Call Me Wild (7 page)

“I’ll see what your father says, but if you’re going to be working, what would be the point of us coming all the way out there?”

“Mom, I’m only working part-time. When I’m at work, you and Dad can do whatever it is you do. My Starbucks is close enough to walk to, so you can have my car.” The connection started breaking up. “Look Mom, I’m heading into the mountains, so I better get off. I’ll call you soon. I might not be home until Wednesday. If you send food, make sure it will arrive after that, okay?”

“Okay, have fun and be careful, honey. I love you.”

“Love you too, Mom.”

The scenery changed as she gained elevation. It went from high mountain desert—where if you don’t water it, it won’t grow—to thick pine. She wasn’t sure what time Karma planned to arrive at the cabin, so she was in no rush. Karma had told her where a spare key was hidden, but Jessie didn’t feel comfortable walking into a stranger’s house. So when she saw the sign for Idaho City a half hour into the trip, she pulled off the highway to do some exploring.

She’d learned that Idaho City had once been a huge mining camp when gold was discovered on Grimes Creek during the early years of the gold rush. It looked as if it had been stuck in a time warp. It was so authentic that they could have filmed a spaghetti Western there.

Jessie toured the old jail, had lunch at Trudy’s Kitchen, and even poked around the old Boot Hill Cemetery. By the time she got back in the car it was well after noon. She checked the directions again and headed farther up Highway 21 for another couple of hours through some of the most beautiful mountainous country she’d ever seen. Following the directions, she turned onto Highway 75 and drove until she saw the nondescript, signless, gravel road with the split rail fence described in the directions Karma had given her.

The gravel quickly turned to a washboard nightmare. Her little car bumped along on a road that seemed, in some places, barely wide enough for her car alone. It snaked back and forth, climbing in elevation, and turning into a ribbon of parallel ruts. She’d thought Idaho City was high at almost four thousand feet, and she’d been climbing steadily the entire trip.

Things were going well until her car hit a big rock that had fallen in the road. She grabbed her cell to call Karma, but there was no signal. Fabulous. It didn’t take a genius to realize she was seriously screwed. She just hoped that Karma came looking for her or was behind her. She started wondering if her mother hadn’t been right after all. Damn, she’d feel a lot better if she had a man with her. Which was ridiculous, because really, if she had a man with her, he’d be just as helpless as she was. She got out of the car and looked underneath it. The puddle of oil quickly seeping into the dirt road wasn’t a good sign.

Great! This was just what she didn’t need—a huge repair bill, not to mention how much it would cost to have her car towed. Maybe if she found a clearing she could get a cell phone signal and call for help. She got out of the car and walked a little way up the road. There was nothing but dense forest and not a car in sight. Worse, it was getting cold.

***

Fisher took a swig of his cold Americano and tried to keep his eyes open as he drove the last leg of the trip to Hunter’s cabin, cursing his brothers the whole way. He couldn’t believe he got suckered into babysitting Karma, while both his brothers were most likely having sex and a lot of it. He couldn’t remember the last time he even came close. Oh, yeah, there was that time with Bianca Ferrari, but he was unconscious through most of it. She’d been after Hunter and jumped in bed with the wrong twin. God, even when he was in med school or working the insane hours of a resident, he had a better sex life than he did now.

The road made a sharp turn to the west, and Fisher had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting a bright red Mini Cooper that some asshole had left in the middle of the road. He put his flashers on and climbed out, glad that he remembered to toss his toolbox in the back. When he saw the New York plates, he did a double take. That couldn’t be Jessica’s car, could it?

Fuck, Jessica… Jesse. Karma was coming to stay with her friend the sports reporter, Jesse James. Jessica said she was a writer… and Jesse was supposed to be writing a novel. He’d come here to watch his sister and her girlfriend—the one woman who didn’t want a damn thing to do with him. He had half a mind to just turn around and head home. He looked inside the car and saw Jessica’s keys hanging out of the ignition. When he’d driven her car last week, he’d been surprised by her huge keychain. It had every New York sports team’s logo hanging off it and a miniature statue of liberty. It probably weighed half a pound and made a racket whenever the car hit a bump. God, was he thick or what? A New York sports reporter named Jessie—he was either stupid or a complete chauvinist. But then he hadn’t slept in what felt like an entire week, so his brain was not firing on all cylinders. He knew there were female sports reporters.

