The Treasure Seeker Page 8

“How much longer are you all going to work?” she asked.

  Her dad pointed to the gate. “I want to get this finished and maybe a couple of more fence panels. We won’t hang anything until tomorrow to give the posts plenty of time to set.” He patted her shoulder. “You go on home and tell your mom we won’t be long.”

  Ry went to her truck. As she started driving out of town, she saw the hospital and considered calling Kate. She knew it was nothing more than sheer stubborn pride that was keeping her from dialing the number. But Kate had left her at the police station yesterday. Then she’d told her mom to lie about her being there. Ry had lashed out and told her not to come home because she was hurt by Kate’s action. A chill ran down her spine. Kate had only tried to call her once. It wasn’t like her to give in so easily. This is just a spat, she told herself. It certainly wasn’t something worth breaking up over. Surely Kate didn’t think Ry meant that she should never come home. She grabbed her cell phone and dialed Kate’s number. All of her worries subsided when Kate answered on the second ring.

  “I’m sorry,” Ry said. “I was an ass. Forgive me?”

  Kate hesitated a moment. “It was my fault. I should have talked to you last night.” She paused. “Listen, we need to talk. Can you meet me somewhere?”

  There was something different in Kate’s tone. A sick feeling began to build in Ry’s stomach. “This is beginning to sound a little ominous,” she said and gave a weak laugh.

  “I’d rather not discuss it on the phone.”

  “Okay, but at least give me a hint as to what we have to talk about.” Ry rolled her eyes at the stupidity of the statement. Of course, they had things to talk about. Who wouldn’t after what they had gone through over the last twenty-four hours?

  “Things have changed,” Kate’s voice broke. “I think it’s best if we—”

  Ry cut her off. “Kate, are you breaking up with me?”

  “God, Ry, don’t act so surprised,” Kate snapped.

  Ry’s heart felt as if it were trying to push itself out of her throat. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

  “I told you I don’t want to do this on the phone.”

  “Why? Do you think it’s going to hurt less if you’re staring me in the face?” Barely able to breathe, much less drive, Ry pulled her truck into a convenience store parking area and stopped.

  “Of course it has to be your way,” Kate spat. “Fine, have it your way. Yes, I’m breaking up with you.”

  “Why?”

  Kate gave a bitter laugh. “How can someone as smart as you are be so dense? The very fact that you’re so surprised by this should tell you something. Ry, you have not noticed anything since you opened that store.”

  “I thought you wanted the store as much as I did.”

  “Maybe I did at first, but then it started to consume our lives. I got tired of sitting at home alone. Damn it, Ry. Anybody would have gotten tired of being alone. You can’t blame me for what happened.”

  Ry held her breath. Surely Kate didn’t mean what it sounded like she was saying. She tried to tell herself that Kate was blaming her for yesterday, but something told her it was much worse. She replayed the conversation in her head, hoping it would come out differently.

  “Say something!” Kate hissed.

  Ry tried to form a word—any word, but nothing came.

  Kate’s voice filled the silence. “You practically shoved me into her arms. We didn’t mean for it to happen. You can’t blame either of us.”

  Ry squeezed the steering wheel with her free hand. Kate couldn’t have made it any plainer than that. It was over. There was nothing left except to try to walk away with her dignity. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Fine,” she replied in a voice so eerily calm it frightened her. “I don’t blame either of you. Have a good life, Kate. I’m sorry I made the past six years so hard for you.” She hung up before she started screaming for the name of the low-down dirty, lower than worm shit, piece of crap that Kate had left her for.

  Ry mentally replayed the conversation. How had things gone so badly so quickly? As she thought back to their lives over the past few months, she realized she had been dense. She should have noticed that Kate was coming home later and later. When had she had stopped asking why? She tried to think who it could be. There had been an emergency room nurse Kate talked about a lot. Ry tried to recall her name. It was something cutesy like Bambi. “Hell, no more than I listened, it could have been Lotus Blossom.” Why hadn’t she paid more attention? She slapped the steering wheel in frustration and cried out in pain as her already injured wrist struck the hard surface.

