Alvarado Gold (9 page)

“Mel, it’s Addie. Recovered from our trip yet?”

“Good to hear from you. I’m drowning in work as usual but nothing too major. Summer is when everyone wants to move and resettle before school starts again so it is a busy time for real estate. How about you? Did it feel weird going back to work?”

“Yes, it did but what was really strange was this big bouquet of flowers from the guy at the BLM, Gary Wright.” I might as well tell her. Maybe she could give me a hint of how I should handle my feelings.

“The one Susan thought was so cute?” I could hear a chuckle in her voice. “Oh, girl.”

“That’s the problem. I don’t know what to think.” He was good looking. Maybe part of me did like him. But there was something about his interest in our return making me nervous. “He knows too much. He wants to help us out when we go back in September. I basically hung up on him. I think that’s why he sent the flowers.”
Come on, Mel; dispense some good advice, will ya?

“Let him come along. He can help us out if he knows anything. I don’t think we’re in any danger from him. Maybe he is just genuinely interested.” I could hear Mel opening and closing what I thought to be a kitchen cabinet. The sound of ice tumbling from the dispenser of her refrigerator sounded muffled over the phone. She hesitated a moment, then continued, “Let it play out, Addie. See what happens.”

All I needed was some reassurance from Mel. “I’ll call him later.”

“Well, Addie, I hate to run but Richard and I are going out for the evening. Call me Saturday when we can talk. Okay?”

“Sure. Have a good time.” I’d wait until then to tell her about the letter I’d found. “Where are you going?”

“To the theater, then a midnight supper. Talk to you soon. Bye.” Mel’s voice held an air of excitement to it. She’d been married to Richard for a while and he could still do that to her. I wonder if I could feel that way about someone for ten or twenty years.

Since dinnertime approached, I probably should have gotten up and fixed something. Instead, I sat there and let my thoughts take me back over the years. Thoughts I sometimes didn’t like to remember. Thoughts about how I’d gotten to where I was now.

I’d been so young when Dad died, so full of dreams and ambitions. I’d wanted to go to Egypt see all the artifacts where they really belonged instead of some glass case. Look at the Dead Sea scrolls. Work on some big important project.

April of my freshman year at the University of San Francisco, Mom called me at the dorm, her voice wrought with sadness. He was gone. The man I’d cherished for eighteen years. The man, who meant so much to all of us, crushed in a cave-in. I knew how much Mom depended on him. Somehow, I thought Eric and I could take his place. I thought she needed us; but instead, she shut us out.

When I graduated, I began working at the museum. While attending a fundraiser, one of the board members introduced me to Jack. I took the job to stay close to Mom and gave up my dreams. She died the first winter I worked at Docurestore. While the death certificate said pneumonia, the doctor told us she’d just given up. Her illness really stretched out over two years, not just the final six weeks in the hospital. Grandpa and I spoke daily. We prayed together over the phone. Alone, sitting in her room, I prayed unceasingly for her to be spared. I was in the hospital chapel. The soft candlelight softened the room. Soul-soothing music played in the background. I was on my knees with my head resting on the pew in front of me, when Eric put his hand on my shoulder.

His voice trembled as he spoke, “She’s gone, Addie.” It was the last time I’d been inside a church.

Maybe, I reasoned, I’d never let anyone get close because of my parent’s situation. I didn’t want to devote my whole life to someone, then have them torn away. I didn’t know. I was too stubborn, too independent, now. I could have married Jim if I’d wanted. He certainly asked enough times. But no, good old do-it-yourself Addie Brown wasn’t going to need anyone to help her through life. It was Grandpa who had told me to find my purpose. “There’s a time to every purpose, Addie.” He urged me to find it. “Lasso that star.”

Everything was barreling down on me and I knew it was up to me to change things. I felt empty, unmoored, lost. I’d decided to quit my job; reset my course. I’d been too loyal to Docurestore for too long. I didn’t know why I stayed. I guess I thought Jack needed me, too. I’m good at what I do but he let me walk off the job a month ago without hesitation. Then Grandpa died and I was right back where I’d started.

