Redwood Bend (36 page)

“I feel bad, bailing out on everyone like this,” Dylan said.

“Yeah? Well don’t. They wouldn’t feel bad if they bailed on you.”

“There’s just one thing you have to know before we break bread,” Dylan said. “I was never really into the idea of a movie. I wanted to be—I thought I could be. My heart’s in another place. But I’ve operated my company successfully for fifteen years and if you book a charter, I won’t be breaking it to you over pizza that I’ve changed my mind. It’s what I do. And we’re real proud of our little company.”

Jay slapped him on the back. “I get it, Dylan. I get it. Let’s see if we can scare up a little business over pepperoni and sausage.”

Nineteen

W
hen Dylan returned to Virgin River, there was no stopping off at Jack’s on his way to Katie’s cabin, he was so anxious to get back to her. It was after four o’clock and it appeared all the kids had been picked up from the summer program—the school looked quiet. He hoped there was food in the cabin, but if not he would take them all out to dinner. When he drove into the clearing, he saw the monkeys on the jungle gym and Katie’s horn beside her empty chair.

He parked and pulled his duffel out of the truck and the boys came running to him, shouting his name.

He never thought he wanted this—coming home like this. He dropped the duffel and grabbed the boys, tossing them up in the air one at a time, laughing at their excitement.

“Are we going tomorrow?” Andy asked.

“To ride the horses?” Mitch asked.

“Not tomorrow. The next day,” Dylan said. He was just about to say, “Where’s your mom,” when she stepped out onto the porch. “Go play while I take my duffel in the house and get a soda.”

“Then wanna play catch?” Andy asked.

“I have to talk to your mom for a while,” he said, ruffling the boy’s hair. For identical twins, Dylan marveled at the differences in their personalities—Andy was so silly and rambunctious and Mitch was the serious one. “I need a little time with her.”

Katie didn’t greet him with the same enthusiasm as her sons. She smiled for him, but seemed to wait tensely. Fortunately she didn’t stretch it out. “So?” she asked, looking up at him. “The movie?”

“No movie,” he said, giving her a kiss on the forehead. “Something way better. Some potential charter business for the company. I wish I’d thought of it a year or two ago, but I was so intent on avoiding Hollywood and its high maintenance stars, I didn’t take a closer look.”

“Huh?” she said.

“I turned down the movie—I don’t want to do a movie. But production companies fly their stars and executives around in private jets—sometimes little planes, sometimes bigger ones. I talked to the producer, who I consider a friend, about letting us bid on some of his charter needs and he gave me a couple dozen names of people to contact for more work on his recommendation.” He grinned. “Just the thing we need.”

“Isn’t that a little far from Montana?” she said, confused.

“Not a problem,” Dylan said. “It obviously wouldn’t be cost-effective to fly from Montana to Southern California every time a charter is booked, but if there’s enough work there, I’ll just put a plane and crew there. Lang and I don’t fly every trip. We have a lot of other things to do.”

She let out her breath slowly. “Is that something you do? Put planes in other places?”

“Only when there’s lots of business in one location. We kept a plane and crew in Seattle for a software manufacturer several years ago, till they stopped spending so much money on charters. We can park a plane in L.A., send a pilot down on a commercial flight and put him in a hotel. This could be—” He looked at her closely. “Have you been worrying about this?”

“I don’t understand very much about how your company works,” she said. “For that matter, I’m not sure how you work. I thought you’d be coming back to tell me you had to spend six months in L.A. and I’d be doing it again, having a baby alone. And I know you want me to go to Montana to check out where you live for a reason—probably so we could live there. But I’m not sure I’m ready for that kind of change. It bothers me. I don’t want to be six or seven months pregnant, the mother of twins, in a blizzard when I’ve never seen a blizzard and—”

“No,” he said gently. “No, baby, no. When I promised to take care of you, I never considered sticking you out in the middle of nowhere, alone, while I went off to do something else. Katie, I want you to see my home so you understand—I’m not some movie star. I’m a pretty ordinary guy. Let’s not plan any further than that right now. Let’s just plan what you’ll pack. The tickets are round-trip.”

She considered this for a moment. “No movie?” she said again.

He shook his head. “Does that disappoint you?”

“Having you all to myself? I think I can live with that.”

“That’s the answer I’m looking for. You can have all of me in a variety of different places. If that big lug, Conner, makes you feel safe, I guess we’ll probably live down the street from him, but we’re going to have to work on his manners....”

She let a little huff of laughter escape.

“I can’t believe he made me buy him beers,” Dylan said. “He’s such an oaf.” He looked around “Do you have groceries or do we go out to dinner?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been too busy worrying about you being a movie star to pay attention. Go forage in the kitchen and let me know. You’re the cook, anyway.”

“Okay,” he said. “Go play. Let me see what I find in here.”

