Dance or Die (White Oak - Mafia Series Book 3) (14 page)

He smiled. “I’ll give you credit for this work. Why did you need a zip-line?”

“I didn’t want to rework every step. It rained like crazy and the soil was two inches of mud.” She pointed up to the house. “Grams long ago had a zip line hook attached to her house. It can carry 5 tons of weight.”

“Whoa! Are you sure about that?”

“We had to bring down five ton of stone, so I’m sure.”

“What did you need that for?”

“Footings for marsh boardwalks.”

“Why not concrete?”

“Grams had tried concrete, but the river’s current resulted in a diluted concrete and it corroded after ten years, so she wanted to try stone this time. Setting them was a wet, muddy job, but they are holding up beautifully. Depending upon how long you’ll be in town, I can loan you some waders and you can check them out.”

When they got down to the crossroads, she led him to the wood barrier, explaining its purpose to be the first line of defense to discourage hikers from ever getting to the electric fence.

“Discourage?” he teased. “If this is humanly traversable, I don’t see how.”

“It’s a modification of Dr. Fuller’s natural barrier.”

He took a picture of it. “I need perspective. Tess, stand by the barrier. How long did it take to build this?”

“It took two weeks to cut the branches and build the barrier around the entire hill.”

He frowned.

“That’s about four miles,” she added.

“And how large was your crew?”

“My grounds crew started at twenty the first day and dropped to sixteen the second day and has held there since. I believe they may be the best grounds crew anywhere. Today, they are starting work on installing the twenty-foot electric fence. Would you like to meet them? They have probably stopped for lunch right now.”

“Sure. You’ve only had four men quit?”

“They didn’t quit. They got severely injured…off work.”

“So you haven’t had anyone quit or had to fire anyone?”

“I left one out of my count. Andy quit. My grams left him money and he went to California for college,” she replied cheerfully.

“You know, part of being the boss is knowing when to fire people.”

She laughed. “And when I have the misfortune to hire someone who can’t keep up with my current crew, I’ll do just that.”

When she arrived, she was shocked to see a quarter of a mile of fencing up.

“Great job, guys,” she said and went about high fiving the guys closest to her. “This is Dr. Collins from the University of Minnesota and Mr. Barkman, head of Parks.” She then named off all fifteen of the crew, her foreman, Malcolm, and her head of security, Dan Brown.

“The fencing looks a little slack,” Dr. Collins said to Dan.

“That’s intentional. You ever try to climb a twenty-foot fence?”

“No.”

“Well, as hard as it is on a tight fence, it’s damn near impossible on a slightly slack one because it leans out. So even in a power outage, getting over Tess’ barrier and over a slack fence with barbwire on the top will deter almost anyone. Nor can they get under the fence due to a very tight tension wire.”

Sean turned to Tom. “What’s on this hill that warrants such protection?”

Tom smiled. “An archeological find of significance. That is all I can say at this time.”

“Who’s your archeologist?”

“Alistair Castile.”

Sean glanced at Tess and then frowned at Tom. “Are you aware of his reputation with…” His eyes moved to Tess.

Tess smiled. “I’m pretty sure the whole world is aware of his reputation with the ladies. However, to be fair, for the two weeks we worked together, he was well-behaved. Still, once I get this fence up, there will be little reason for us to interact in the future.”

She congratulated Dan and her crew on their work once again, then led Tom and Sean down to the marshlands. She pointed out the cliff trail. “That’s another reason why we required such a large fence and barrier. That trail is only about a foot and a half wide. Much too risky for a state park.”

Sean frowned as he studied it through binoculars. “Why did you ever build it? It will erode like crazy.”

“It predates me and Grams.” She raised her eyebrows to Tom.

“Okay, Sean. You cannot tell anyone about our archeological find at this time. Do I have your word on that?”

“Of course.”

He then turned his hand palms up at Tess to proceed.

“Paleo-Indians carved that trail, and it’s pretty well turned to concrete now.”

He picked up his binoculars for a second look. “But I can see dig marks.”

“That’s how little that cliff has eroded.”

“Amazing.” He then focused on the boardwalk they stood upon. “So what crew built this?”

“I did this by myself when I was sixteen. Grams would assess my work each day and make recommendations to improve my technique. There was very little she didn’t know when it came to caring for these woods.”

“That’s true,” Tom said.

“This is very fine work,” Sean said as he examined the boards.