What the hell was his New York reporter thinking driving a city car like that into the mountains? And where the hell was she? She should know better than to walk away from a vehicle. God, what if she hadn’t walked away? A thousand nightmare scenarios ran through his mind. What if someone had picked her up? He put his hand on the hood; it was still warm but not hot. She couldn’t have been gone for more than twenty minutes at most. Still, it didn’t help him figure out where the hell she’d gone.

Maybe Karma drove by and picked her up, but Karma would know to push the damn car onto the side of the road. Shit. He had a bad feeling about this. He grabbed his satellite phone off his belt and speed-dialed his sister.

Karma grabbed her clipboard and counted the bottles in the storeroom. She hated doing inventory almost as much as she hated doing payroll. Still, both had to be done. She hummed along to the tune on the radio, snuck a peek at her watch, and told herself that everything would work out just fine. It wasn’t as if Fisher and Jessie weren’t attracted to each other. They just needed a little push to get things moving.

“You’re doing inventory?”

Karma jumped and put her hand to her heart. “Kevin, damn you. I told you not to sneak up on me like that. I’m gonna put taps on your shoes.”

“Or spurs.”

“Hell, no, you’ll ruin my floors.” Kevin, her bartender and best buddy, smiled. “You only do inventory when you’re worried. Sharon’s fine.”

“I’m not worried about Sharon. And speaking of Sharon, why aren’t you at the hospital? Weren’t they supposed to induce this morning?”

A broad grin spread over Kevin’s face. “No need. Sharon had Violetta at 1:10 this morning. They’re both doing fine, and they were sound asleep ten minutes ago when I left the hospital.”

“Oh my God! Why didn’t you call me?” She dropped her clipboard and gave Kevin a big hug. “So, tell me all about her.”

“Violetta Rae weighed in at seven pounds, nine ounces, and twenty-two inches long. She’s tall and skinny just like her mama with a full head of black hair. She’s beautiful, perfect in every way. Hell, you can go see her now if you want. I’ll take over the inventory until you get back.”

“Yeah, about that.” Karma pushed her hair behind her ear. “What are you doing here? You’re on leave, remember? Don’t you want to go home and get some sleep?”

Kevin rubbed his unshaved chin. “Na, I can’t sleep without Sharon anyway.”

Karma shook her head. What was it about her and happily married couples? She’d fixed up Sharon, one of her suitemates from college, with Kevin two years ago, and they were married less than nine months later. She had the golden touch when it came to everyone else’s relationships but hers. “No, I’ll stop by the hospital when Roy comes in. I’ll give him a call and ask him to come an hour early. You need to go home to shower and change. I’m sure if you go back to the hospital the nurses will take pity on you and give you a Barcalounger to sleep on.”

“You okay?”

“Me? Sure, why?”

Kevin didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. Karma remembered what Jessie had said about Andrew, how he had some strange kind of best friend ESP. When Jessie mentioned it, Karma knew exactly what she was talking about. Kevin had it too. Damn him. He just stood there with his arms crossed, waiting.

“Fine, okay. I’m just a little worried about Fisher.”

Karma killed the urge to squirm under Kevin’s scrutiny. When his laser gaze locked on hers, it was more effective than truth serum.

“What about him?”

“I kinda sorta fixed him up, but he likes her already.” Kevin didn’t look like he was buying it.

“If he likes her, why did you have to fix them up?”

“Well…” Karma put her clipboard down and walked around him into the bar. “Jessie—that’s her name—just doesn’t know she likes Fisher yet.”

“Karma,” he said, in his deep I-mean-business voice. “I thought you learned your lesson when you tried pulling this kind of crap with me and Sharon. I can’t believe you’re setting up your own brother.”

“Hey. Look at you, Mr. Happily Married, new daddy. It all worked out in the end.”

Kevin let out a bark of laughter. “Yeah. No thanks to you.”

“Bullshit.” Karma slid under the pass-through of the bar and grabbed a bottle of champagne she kept in the back of the cooler just for days like these—to celebrate Violetta’s birth and tamp down her nerves. She cut the foil off the bottle’s caged cork. “You’re happily married because of me. If I hadn’t thrown you and Sharon together, you’d still be single.” She popped the cork and ignored his muttered curse.

Kevin came around the bar and reached for the champagne glasses, checking to make sure they were dust-and spot-free. He took the bottle and poured. “Look, do your brother a favor, and stay the hell out of his love life from now on.”

“I’d gladly stay out of Fisher’s love life if he had one. He hasn’t been on a date that I know of since Hunter got married.”

“Is Fisher in the habit of telling you, his little sister, about his dates? I doubt it.”