  The cool breeze of earlier was turning cold. Even the weather was messed up. It shouldn’t be this cool yet. She shivered as a gust of wind came through the gaping hole where the side window should have been. She continued to sit, even after the cold wind had seeped all the way to her bones. Her body trembled, but she refused to move. She intended to stay until the cold froze the pain coursing through her body and made her numb. She visualized her body turning into a solid block of ice. She waited. Surely the ice block would fracture under the force of her pain and burst into a million pieces. She waited.

  “Hey, Ry. What’re you doing?”

  Startled, Ry jumped away from the window, her knee striking the steering column. “Blast you, Daniel Shelton. Why did you sneak up on me like that?”

  His eyebrows climbed halfway up his forehead. “I didn’t sneak up. Heck, I called out to you twice.” He leaned closer. “Are you all right?”

  She rubbed her knee. “No. I’m not. You made me practically dislocate my kneecap.”

  “You are such a drama queen.”

  “Leave me alone before I get out and kick your butt.”

  “You couldn’t whip me even if I were on my death bed with both my arms tied behind me,” he teased with an old childhood taunt.

  Ry couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’re crazy.”

  “Hey, I’m not the one sitting in the cold, staring into space,” he reminded her.

  “I wasn’t staring into space,” she said. “I was trying to decide where I was going to take the truck to get the window fixed.” Lying to him produced a twinge of guilt. It was better than telling him the truth and having to see the pity in his eyes that was sure to appear.

  “I have an appointment in San Antonio tomorrow. How’s about I swing by Pick-n-Pull and see if I can find you a window glass there. You and I can install it. If we do the work ourselves, it’ll be a lot cheaper than taking it to a body shop.”

  Tears burned the back of her eyes at his kindness. She started digging into her pocket for cash.

  “No, don’t give me any money now. I don’t know how much it will cost. We can settle up after I get it.” He removed his jacket and handed it to her. “Here. Put this on before you catch a cold. You’re such a weenie when you get sick.”

  She took the jacket and gratefully wiggled into it. “I love you,” she said, surprising them both.

  “I love you too, sis.” He gave her arm a swift swat before turning away. “I’ll see you back at the house. Dad’s going to have a conniption if I don’t hurry back with his coffee.” He tucked his hands into his pockets and ran off.

  Chapter Eight

  The grandfather clock in the entryway struck midnight. Ry sat on her old desk chair and stared at the cluttered mess on her bed. After her parents turned in for the night, she had retrieved the box from her father’s safe. He hadn’t changed the combination in the twenty-odd years he had owned the safe. She’d spent the last three hours going through each magazine and book and had found absolutely nothing. Not even an old shopping list.

  “One more thing you were wrong about,” she muttered as she stacked the items back into the cardboard box. She had been so sure that something from the estate sale had led to the events of the last couple of days. Maybe he had found the item he was after in the shop and the damage was intended to hide whatever was missing. She shook her head. That
didn’t make sense. If he simply wanted to prevent anyone from knowing what he’d taken, he could have torched the building. That would have made more sense. How long had his rampage taken? He must have made a colossal amount of noise. Granted, the shops around her closed at six on Sundays, but he had still taken a big chance. The occasional car drove through town after hours, and the city police did random patrols through the business area until midnight.

  She absently tapped her fingers against her knee. She was missing something. The utter devastation seemed more personal. A chill ran down her back at her next thought. He hadn’t found what he was looking for. There had been nothing unusual in or about the furniture, no secret papers or lost treasure maps. She or Kate would have found whatever it was when they cleaned and polished the items.

  Kate.

  She tried to set aside any thoughts of Kate. Why should she cry and grieve over someone who was no longer interested in her? Kate had made her decision. One small, rough patch and she threw away a six-year relationship. “I don’t need the grief.”