“You can actually see my skill improving as we walk along.” She pointed out little differences. When they reached the lookout point in the midst of the Mississippi wetlands, she brought to his notice various birds and turtles by name.

“This is fabulous!” He looked at Tom and they seemed to exchange some mental conversation.

She stopped at the marsh platform holding lumber. “When a tree goes down, or I have to cut them, our only way to get them out has been by helicopter. They carry the tree off and return with the lumber, which we use for all our projects.”

“And why do you
have to
cut these trees?” Sean asked.

She sighed and explained the security requirements resulted in five beautiful specimens being removed. “They were over five feet in diameter. Broke my heart, but it had to be done to ensure the security of the archeological sites.”

She then pointed down a valley. “We also need a maintenance road, which will be laid here.”

“Does the valley flood?”

“In some places. We’ll need to bring in rock to shore it up.”

“Then why don’t you cut the road on higher ground?”

“The soil is too fragile.” She led them over to the hill he suggested for the road, pulled out her hand rake, and slowly teased away the leaf bed. Lifting the loam, she placed it in his hand.

“That’s amazingly light.”

She nodded. “Without the leaf bed protecting it, the wind can blow it away.”

He dropped the soil and she replaced the leaf covering. She then led them back to the cabin.

An hour later, Sean was rubbing his temples.

“Do you see a problem?” Tess asked, worried he had discovered a fatal flaw to her plans for the woods.

“Not here, but I’m wondering what the hell our school was thinking when they refused you admission.”

“The letter said only a few non-residents are accepted and I, unfortunately, did not make the cut.”

“And that’s my problem. Did you ever speak to anyone in my department?”

“Oh, now I understand. I was rejected by the school for academic reasons. I was homeschooled. I spent all my days caring for the forest, then at dusk, I’d shower and study until I went to bed. U of Minn was my first choice, and thus my first submission. I was naïve about a lot of things. I didn’t realize they equated homeschooling with no schooling.”

He grimaced.

“When Wisconsin accepted me, I immediately requested an exemption from the basic classes. All that did was piss off my professors for my arrogance, which only worsened when I would suggest what I thought were better methods during their lectures.”

“Well, thankfully, that’s not going to happen at Minnesota. While you will have to complete the general studies associated with a bachelor's degree, I’ll exempt you from many if not all of our basic classes. All you will need to do is prove to me you know eighty percent of the material covered.”

“And how will I do that?”

“Either by example or test. When it comes to tree cutting, I’ll want to see that in practice.”

She chuckled. “I would hope so.”

He smiled. “The next step is to isolate the graduate classes you partially or entirely have mastered over this year. Then we can determine what courses you actually need to complete for your master’s degree, possibly without ever leaving these woods.”

“What?” She stared at Tom to make sure she heard him right. This was better than she had ever imagined.

“You’ll probably need to take online courses during your evenings.”

Happiness surged through her body. “Not a problem.”

“And to justify my monthly onsite reviews, I need to widen this opportunity to more students.”

That worried her. “What does that mean?”

“I’d like to send my four best graduate students here for a semester for hands-on experience. I’ll provide you a list of things you should have them learn.”

Tom frowned. “Sean, she’s building my park. Make sure your list corresponds with her plan.”

Tess appreciated him stating what worried her about this request.

“I will work specifically from her plan, so hopefully my students will add value, not make matters worse for Tess.”

“Make sure of that. I’ve got a governor who is excessively interested and loves it when we come in ahead of expectations. I don’t want that to change.”

“I understand. But I need to justify my expenses for coming out here so often and document Tess’s skill so there is no question she deserves her master’s degree.” He then focused on her. “And hopefully, along the way, I’ll be able to teach you a few things.”

Tess pinched her arm just to ensure she wasn’t having the best dream of her life.

Eight days later, the fence was up, ahead of schedule. Tess gave the crew a bonus, cleared by Tom and a day off. She expected to have the house all to herself, but Malcolm, Ben, and Tony decided they didn’t want to go into town.

“Unless you do,” Malcolm added. “We’d go with you.”

“Can’t. I have tests to take,” she grumbled. So far, she’d aced every test Sean had sent her, but they were definitely getting harder.

“You’re going to spend your whole day taking tests?” Tony challenged.

“Once I open the email, I have one hour to complete the test. During that time, I cannot leave my computer for any reason, or it’s an automatic fail.”

