Finding Mr. Right Now (25 page)

Now she sat on the porch at the restaurant, watching the sky turn pink then purple then blue-black.

This job sucks.
The thought drifted through her mind suddenly, her stomach knotting as it did. She took a quick breath, willing her muscles to unclench.
So what? You’re working when a lot of other people aren’t. You’re in the business even if it isn’t the part of the business where you wanted to work.

Her mantra.
Suck it up!

Her muscles stayed tight. Apparently she was a lot better at pep talks when she gave them to other people than she was when she gave them to herself.

Think about it later.
Her second mantra. Only
later
never seemed to come.

At least the manager of the mountaintop restaurant had given them a great table. Situated on the outer deck, it had a view of the gradually darkening sky out across the valley. Ronnie had insisted on being seated with her back to the view so that she wasn’t constantly reminded of how high up she was, but once that detail had been taken care of, everything seemed to be working fine.

Of course now that she’d delivered Ronnie to her dinner date, Monica had nothing left to do. She considered asking Glenn if she could go back down, but she knew better. Now that she was up here, she had to stay. If she called Glenn’s attention to her presence, he’d probably have her scrubbing pots in the kitchen.

Besides, who knew? Ronnie might need someone to ride down with her too.

The smell of food from the restaurant reminded her that she’d had nothing to eat since breakfast. She thought about asking the manager if she could get a sandwich, but she knew better than that too. After all the trouble she’d put him through, she seriously doubted he’d be interested in giving her anything to munch on.

She wandered down the steps to the open area at the top of the ski run, covered now with grass and wildflowers. Groves of pine trees lined either side of the slope and stretched along the top, separating one run from the next. Above her, the peak of Elkhorn Mountain was silhouetted against the darkening sky. She walked a little farther away from the restaurant, gazing out at the blue-black distance. Behind her, the sunset still turned the western sky shades of pink and gold.

Perfect. The most romantic spot in town. If only she wasn’t up there in the company of a cranky director and a harassed film crew, she’d be one happy lady.

At least she didn’t have to watch Ronnie up here on a date with Paul. Tonight was her night with Billy Joe.

She strolled on beyond the first line of trees, listening to the breeze whisper through the aspens. If she didn’t hang around the restaurant, they couldn’t expect her to be a gofer for the rest of the evening, could they?

Of course they could. “Monica,” Sid called from behind her, “Glenn needs you to work with Ronnie.”

Sighing, she plunged her hands into the pockets of her sweater and headed back. Maybe Ronnie needed someone to cut up her meat. It was a sure bet Billy Joe wouldn’t do it.

Paul hadn’t really expected Monica to call. At least not this early in the evening. Even so, he’d hoped she might be able to get away, if only for a quick dinner before she had to go back and be Ronnie’s nursemaid.

He sat in the living room of the Bachelor House, such as it was. Since there were only three of them now, the general camaraderie had definitely diminished. Brendan strolled into the room, sandwich in hand. “Hey,” he said, “you want to go for a beer?”

Actually, now that Paul thought about it, a beer would be a good way to pass the time. “Sure. Down at the Blarney Stone?”

Brendan shook his head. “I want to head over to that tavern next to the gondola station. That way we can see ’em when they come back down.”

“See who?”

Brendan gave him a long-suffering look. “See Ronnie and Billy Joe and the rest of them. They went up to that restaurant on top of the mountain for the date tonight.”

“Oh.” Which, of course, meant Monica was probably up there too. Maybe he could cut her out of the herd when everybody got back down. Plus the gondola station was within walking distance. “Okay, let’s head on over.”

The tavern near the gondola station was only half full, probably because it was on the mountain rather than back in town. Paul ordered a beer and sat down to wait. Brendan joined him.

“How did you know where they were going for the date tonight?”

Brendan shrugged. “Just asked Faisal. He doesn’t mind telling you stuff. Don’t know why they couldn’t tell us anyway. Not like we could go along or anything.”

“I guess they’re still trying to keep everything under wraps.” Although given the photos the tabloids probably had of Ronnie’s fall at the rodeo, keeping things under wraps was going to get a lot harder very soon.

“Hope that SOB Billy Joe doesn’t try anything. I don’t trust him any farther than I could throw him. Be just like him to get Ronnie alone, away from the cameras.” Brendan stared sullenly at his beer.

“That’s not likely.” Or possible, given that cameras followed Ronnie virtually every moment of her life.

“Wouldn’t put it past him to try something anyway. Slimy bastard,” Brendan muttered.

Billy Joe’s sleaze factor was something Paul happened to agree on. After a week in the Bachelor House, to say nothing of a couple of days in Salt Box, he’d already concluded that Billy Joe had the makings of a first-rate man-whore if he continued the way he was going. Which he seemed very likely to do.

Outside he heard the shush of the gondola cable moving. “They’re coming down.”

Brendan turned to stare up at the slope. The gondola car floated along with a dull whirring sound, entering the station across the square. He pushed himself to his feet. “Let’s go.”

Paul frowned. “They may not want us there.”

“Screw that.” Brendan’s eyes narrowed ominously. “I’m going over there.”

Paul wondered just how many beers Brendan had had before they’d hiked over to the square. He hadn’t bothered to check before they’d arrived.

The gondola car drifted to a halt inside the station, and Paul watched members of the crew emerge. No Monica, but then there probably hadn’t been room for her, given the amount of equipment they were unloading.

Three cars later, he was beginning to feel the first stirring of concern. Ronnie stood at the side talking to Billy Joe in front of a bank of lights and Faisal’s camera. Brendan hopped impatiently from one foot to the other just out of range.

“When are they gonna finish?” he muttered.

“A few minutes.” Paul did a quick inventory of the crew. Sid was standing at the side. He headed in his direction.

