Reunion Pass: An Eternity Springs novel (12 page)

“Enough!” Chase demanded, his tone filled with command. “You are being nonsensical, Oz. You dive in the ocean. With sharks. That’s a hundred times more dangerous than falling down a mine shaft. What you should do is grab hold of the flashlight I’m lowering your way and shine it around. I wouldn’t be surprised if you managed to stumble on a vein of gold or silver. Lots of people think this area isn’t completely played out, you know.”

“Gold?” Devin repeated.

Chase’s diversion worked. “My great-something grandfather on my mother’s side was one of the original miners who hit it big in Eternity Springs. Your dad is a descendant of another one. Did you know that?”

Chase kept up the patter about the history of Eternity Springs and the big Silver Miracle strike, and Devin grabbed hold of the distraction like a lifeline. The combination of Chase’s soothing, confident tone and the sounds of his approach eased Devin’s fears.

Until his leg cramped, his muscle contracted, and he lost his grip on the sides of the shaft.

Devin screamed as he slid another thirty feet before the tunnel narrowed enough that he managed to wedge himself to a precarious halt.

“Sound out, Oz,” Chase called.

“Here. I’m still here. Oh, Jesus. Oh, Jesus. I shouldn’t have argued with Dad about going to church last Sunday. I swear, I’ll never do it again.”

“Hold it right there, Oz. I have a thing about bargaining with God. You don’t do it, especially not in the middle of a situation. It adds some bad mojo to the whole process. You wait until we get you out of here before you start on that. Okay?”

“Okay. Is your rope long enough?”

“I need you to not fall any farther.”

“I won’t do it on purpose!”

“Don’t do it by accident, either. I’d rather not have to call in the cavalry for help. I think we’re both better off if we can keep this little escapade to ourselves. Something tells me that letting you tumble into a mine shaft would play hell with my love life.”

“Love life? I thought you and Lori were just friends.”

“Yeah, well, we tried that. It didn’t take.”

“Huh. So how is that gonna work? You live in Colorado. She’s going to school in Texas. You into long-distance romance?”

“Not my preference, but…”

Devin caught his breath as he heard Chase slide and gravel rained down upon him.

“I love her,” Chase continued, as if nothing had happened. “The real, honest-to-God, forever kind of love. I haven’t told her yet. I’ve been waiting for the right moment. But it’s the real deal. I’m in love with your sister.”

“Wow. This is great. I know before she does. That gives me so much ammunition in the sibling wars.”

“Only if you want me to leave your clumsy ass down here in this hole.”

“Forget I said that. My lips are sealed. Are you getting close?”

“Almost there.”

He did sound close. Devin’s bone-deep fear eased to where he felt more anxious than afraid.

Then, suddenly, Chase was above him. A rope dangled before Devin’s eyes. “There’s a loop in the end. We need to get it over your shoulders and around your chest without you sliding any farther down. Think you can manage that?”

Oh, man. Jeez. His heart felt like it was about to pound out of his chest. “Well. I just. Yeah. I hope.”

“You’ve got this. I’m going to hold it a little taut. That’ll make it easier.”

“Okay.”

Devin tried to reach for the rope, but he couldn’t make himself release his death grip on the side of the shaft. “I’m afraid to let go.”

“You can do it, Devin. I’m right here. I won’t let you fall. Let’s do it on three, okay? One. Two. Three!”

Devin grabbed for the loop and managed to get it over one shoulder before he lost purchase and his feet began to slide. Immediately, Chase tightened the rope. “Gotcha. Use your legs, Oz. Plant those boots of yours. There you go. That’s good. Now, I’m going to give you just a little slack and you wiggle that other shoulder in. Here we go. Yeah. Yeah. Atta boy. Okay, the hard part is done. You’re secure. I’m heading up, and when I’m out of the tunnel and ready, I’ll give two hard pulls on the rope as the signal for you to start climbing. Okay?”

“Okay.”

It seemed like forever before Chase gave the signal, but once Devin started climbing, he ascended the mine shaft fast. The first sight of blue sky above him filled him with hope. The warmth of sunshine on his face felt like a kiss straight from heaven.