“How would they know?” Ben asked.

“Someone gets the boring job of watching me. I sometimes read the choices aloud and provide amusing stories from my past why I know one of the choices is a bad idea. Normally, I can only do one test a night, but because we were taking a day off, I asked if I could do four. Sean wasn’t keen on the idea, but agreed if I have two hours of fun in between them.”

“So what are you going to do that’s fun?”

“Not sure…Any chance you guys would like to learn how to cut normal size trees? It’ll move matters along if I’ve got some help tomorrow.”

Ben groaned and covered his face with his hands. “You really don’t understand the concept of fun.”

“Well, what do you do when you want to have fun?”

“Go to a bar,” Tony said.

“And…”

“Drink beer and tell embarrassing stories about each other.”

“That’s not going to work. I only have two hours between my tests and they are getting hard. While I’ve never actually tasted alcohol, I expect it wouldn’t make me smarter.”

“Seriously, you’ve never had a drink?”

“Of course. I drink water and green tea every day, but alcohol. No.”

“Wow, you must’ve been a fun date growing up.”

Malcolm spoke at once. “Shut it.”

Tony blushed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. I’m sure your dates enjoyed your company and didn’t care about getting drunk.”

“Nice recovery,” she teased.

“So where did you go on your dates?” Ben asked.

“Guys, leave her alone,” Malcolm snapped.

“It’s okay.” She faced Ben. “I’ve never been on a date.”

“Never?” Malcolm asked.

“No. Benito didn’t like his women to leave the house, except to attend church.”

Malcolm choked. “Benito attended church?”

Tess rolled her eyes. “And the priest would slather him with compliments and praise. It used to make me sick.”

“So why didn’t you date when you came to live here? Oh, wait. Your dates would run out of gas or off the road before they reached the cabin.”

She chuckled. “First, they’d have to think: ‘There must be a sixteen-year-old, ill-tempered girl on the top of this dangerous hill who might want my company.’ Fortunately, none of them ever showed up. Had they, I would have been working in the woods, unless it was after dusk and then Grams would have scolded them for lacking the sense God gave turtles.”

Malcolm brought her a cup of tea and sat beside her on the couch. “That’s right. You were homeschooled.”

She nodded. She was pretty sure Grams did a fine job of teaching, but everyone always acted like homeschooling was the equivalent of receiving no education.

“I bet your grams was a good teacher there as well,” Malcolm stated.

“Thank you. She was,” Tess replied softly.

He breathed in and released it. “I don’t think you don’t know how to have fun. I think you have fun every day. I know I have since I began working for you.”

The other two smiled and nodded.

Now in good spirits, she stood up. “And on that happy note, I’ll head off for my first test. I’ll put a Do Not Disturb sticky note on my door to remind you not to interrupt me.”

“Piss before you start,” Tony advised.

She chuckled and left the room. God, she liked her crew. She’d be quite miserable without them. Her thoughts went to how much fun she and Steel had had during that first week. But then reality got in the way. While the fun faded, love still held firm.

Had she really been in love? Or was Steel simply the first likable man she’d ever met? If she had met Dan first, would she think herself in love with him?

She was certain she would. Even Malcolm was a nice guy. Hell, all of her crew were nice guys.

But Steel and she had a great deal in common. The love of woods…

Only Steel’s true love was archeology, not woods. No. In the end, she had thought herself in love because he was kind and seemed to admire her.

Glancing at her watch, she rushed to the bathroom, then returned, activated her webcam and opened the waiting email.

She only knew about 75% of the questions with certainty. The other 25% she had to work out. To entertain the poor person stuck watching her, she vocalized her reasoning, sometimes coming to a negative conclusion. “Oops, just killed off that species. I’m going with B. They seem to have a better chance of living in that one.”

When she finished the test, she sent it off and left for her two hours of fun. When she entered the living room, the guys were wearing sparkly pointed hats held on by an elastic string beneath their chins. She soon wore one as well. A stack of colorful boxes cluttered the table.

She walked over and read aloud the names on the assortment of boxes all proclaiming to be fun.

“We weren’t sure which you’d like,” Ben said. “So we bought them all.”

“So which do you like?” Tony asked.

Tess was starting to hate her past. “I don’t know. I’ve never played with boxes of fun before.”

“Never?” Tony challenged.

“Guys,” Malcolm growled. “Leave it.” He rubbed her back. “Close your eyes and pick one?”