Karma laughed at that. “You know as well as I do, not one of my brothers or my cousin, for that matter, have a prayer of keeping anything away from my prying eyes and ears. I have a whole network of contacts feeding me information on a twenty-four-hour basis. It’s taken me a lifetime to establish, and it works like a charm.” She picked up her champagne glass and held it high. “Here’s to Sharon and Violetta. May they both have a healthy, happy, quiet, and sleep-filled future.”

Kevin touched his glass to hers. “To Sharon and Violetta, the two females who rule my heart.”

Karma took a gulp of her champagne and jumped when the
Roadrunner
theme song blared from her phone—Fisher’s ringtone. She forced a smile. She wasn’t sure if she was nervous or relieved, but at least the dreaded waiting was over. Too bad Kevin was there to witness the conversation. Of course, he wasn’t gentlemanly enough to give her some privacy. He knew Fisher’s ringtone as well as she did. Shit.

“Hey, Fisher.”

“Where is she?”

Karma kept her face neutral, even though the tone of Fisher’s voice made all the hair on her arms stand up. “Where is who?”

“Don’t play games with me, Karma. Jessica. Is she there with you?”

“No.”

“Fuck!”

Karma couldn’t believe her ears. Fisher almost never cursed and certainly not in front of her. This was the first time in her life he let the F-bomb fly in her presence. “Calm down, Fisher. What’s the matter?” She turned so she wouldn’t have to see Kevin’s accusatory stare. Too bad there was a mirror behind the bar. She squeezed her eyes shut.

“What’s the matter? Her car is sitting in the middle of the fucking road on the way to Hunter’s cabin—”

“So?” Beads of perspiration gathered at her hairline.

“And she’s not in it.”

“Where is she?” She almost whispered.

“How the hell do I know?” Fisher was yelling. He never yelled. “I thought she was supposed to be with you. You know, Jesse James, the big-time New York sports reporter you said you were spending the weekend with? You played us all like freakin’ windup jack-in-the-boxes, making Trapper, Hunter, and me think you were going off to play house in the mountains with some strange dude. What’s the deal?”

Karma put her hand to her breast, trying to calm her racing heart, and went with her first instinct—plead the fifth or confusion, maybe both. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Right. Sure. Look, I don’t have time to play your games. All of Jessica’s stuff is in her car. Her keys are in the ignition. And Jessica, the girl you invited up to Hunter’s cabin, is nowhere in sight.”

“You know Jessie?”

“You know damn well I know Jessica. Now Karma, stick to the topic here, or when I get my hands on you…”

“Fisher Kincaid, your threats don’t work with me, so stop busting my chops.”

“Just tell me, Karma. Where in the hell is she?”

“I don’t know. Really, I don’t. I gave her directions to the cabin. Maybe she’s there. Have you checked?”

“No. I went around a switchback and almost plowed into the back of her car—the one she left in the middle of the fucking road. The one she had no business driving off the main highway. Have you seen it? It’s no bigger than an M&M on wheels. You know better, Karma. She could be hurt or worse. You’d better get your sorry ass down here and help me look for her.”

“Up.”

“Up what?”

“Get my sorry ass
up
there. I’m doing inventory at Hannah’s at the moment. You see, Kevin’s wife had the baby this morning, and I just found out about it. I’m not going to be able to make it to the cabin after all.”

“Oh really? And just how were you planning to let Jessica know? Oh, that’s right. You tricked me into going up to the cabin. The one you conveniently can’t get to.”

“I did no such thing. I didn’t have a clue you were going up there. What am I, a freakin’ mind reader?”

“No, you’re a pain in my ass, and you and your little stunts are going to get you, or some poor, unsuspecting woman hurt.”

“Hunter lent me the cabin, not you. And for your information Dr. Smartypants, I was planning to call John Rotchford. You know, that hot new ranger at the Stanley ranger station, and ask him to go over and tell Jessie I wouldn’t be able to make it. I just didn’t have a chance to call him yet, because I’m too busy being abused by you. But don’t worry. I’m sure John would be happy to look after Jessie for me.”

Both Kevin and Fisher let out inventive strings of curses. She covered where she thought the mouthpiece of her cell phone was—not that she really knew—so Fisher wouldn’t hear Kevin. “Why don’t you just turn around and go home? I’m sure you have better things to do than look for Jessie, a woman you don’t even know. Hey, how did you know that was Jessie’s car, anyway?”