  She went to shower. Afterward, she crawled into bed with a pad and pencil. Over the next two hours, she made two lists. The first list indicated everything she needed to have taken care of in order to reopen the shop. The second one listed what she would need to do in order to sell the shop. She tossed the pad on the side table. She wouldn’t be able to make any plans until she received the claims adjuster’s report and settled with Kate. They owned the building together. If Kate didn’t want to keep the building, Ry knew she couldn’t afford to buy Kate’s share.

  Tired but too wired to sleep, Ry turned off the light and stretched out in the bed. The whirlwind of thoughts kept swirling about. Selling the building made the most sense. She wondered if she could ever feel safe living there again. The size of the building was both a blessing and a curse. A smaller place would have less overhead and maintenance, but it would also limit the size of her showroom.

  She sighed and turned over. Beneath all the agonizing about the store, she couldn’t stop thinking about Kate. Would Kate ever want to live there again? Was this new relationship serious or a ploy to get her attention? She shook her head. Kate didn’t play games.

  The more practical side of Ry told her they should sell the building. Then she could find a nine-to-five job, one that provided a steady income. The high probability of running into Kate everywhere she went made living in Jackson City less than desirable, but she certainly wasn’t eager to move back to San Antonio. The crowds no longer appealed to her.

  At some point, she finally drifted off to sleep, but there was to be no rest for her. She spent a restless night trying to find her way out of a maze of tunnels. No matter which one she took it brought her back around to where she had started. She woke several times only to resume the same dream as soon as she dozed.

  The clock beside her bed read 3:22 when she finally surrendered and got up.

  When she reached the kitchen, she was surprised to find her mom sitting at the table with a cup of coffee.

  “Mom, what are you doing up?”

  “I couldn’t sleep.” Her mom pointed to the counter. “There’s coffee if you want some.”

  Ry poured herself a cup and joined her at the table.

  “What brought you down so early?” her mom asked. “You’re dressed already. Are you going somewhere?”

  Ry sipped her coffee as she tried to organize her thoughts. When she finally set her cup down, she said, “Kate’s met someone else.”

  A look of incredible sadness crossed her mom’s face. “Sweetie, I’m sorry.” She took Ry’s hand and hesitated a moment before asking, “Is it just a fling or something more serious?”

  “I don’t know.” She kept her eyes on her coffee. She didn’t want to see the pity in her mom’s eyes.

  “So, you don’t think you two can work through this?”

  Ry responded without thought. “I’m not sure I want to.” Surprised by the statement, she looked up and said, “On some level I love Kate, but things haven’t been right with us for a long time. The shop took too much of my time. I think she came to regret moving here.” She cleared her throat. “I think I used the shop as an excuse to get closer to home. I hated living in the city.”

  As Ry spoke, events began to make more sense. It hadn’t been hard for her to consume herself with work and ignore Kate, because some part of her had already started withdrawing. Early in their relationship, she had suspected that their real attraction to each other was the sex. Once that declined, there was nothing else left for them to build on.

  Her mom squeezed her arm. “Be kind to each other and you’ll find your way.”

  Ry nodded. “So why are you up so early?’

  Her mom smiled sadly before replying. “I suppose I’m a little depressed. Today would have been your Granny Jeter’s birthday.”

  “That’s right. With everything that’s been going on, I’d completely forgotten.” Ry thought about her high-spirited great-grandmother Granny Jeter. “She was something else.”

  “I don’t know what my little brothers and I would have done if she hadn’t taken us in when Mama and Daddy were killed in that car accident.” She shook her head in wonder. “Do you realize that she was fifty-seven when she took us in?”

  “Your Grandfather Jeter was already dead when your parents were killed, wasn’t he?” Ry asked.

  “Oh, yes. Grandpa died in an accident in 1937. Daddy was only ten then and my Aunt Jasmine was seven. Granny raised them alone and then twenty-seven years later she had three more little ones on her doorstep. I was ten, Donny was eight and Hank was five.” She put her hand to her face. “She was only a couple of years younger than I am now.” She looked at Ry with awe in her eyes. “I can’t imagine trying to raise three little ones at this stage of my life.”