If I really looked close, I guess I could call myself resentful, even a little mad. If Dad hadn’t been out of the country on some crazy project, then he wouldn’t have been killed. I wouldn’t have thought Mom needed me.

I definitely wouldn’t have stayed in this job. The salary sustained me and I’d managed to buy my little condo. I never could do much with it. My attempts to become a homemaker failed miserably. I considered the only bright spot to be the patio. The California weather allowed me to spend a lot of time there. I wondered if I should sell. Move into the city. I’d thought about working at the museum again. Something for more pay, of course. I could teach restoration in my sleep at the university. I could travel and, on my own, quest for projects.

Then there was Jim. Five years of my life wasted. Another reason I stayed on at my job. He wouldn’t leave San Jose.

Truthfully, I don’t think anyone ever really needed me. I was just there. Well, I don’t need anyone either.

I could feel the inner turmoil begin to boil again as it had so many times during the last two years. I seemed to be at a major intersection in my life. It wasn’t just my job. My whole life had become a rising kettle of uncertainty soup. Add in my ongoing arguments with Eric for spice, the rekindling of my relationships with my cousins for flavor, and Gary Wright as the mystery ingredient. I let my head fall back on the pillow on the reclining patio furniture and closed my eyes as the pot stirred in a vision before me.

I don’t know how many times the phone had rung before I realized it. I jumped up and dashed inside to see a Houston prefix displayed on the caller ID. I took a deep breath and reached for the receiver.

Chapter Eleven

I hesitated and then let the phone machine pick up. I didn’t know what to say to him. I couldn’t get used to the prickles in my stomach and felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“Addie. It’s Gary Wright. I was in hopes I’d catch you home. I had something to tell…”

Oh well, why not? “Mr. Wright. Sorry, I was outside on the patio. You were saying.”
Quick, what do I say next?
I could actually tell him I was sorry I’d hung up on him. No, too fast. I need something safe.
Weather. I could talk about the weather.

“How’s Houston? It’s seventy-four degrees out here. Rather cloudy But nice.”
Stupid.

“I think it was about seventy-four degrees here today too but I didn’t call about the weather.”

He didn’t
sound
irritated.
What do I say now?
Talk about the flowers. “The flowers are beautiful. They must have cost you a small fortune. I was upset with you but you shouldn’t have sent them.” I could hear myself babbling.
He probably thinks I’m a total, brainless idiot.

“Ms. Brown. I offended you and I’m sorry. I was too forward asking to come along on your adventure. The flowers were meant as a peace offering.”

“Apology accepted. I would also like to apologize to you. I was rather rude in our conversation and that isn’t like me.”

“No problem, I am sure I caught you off guard.”

“Please, let’s start over. I would like you to call me Addie.” There, I’d said it. I’d opened the door half an inch. The ball lay in his court. “Actually, Mr. Wright, I talked it over with my cousin and we may need your help after all.”

“Do you want to hear about the cave, then?” His voice hesitant, as he added, “And you can call me Gary.”

“Sure.” I didn’t have anything to lose.

“It isn’t just any cave. It has a subterranean well. Nature has created a sauna, if you can call it that, but the Indians used it for a sweat lodge.”

Now he had my attention. “How do you know so much about all this?”

“I majored in archaeology when I was in school, with a minor in Native American History. The information fascinates me.”

He fascinated me. What was I getting myself into? I’d agreed to let him come with us. Maybe I shouldn’t have made it so easy for him to tag along.

I shook off the thought and centered my thinking on what he said. I could almost hear myself talking about artifacts. He had the same thrill in his voice. Now, he appealed to me on a new level–intelligence. As Susan’s voice rang in my ears, with “amazing, violet-blue eyes.”