Fisher growled. “Karma, cut the crap. I’m worried about her. She left her car. She didn’t even pull it over to the side—”

“It’s a jeep trail, Fisher. There isn’t a freakin’ side.”

“She left the keys in the ignition.”

“Well, who’s going to steal it? It’s in the middle of freakin’ nowhere. No one but us goes up past the Jones’s place.”

“Karma, what if she’s hurt?”

“I’m sure she’s fine.” She had to be fine. Jessie was an athlete, definitely not a shrinking violet. She was the toughest woman Karma had ever seen. Hell, Karma would give Jessie even odds against any of her brothers. “Have you called out for her?”

“No.”

She heard embarrassment in Fisher’s voice and resisted the urge to say “well, duh,” just as Fisher screamed Jessie’s name in her ear and nearly blew out her eardrum. “Do you mind not screaming in my ear? Damn, Fisher.”

“Shh… I’m listening for her.”

“While you’re listening, why don’t you head toward the cabin? I’m sure she’s hiking the rest of the way. Call me when you find her. In the meantime, I’ll call the ranger station and put them on standby.”

The line went dead. Fisher hadn’t even said good-bye. Karma looked at her phone. He’d never hung up on her before. That nagging you’ve-gone-too-far-this-time-and-the-shit’s-hit-the-fan feeling settled in the pit of her stomach.

Karma jumped when Kevin touched her shoulder. She’d forgotten he was there. “Oh God, what if Jessie’s hurt, or worse?”

Kevin pulled her into a tight hug. “I’m sure she’s fine, just like you said. Now take a deep breath and call the station just in case. Let them know they might need to put together a search party if Fisher doesn’t find her in the next hour or so.”

“Right.” Karma’s hand shook as she pulled up her contact list and found the station. Kevin, as usual, was the perfect best friend, quietly supportive. She was glad he hadn’t said “I told you so.” She knew as well as he where that line between calmness and tears was. Right now, she was dangerously close to crossing it, and neither wanted that.

***

Fisher gathered his backpack with his emergency medical kit and tossed in two bottles of water. So much for his plan to spend the weekend fly-fishing and trying to screw his own head on straight. Sure, he knew he’d have to put a crimp in Karma’s romance plans, but the rest of the time he could have done some serious fishing therapy. Once he had a fly rod in his hands, life suddenly made more sense. Now he was stuck finding and babysitting Jessica.

He took in his surroundings. He was only a few miles from Hunter’s cabin, but there were plenty of dense woods between here and there. Too bad Jessica had no way of knowing that.

What kind of idiot took a car like Jessica’s up a mountain trail? God only knew what kind of trouble a city girl like her could get into while in the wilderness.

He called her name until he was hoarse, hearing nothing in return. He stopped, listened, and looked for any sign of her. The trail was hard-packed dirt, no dust to show footprints, no sign of her or anyone else for that matter. It was as if she’d disappeared.

“Jessica—” He pushed back the fear and tried to put himself in her shoes. What would she be looking for? A Starbucks? The cabin? A cell phone signal? There was no hope for a cup of coffee or cell coverage past Idaho City, but Jessica wouldn’t know that. He walked faster.

Most people had the mistaken belief that if they climbed, they’d get a signal—it was a myth. He poured on the speed, fueled by pure adrenaline. He hadn’t had a bite to eat since the cold pizza he’d gnawed on prior to falling into bed the night before.

He climbed another hundred yards when he noticed a flattened sapling on the edge of the track that looked as if someone had stepped on it. He stopped. Sure enough, it was fresh, and so were the indentations in the pine needles littering the ground where the track cut through forest. He picked up the pace and followed her trail through the woods, stopping as he crested a ridge.

Shit. There in the distance, Jessica scaled the side of a steep hill that anywhere east of the Rockies would be considered a mountain.

He worked his way closer silently, afraid to startle her. He had to admit she was one hell of a climber—never looking down, always keeping her eye on the next hand- or foothold. She was strong, and he admired her agility and grace, even though climbing alone was one hell of a stupid stunt.

He drew a relieved breath as she crawled onto a ledge a good thirty feet above him.

She held her cell phone over her head, shielding her eyes from the sun, and turning in a slow circle.

She was definitely going to be disappointed. “If you’re looking for a signal, you won’t find one above Idaho City, and even there, it’s iffy.”

Jessica jumped, and Fisher swore his heart skipped a beat until he was sure she wasn’t going to tumble down on top of him.

She pressed her back against the sheer wall behind her. “What in the hell are you doing here? Are you following me again? What are you—some kind of weird stalker?”