Years later, as Devin baited his hook and let it fly into the small, natural pond that Mac and Ali had dubbed Reunion Lake, he explained his reasons for sharing that story at this particular time. “He was ice, Lori. Calm, cool, and confident. Later he told me he knew of a teenager who had fallen down a shaft in that same general area and died from gases. The only reason he was able to get me out of there was because he supplied his pack like a survivalist. He always took deliberate care with what he brought with him into the wilderness. Wherever he is, you can count on the fact that he’s equipped both mentally and physically for the challenge.”

Lori looked at him with tears in her eyes. “He told you he loved me that day?”

“Yeah.”

“He didn’t tell me for another couple of months.”

“You were pretty hot about us being gone so long that day. Guess he figured to give you time to cool off.”

“Guess so,” Lori repeated, her gaze locked on her bobber floating undisturbed on the surface of the lake, a sad half smile on her lips as she thought about her brother’s revelations.

How like Chase to have blabbered about his feelings. He was open, honest, and as straightforward a man as she’d ever met. She’d always appreciated that about him. He could keep a secret when necessary—she’d made him promise not to share the fact that they’d become lovers with their families—but it wasn’t his first instinct. Not like it was for her. They’d discussed that difference between them on more than one occasion, and concluded that each was a result of their individual family circumstances. Chase’s family was large and loud and loving. Lori’s had been small and secretive, though just as loving in their own way.

Of course, her world had changed when Cam came home to Eternity Springs with an adopted son, a brother Lori had fiercely resented at first. They’d had a rocky beginning, but now … “I’m glad you’re here, Dev. Thanks.”

“Hey, it never hurts to remember reasons to think positively. If anyone can survive in the wilderness, it’s Chase Timberlake.”

Lori held on to those words like a talisman during the course of the next five days while the whole town of Eternity Springs waited anxiously for word from the other side of the world. Word that never came.

With every day that passed, tension mounted. Ali grew wan and fragile. Mac walked as if the weight of Murphy Mountain rested on his shoulders. Caitlin and Stephen Timberlake tried to present a positive front, but Lori knew them both well enough to see through the façade. They were scared.

Lori herself was petrified.

She slept fitfully, haunted by nightmares starring Chase and monsters and mountains filled with rock slides and raging rivers. It took near constant vigilance not to drift into daydreams that could be even worse.

The one bright spot in an otherwise gloomy week came on Wednesday evening when Shannon Garrett was safely delivered of a healthy daughter following a twenty-hour labor. Daniel Garrett broke down and bawled like a baby when he introduced Brianna Kathleen to friends and family.

Lori spent as much time up at the Timberlake home as she could manage. Between her mother, father, Devin, and herself, at least one Murphy stood by 24/7 to offer support. Each day upon finishing the baking she did for Fresh, Sarah made an extra batch or ten of baked goods to help feed the crowd of supporters. Some days she sent cookies, other days bread or muffins or cinnamon rolls or a mixture of both. On the sixth day after news of Chase’s disappearance reached Eternity Springs, Lori answered a phone call from her mother shortly before noon. “Are you still planning to go to Ali’s house today?”

“Yes. I have two more appointments this morning. I figured I’d head up there when I finish. I’ll leave here in probably forty-five minutes. Do you want a ride?”

“No. I’m not going to make it. Michael has a tummy ache and Dad has an appointment at the store this afternoon. I have rolls in the oven now for the crowd up there. Would you run by Fresh on your way and pick them up?”

“Sure. What’s wrong with the Squirt?”

“I think he caught that stomach bug that Racer Rafferty had over the weekend—either that or he sneaked too many cookies when I wasn’t looking.”

“My little brother takes after Dad’s dog.”

“I know. We should have named him Mortimer II instead of Michael. Speak of the devil dog,” Sarah added. “He’s scratching at the door. I better let him in before he eats it.”

“See you in a few, Mom.”

After hanging up the phone, Lori reviewed the file of the ten-year-old black Lab who was her next appointment, due in for his annual exam and shots. After seeing to him, she treated a Persian calico for an eye infection, then flipped her open sign to closed and swept up the blizzard of hair the cat left behind. She turned off the clinic’s lights and stepped out into the warm May sunshine.