She did as he requested and extracted a long narrow box.

“Monopoly. All right. I was good at this. I get the boot,” Ben said.

Tess couldn’t resist. She lightly kicked him in the butt.

“Oh, you’ll regret that when you need me to sell you Marvin Gardens on the cheap.”

“I have absolutely no idea what that means,” she laughed as they gathered around the coffee table and she discovered the silly but pleasurable experience of playing a game with three lunatics.

When her watch beeped, she declared herself full of fun and ready to take the next test.

She lost all her sense of fun five questions in. “I just spent two hours playing Monopoly and I think my brain is stuck on Do Not Pass Go. So far, I’ve yet to find a question I know with certainty, so I’ll just talk through my logic on each. Probably won’t finish this test in the hour, but I’ll do the best I can.”

At the end of her test time, five questions remained. She glanced at them quickly and laughed. “That’s so unfair. I know the answers to the last two—B and D. Doesn’t matter. I should fail this test anyway because I clearly have much I need to learn here.”

When she came out, she closed her eyes and chose Buffy the Vampire Slayer game board. The guys all groaned.

“Hey, you bought it, not me.”

Two hours later, she returned to test taking. “Let’s hope Buffy the Vampire didn’t slay me brains.” She opened up the test and groaned. “I’m talking through this because otherwise, I’d just be guessing.”

This time, ten questions were left. She glanced through them. “Hey, at least, I didn’t know the answers right off on these. Hope I’m not putting you into a coma.”

When she escaped to the living room for her fun-time, Dan had returned from his doctor’s appointment and a late lunch was prepared.

“Who cooked lunch?” she asked as she sat down at the kitchen counter bar.

Dan’s brow furrowed from his seat on her left. “I did.”

She leaned in and bumped his shoulder. “Thank you. My stomach was grumbling so loud during the last part of my test that I feared I might get slammed for cheating if they mistook all that noise as someone off camera giving me answers.”

Malcolm sat down on her right. “Sorry that we failed to feed you.”

“That’s not your job. Besides, you were fulfilling my requirement to have fun.” She then explained to Dan her order to have two hours of fun between each test.

“How are they going?”

She shook her head. “I think this fun causes brain damage. It takes me forever to work out the right answer. The clock is kicking my ass. I didn’t get to ten of the questions in the last test.”

After lunch, she let Dan choose their game. “Has to be something fast. Poor Buffy got left in some hell hole because I had to take another test.”

He stared at her and then the guys. “That show’s been off forever.”

Ben grimaced. “The store down the hill sells antique games. Even the monopoly set is the old one where you need a banker.”

Dan chose Battleship and she hit his battleship on her first guess. In less than three minutes, the game was over. Dan gave her a hug. “With guessing like that, I’m sure you’re doing fine on your tests.”

When she returned to her final test of the day, she told the poor watcher of her success at hitting the battleship on the first guess. “So I’ll keep explaining my choices, so you don’t just think I’m lucky, which evidently I am.” She then began her test.

When she finished, fifteen were left unanswered. “I have to say, these are thought-provoking tests. When I start hiring rangers, I’m going to recruit from your undergrads, because they are incredibly well-educated. Wisconsin’s program is a joke compared to this.”

She left her room and all the guys were back. “Oh thank God! I feared you’d close down the bar, telling embarrassing stories about each other.”

“Malcolm warned us the drivers had to be stone sober and we had to return by five.”

“Yeah, and Sheriff Cobbs just happened to be sitting in the back corner of the bar,” complained another.

Tess patted a few backs. “Cheer up. We have boxes of antique fun here.”

The rest of the night was spent playing games, and Tess was designated as the roaming prize. Whenever someone would win at their game, she would leave whatever game she was playing and randomly take the place of the voted out player at the winner’s game. Thus, she managed to play for a short time all the games that had been purchased.

The one she enjoyed most was a silly floor game called Twister. When she and Dan got tangled to the point they collapsed, with her on top of his hard muscular body, she felt a certain part of him harden and it gave her a moment of thrill. He wanted her…and had there not been sixteen other guys in the room laughing at them, she was pretty certain they would have acted on the moment. As it was, Dan rolled her to one side and excused himself, escaping to his room.

Tess wished she had the nerve to follow him, but she didn’t want to mess their friendship up. She seemed to be much better at being friends. Love was too hard and too painful.