“Anyway. The cave is dangerous. The floor is crumbling into the spring making it unstable. Some of the locals even believe it is a sacred.” He stopped his last sentence almost too abruptly and made me wonder if maybe he’d tried to scare us off.

“Are you trying to frighten us away?”

“I only want to help you. Please, I know a lot about the area. When I was in college, I used to go on digs near there. My mom even sent me an old newspaper article about two men from Oklahoma looking for gold.”

He knew about the gold. I wish I could shake this suspicion he knew more than he should but he’d proven himself to be genuinely interested. I hated to admit it but I was interested in him, too.

“We’re going down there Labor Day weekend. If you are still interested, we’ll make arrangements to have you take us to Barnesville then.”

“That’s great. That’s exactly why I called this evening. I have an assignment in San Francisco the week before Labor Day. I’d like to see you when I’m there.” His velvety voice settled somewhere in the limbic system of my brain.

Perspiration rose on my lip. I felt weak. I sat down in the bamboo chair next to the oriental black lacquer desk in the living room.
Is this it? Is this what Mel feels around Richard?
I’d never felt like this before. Jim certainly never made me dizzy.

“I could come into the city, I guess, early in the week before I leave.” The words slipped out before I intended. I couldn’t take them back.

“Mind if I call you now and then before my trip?”

Mind?
He could call me every day and I certainly wouldn’t mind. “No. That would be fine.” I could hear myself talk but I certainly wasn’t thinking. I’d clicked on autopilot.

“Talk to you soon, then.”

“Sure. Soon.” I let the receiver slide back into the cradle. I must just be hungry. That was it. That’s why I felt faint. He’d come to the west coast; we’d go to dinner.
That will be it.
What had I done?

****

As I drove into the parking lot the next morning, nerd boy stood right where I’d left him. Except for a change in clothing, it appeared he’d stood there all night.

“Hi. Addie!! How are you? Did you have a good evening? I can’t wait until Friday. It’s going to be so much fun.”

Oh! I looked around for someone else to talk to. Maybe I’d just deck him so he’d shut up. “Hey, Mitch. You know I’m no good until I have my first cup of coffee. Jack usually brings it in about eight. Why don’t you and Sherry show up in my office at nine? We’ll get started then.” A few hours of respite from him and Sherry-sugar-lips. Hopefully, it would be enough to decide the course I wanted to take on this project.

When I opened the door, the aroma of the air filled with sweet perfume from the flowers, just as beautiful as they were yesterday, overpowered me. The carnations, my favorite, were holding up the best. I made a mental note to take a few home to preserve. I could dry them myself in silica sand or I could take them over to the lab and have them freeze dried.
Now, why would I want to do that?
My mind was filled with more questions than I could handle.

Around eight, Jack’s hand, holding a cup of coffee, was all I saw sneak around the doorjamb.

“I’d be afraid to come in here, too, if I were you.” I kidded him. “Where did you get those two kids? Career day?” I could tell by the look on his face that was exactly what he did. He nodded, but didn’t say a word. “Jack, you didn’t.”

“I was desperate. You were gone. Two people quit. I had to get this project out if I was to be the lead myself. I’m so glad you called me. I was scared to death you wouldn’t come back. I really need you here.”

Did I hear him right?
He said he needed me. The phrase, that last night, I thought no one would ever use in connection with me. Someone actually needed me.

“Jack, it’s just for the summer. Remember? I wasn’t going to stay forever.”

“What are you going to do with yourself?” I could hear the
father voice
kick in.

“I don’t know right now. I’m inheriting a little money. You know how I love to travel so that’s an option. Plus, I could teach when I came back or go back to the museum. Right now…I don’t know.”

“There’s going to be a management change here in the fall. I wasn’t going to say anything but I want you to hear this now. Geller is selling the company.” Jack looked at me, expressionless.

We were probably all going to lose our jobs. At least, now, it wouldn’t affect me, not like it would have a couple of months ago. “Jack. What are you going to do? Will you be able to stay on or did he sell it to some faceless corporate company?”