When Lori decided to move home and take over Nic Callahan’s veterinary practice, she’d chosen to relocate the clinic. She’d leased space in a building on Third Street between Cottonwood and Pinion and her father had overseen the renovations. Due to the clinic’s location just down the street from Ali’s restaurant, each time she arrived or departed, Lori couldn’t help but glance down the street. Ali hadn’t put in an appearance at the restaurant this week, but the Yellow Kitchen continued to open every evening for dinner. Ali didn’t want her staff to lose their jobs. At precisely five
P.M.
, her manager updated a sign in the window with the day’s news—or lack thereof—from Heartache Falls.

Lori’s heart twisted as a black thought sneaked into her consciousness. Would the Yellow Kitchen ever serve Ali’s famous red sauce again?

“Don’t go there,” she cautioned herself, then she dug in her bag for her car keys and clicked the lock to the SUV that had come to her as an asset of Nic’s practice. It was a short three blocks to Fresh, and ordinarily she’d walk it, but Mom could easily have a dozen rolls to send up to Ali’s place.

She should have asked her mother exactly how many rolls she was sending. She’d rather take her car—the sweet little ride that had been a birthday present from her dad—but she’d yet to unpack it completely since her move home, so she couldn’t fit too much inside. Sighing, she blinked away sudden tears. Nothing about her first week of work as Dr. Lori Murphy had gone the way she’d anticipated. She had a million things to do and only one place she wanted to be—with the Timberlake family when word arrived that Chase had been found safe and sound.

She started the SUV and drove to the bakery where she entered through the side door that led directly into the kitchen—where her grandmother’s handwritten recipe card waited like a rattlesnake on the counter, the aroma that curled through the air its venomous strike that knocked her back into the past.

Her flour-coated hands rolled dough into logs a half inch around and about ten inches long. In a movement learned at her grandmother’s side, she flipped the dough into pretzel twists. After she filled a baking sheet with rolls, she brushed them with melted butter, sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar, and set them aside to rise while she rolled out another tray of rolls.

She had one pan in the oven when she heard a key in the lock. Glancing at the wall clock, her heart skipped. “Molly,” Lori called when she heard the front door open. “I’m so glad you’re home. Chase’s plane will land in an hour. I need to hop in the shower. Would you listen for the timer and switch out my rolls, please? Feel free to sample.”

Knowing her roommate would have her back, she didn’t wait for a response, but headed for her bedroom, stripping off her clothes as she walked. She switched on the shower, soaked her head, and lathered up her hair with the apricot-scented shampoo that Chase loved.

She didn’t hear the shower door open, so she jumped when the large hand cupped her soapy breast. “Chase!”

His dark eyes gleamed wickedly, though his tone sounded innocent as an angel. “I hurried to catch an early flight. Didn’t have time to shower. Mind if we share?”

“Chase!” she repeated, her heart filled with joy as she turned into his welcoming arms.

They kissed and his hands strayed, stroking over her. Lori had never had shower sex before. Thrill zinged along her nerves until a stray thought occurred. She pulled back. “Wait. My rolls.”

“I heard you. I tended them. We have ten minutes before the next tray needs to come out of the oven. That’s enough time for us both to get … clean.”

She let her hands drift teasingly down his belly. “Better make it five. The hot water heater in this apartment won’t last that long.”

“In that case…” He dropped down onto his knees and licked her where she ached. They finished just as the water began to run cold.

The timer dinged as he laid her across the bed. Lori groaned. “I forgot about my rolls again.”

“Then I have done my job right. Stay where you are, Glitterbug. I’ll get them. I’m guessing these are the Swedish rolls you’ve been telling me about? Your one specialty.”

“Yes. My grandmother’s coffee bread. Her kringlor.”

“They smell fabulous. I can’t wait.”

He wrapped one of her thick pink towels around his waist and disappeared into the kitchen. A few minutes later he returned with two paper napkins holding hot rolls fresh from the oven. He’d brought three for himself.