.

“I’ll bring the car closer, so you don’t have to… you know,” Nash gestured at Bess’s leg. As he traipsed across the yard towards a freestanding garage, I handed Bess my phone. “Here you go. It’s got enough charge now. Call your mom.”

Leaning on the banister, she turned the phone in her hands, looking conflicted. “Maybe it’s best that I don’t get her all worried. Celia is still at kindergarten… She’ll have to pick her up. Does she even need to drive up here? She’d have to borrow a car.”

“Your mom doesn’t have a car?” I instantly regretted the surprise in my voice.

“She uses mine. We sort of share.” She glanced up and I could practically see the thoughts crisscrossing in her brain. “What if I can’t drive my car back? How do I get it back home? Even if Mom comes here, she can’t help. We won’t have enough drivers.” She dipped her chin, studying her feet as she tried to move her ankle up and down.

“I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but you can’t drive anything without a functioning right foot. I can give you a ride back. We’ll pick up your car later.”

She released a sigh, and her gaze drifted out to the mountains. “I really screwed up this whole thing.”

“What thing?”

“This retreat. I was supposed to help you with the campaign, but I don’t think I’ve been much help at all. Instead, there’s all this unnecessary drama.”

“You didn’t deliberately throw yourself down the mountain, did you?”

“No. But I’m clumsy.”

“So am I. I once fell off a boat.”

“Drunk?”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “But you were sleep-deprived and delirious from hunger. It’s basically the same thing.”

“Where are you guys headed?” Nash called from an open window of his Range Rover. “Rubie Ridge?”

Bess’s eyebrows sailed up. “How did you know?”

“You have that… look,” he said, looking at me rather than her.

I glanced at my high-tech hiking gear. Despite all the walking, my clothes looked relatively unscathed. I probably should have rubbed some cow dung on my pants to set the tone. Bess had muddied her already worn-out leggings rolling down the hill and her sun-faded jacket had a button missing. For once, I was the odd one out.

“That clueless, out-of-towner look?” I smiled. “I need to get Bess to the doctor. Is there a clinic in Cozy Creek?”

“Sure is.”

He didn’t elaborate, but jumped out of the car to open the door, helping Bess onto the front seat. I took the backseat on the other side, urging Bess to put her seat back if she needed to.

The windy road navigated a thick forest which sucked us into its shadow. The journey felt longer than I’d anticipated.

“How far are we from town?” I asked.

“Bout twenty miles.”

“We walked twenty miles?” Bess frowned.

“We’re closer to Rubie Ridge,” Nash added.

Bess glanced at me, her eyes filled with worry. “Take us to Rubie Ridge, please. Charlie can drive me to town from there.”

I picked up my phone, relieved that the internet was working again. I quickly discovered there was one medical center, which claimed to be well versed in sports injuries—probably because of the nearby ski resorts and the constant stream of tourism. Even better, they were still open for an hour. “Let’s go straight to Cozy Creek, if you don’t mind. We need to get to the clinic before it closes.”

Nash shrugged. “No problem.”

I could see the conflict on Bess’s face, but as she locked eyes with me, I gave her a warning look. We were at the mercy of kind strangers, but it didn’t mean we had to act like doormats. She needed help, and I’d make sure that she got it.