Sid glanced up at him, palming a Tums as he did. “You’re not supposed to be around here.” He sounded more perfunctory than annoyed.

“Where’s Monica? Wasn’t she up there with you?”

“Monica?” Sid frowned. “Yeah, she was here. Wasn’t she in one of the other cars?”

Paul shook his head. “She hasn’t come down yet.”

Sid was frowning more definitely now. “She’ll have to come down soon. They’re getting ready to shut down the gondola for the night. We were the last ones out.”

“Shit,” Paul muttered. He headed toward the booth where the gondola operator worked.

The man regarded him warily. “Yeah?” he said into his microphone.

“There’s one person unaccounted for in the television company,” Paul said. “She may have gotten stranded at the top.”

The gondola operator shrugged. “There’ll be another run in a half hour or so to get the restaurant staff down. She can come then.”

“She may not know that,” Paul said with a patience he didn’t really feel. “I need a ride up to look for her.”

The operator frowned. “We don’t let people back up there after eight.”

Paul gritted his teeth. “This is an emergency.” If he got up to the top and found Monica having a beer with the restaurant crew, he’d be truly pissed.

After a moment, the operator shrugged again. “Okay. But if you get left up there overnight, it’s your problem.”

“Right. I’ll remember that.” He stepped back toward the loading area as the gondola motor whirred to life again.

“What’s going on?” Ronnie looked away from Billy Joe, her forehead wrinkling.

“Monica didn’t come down. I’m going up to look for her.” Paul narrowed his eyes at Faisal, willing him not to swing the camera his way.

“Oh my God,” Ronnie said, slapping a hand against her cheek. “Maybe she’s lost. Maybe she’s off in the forest somewhere.”

“She’s probably fine,” Billy Joe muttered. “We’re not quite through here, sweetheart.”

“But we can’t let her wander around up there at night.” Ronnie’s voice was plaintive. “We’ve got to go back and find her.”

“It’s okay, Ronnie,” Paul said quickly. “I’ll go up and see what happened.”

“But we could help you.” Ronnie blinked several times. Something about the way she was standing, one hand resting for balance on Billy Joe’s shoulder, told him she’d had a lot more champagne than was probably good for her.

“Let him handle it, sweetheart,” Billy Joe said in his best alpha male voice. “You don’t want to go back up there in the dark.” He put his arm around her, pulling her back, so that she staggered slightly. “Not unless you take me too.”

Faisal swung his camera around to catch the moment. Paul had a feeling Brendan was gnashing his teeth. He stepped quickly into the gondola car and let the attendant close the door before anybody else could decide to help him out.

The distant lights of Salt Box glimmered at the other end of the valley as the car floated upward. The forested slopes spread below him, dark and steep. Pines rose like spikes along the edges of the ski slopes.

On reflection, he sort of hoped Monica
was
having a beer with the kitchen crew. It was preferable to some of the alternatives that were beginning to occur to him.

The car slid into the mountaintop station and he stepped out, walking down the steps to the restaurant. Outside, the exterior lamps reflected on the slopes, casting a circle of light perhaps ten feet from the entrance.

He stepped inside, to the surprise of the hostess. “We’re closed for the evening, sir,” she mumbled. “Sorry.”

He nodded. “I know. We’re missing a member of the television crew. I wondered if you’d seen her—about five seven or so, light brownish hair, probably carrying a clipboard.”

The hostess shrugged. “They all went down on the gondola a half hour or so ago. She wouldn’t still be here.”

“Apparently, she is.”

The hostess frowned, moving from behind her desk. “I’ll tell Mr. Brooks, the manager. We shut everything down when we leave for the night.”

As she walked toward the rear of the restaurant, Paul turned back toward the slopes again.

Moonlight cast a muted glow across the flat area at the top where the skiers would gather before heading down for a run. He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Monica,” he called.

The only thing he heard in reply was the rattle of the wind in the aspen leaves.

Monica told herself she wasn’t frightened. She wasn’t. Not exactly anyway. She could see the lights of the restaurant, she just couldn’t manage to find her way back to them. A walk in the moonlight had seemed like a great idea at the time. Now, not so much.

She’d spent the evening running errands to keep Glenn happy and bringing tidbits to keep Ronnie happy. Billy Joe had also been keeping Ronnie happy, given the amount of champagne they’d consumed. At least the restaurant manager had been ecstatic at the bill they were running up, although Glenn had looked like he was developing a new ulcer.

When the crew had started to pack up the equipment, she’d decided to walk along the top of the slopes again for a little while. She knew how long it took to get everything stowed away and ready to go. She figured she’d have lots of time to walk around a bit and see the slopes by moonlight.

She wasn’t sure when or how she’d managed to take a wrong turn, but now she was deep in a pine forest, trying to find a way out without breaking her neck or taking a tumble down the ski slope. The lights of the restaurant glowed on the horizon. She couldn’t be more than a few hundred feet away, but it felt like miles.

She put a hand on a nearby tree trunk, pausing to catch her breath. Sooner or later, they’d close down the gondola. She knew that. But they had to get the restaurant crew down first, so she still had time. Her heart thudded in her chest, reminding her that she was at a higher altitude than she’d been before.

Of course, her rapidly increasing pulse rate wasn’t entirely the result of the altitude.
You’ll be okay. Even if they close down the gondola, you can just wait until morning.
That was undoubtedly true. On the other hand, the thought of spending the night on the mountaintop didn’t exactly fill her with confidence. Just because she hadn’t seen any bears yet didn’t mean they weren’t up here.

She took another step toward where she thought the ski slope started, then paused, trying to get her bearings. She could have sworn she heard somebody calling her name. “Hello?” she called back.