  Ry shook her head. She wouldn’t want to try it even at her age. “Mom, that would be like you taking James and Michelle’s kids. They are almost identical in age as you and your brothers were.”

  “God forbid.” She covered her mouth quickly. “I didn’t mean that in a bad way. You know I love all of my grandkids.”

  “Did you know that Granny Jeter was the first person I came out to?” Ry said. She’d spent a lot of time with her granny on weekends and during the summer before she’d started working with her father. She loved the cabin and the little cubbyhole beside the kitchen that had been her room. She had told her Granny everything. Whenever there had been problems that Ry couldn’t handle on her own, she had gone to Granny Jeter for answers.

  “I’m not surprised,” her mom said. “She never judged. I can’t remember hearing her say a single bad thing about anyone.”

  “Except for Willard Pritchard.”

  Her mom shuddered. “Oh, he was a horrible old man.”

  “Why didn’t she like him?”

  “It happened so long ago, I’m not sure I even remember.” She sipped her coffee before she continued. “You weren’t born when your father moved Granny’s cabin over by the pond.”

  “You mean it wasn’t always there?”

  “No. No. She and Grandpa had a little piece of property over by where Carlson’s Dairy is now. Carlson started the dairy the year after your father and I were married. You can imagine how bad the stench was in the summer and poor Granny’s cabin was downwind from the place.”

  Ry crinkled her nose.

  “I was seven months pregnant with James. Seth and I were living in that little mobile home. The stench had gotten so horrible that your father and I invited her to come and live with us.” Her mom chuckled. “Granny politely informed us that she wasn’t ready to live with anyone. She was around seventy then. I kept begging her. I even used my pregnancy as an excuse.” She patted Ry’s arm. “The pregnancy scare wasn’t really a lie. I was secretly terrified.” She waved her hand. “Anyway, I guess Granny got tired of us bugging her and told us the only way she would move would be if God picked up her cabin and sat it down by our pond. She really
liked that pond.” Her mom started laughing. “Well, Granny hadn’t learned that there was at least one other person on this earth as stubborn as her.”

  “Dad.” Ry smiled.

  “Exactly. Your dad knew how much I wanted her nearby and as always, he found a solution. He went to Granny and told her he wasn’t God, but if she’d let him, he would find a way to get her cabin moved over by the pond.”

  “So, he moved Granny’s cabin,” Ry said.

  “Yes. He got his dad and his brothers Allen and Zack to help him and somehow they put that little cabin on a trailer. The four of them moved it across the county and put it down there by the pond. She lived there another twenty-five years.”

  “And that’s when she moved in here,” Ry said. “I remember that. I was in college.”

  “Yes, she lived here until she died at one hundred and three years of age.”

  “That’s quite an accomplishment,” Ry said, awed by her great-grandmother’s fortitude. “I wish I had half her spunk.”

  Her mom tilted her head slightly to stare at Ry. “You know you were named for her. You may not see it now, but there’s a lot of her in you.” She patted Ry’s arm again. “Spunk is not something you have ever lacked. In fact, your spunk has contributed to the origins of many of these gray hairs.” She waved her hand over the top of her head.

  “You don’t have gray hair.”

  “God bless you Rylene, but you really do need to have your eyes checked.” She laughed.

  “What is all the jabbering and giggling going on down here?” Ry’s father said as he ambled into the kitchen smiling.

  “We were just reminiscing about Granny Jeter,” her mom said. “Did we wake you?”

  “Now there was a woman,” he said, shrugging away the question. “I remember when she turned a hundred. I asked her what she wanted for her birthday and do you know what she told me?” He turned to Ry.

  “What?”

  “She told me she wanted me to plow up a patch of ground back there behind the house so she could plant herself a garden. She didn’t like those puny grocery store vegetables.”