She went out the door and he dropped his duffel beside her bedroom door and went to the refrigerator. He opened the door and did a quick inventory. They had milk, eggs, bread and sandwich stuff; there was some leftover taco meat and hot dogs. In the background he heard Katie ask her son what he was up to. Then she asked, “Where’s your brother?”

Dylan listened; he heard the mumbling of a small boy.

“No, he didn’t,” she said. “He wouldn’t do that. How long ago did he say that?”

Dylan lifted his head.

“Which way?” she said in a panic. “Which way did he go?” And then he heard her yell, “Andy! Andy, come back here!”

He closed the refrigerator door and went to the porch. He saw Katie kneeling in front of Mitch. She stood up and yelled for the other twin again.

“What’s going on?” Dylan asked.

Katie threw a panicked look over her shoulder. “Andy isn’t in the yard. He told Mitch he wanted to see where the bear lived.” Then she turned toward the back of the house. “Andy Malone! Come here at once!”

“I’m sure he’s close.” Dylan jumped down from the porch and met her in the yard. “You go that way, I’ll go this way,” he said. “Don’t go into the woods. Stay in the clearing.”

They separated, Dylan going down the drive toward the road, Katie going toward the back of the cabin, circling it. He couldn’t imagine anyone, even an adventurous five-year-old, tromping through the thick brush and trees if there was a road handy to walk on. Dylan and Katie were both shouting his name in every direction. Mitch quickly joined in, calling out to his brother. In just minutes, they met back at the front of the cabin.

“He can’t have gone far,” Dylan said. “We weren’t in the house five minutes. How far can a five-year-old go in five minutes? Get Mitch inside and keep calling for Andy in the front. I’m going to look around the back, behind the blackberry bushes, along that trail where you’ve seen the bear and her cubs heading home.”

Katie had a wild look in her eyes. “Dylan, I’ve told him a hundred times…”

“Just stay cool,” Dylan said. “Just look for a sign of a direction he might’ve taken and call out for him. Don’t panic.”

He went around the tree line surrounding the cabin. There were a couple of trails, mostly overgrown, into the forest. He knew that to go in one direction was down the hill toward the orchard. Another direction was up into steeper terrain. Another was toward the road and town. He walked a bit in the more overgrown path, deeper into the bushes and trees because it was tamped down here and there. He heard Katie calling and he called from time to time, but this all felt so inadequate. He added a rather paternal warning to his call. “Andy, if you’re hiding, you have two seconds to come out or you’re in big trouble!”

Not so much as a rustle.

If he was nearby, Andy should have heard them call his name—but he hadn’t responded. He hadn’t called back. Had it now been ten or fifteen or twenty minutes? How far and which way? He looked at his watch. It was just barely after five—they had at least three hours of sun, but it would start to get dark too soon, especially in the woods. He went back to the cabin. He broke through the heavy brush into the clearing.

Mitch was standing on the porch by the cabin’s front door, looking scared and upset, as if he bore the weight of this disappearance, as if it was all his fault. Dylan wondered if he was feeling the pain of separation, as well.

Dylan called out to Mitch. “Mitch, do me a favor—empty your school backpack for me. I need to borrow it. Hurry up.” And then he went to his Harley, parked at the tree line beside his leased truck. He opened up one of the side pockets and began to pull things out just as Katie came back into the clearing. “Katie, I want you to call Conner and Jack Sheridan and tell them Andy is lost. Give them the details. Tell them we need to search in the woods around the cabin before dark.” His saddlebags were stuffed with emergency and camping gear; he pulled out a large flashlight and Katie gasped. “Just make the calls—it’s dark back in the trees.”

He found a silver emergency thermal blanket and the thing he was looking for—a large, sheathed, serrated hunting knife. He pulled it out and affixed it to his belt. It wouldn’t do him much good against an animal, but it was handy when it came to tangles of vines or illegal traps, if there was such back in this forest.

Mitch brought him the backpack. The kid’s eyes were scared as he handed it to Dylan, so he crouched and ruffled the kid’s hair. “Don’t worry,” he said softly. “We’ll find him. Now can you go get me a couple of bottles of water from the cabin? Please?”

He nodded and ran to the task. Dylan loaded up the little backpack. It was much too small to wear on his back, but he could sling it over one shoulder. It wasn’t a good idea to go more than a hundred yards into unknown territory or strange forest without a little emergency gear handy—you never know when you might have trouble finding your way back.

“Water?” Katie said, having overheard him ask Mitch. “You’re taking water? Oh, my God!”

“Katie! Easy! It’s in case I get lost. I don’t know this area any better than you do! Did you call Conner?”

“He’s coming. Jack said he’ll round up some people. Oh, God. That knife!”

“It’s for stubborn branches or tight spaces. Now you can call to Andy from the clearing close to the house but I want you to keep Mitch close—we don’t want two of them lost.” He looked at his watch. Had it been almost a half hour? Not good. “I want you to tell whoever comes first that I’m going that way—the direction we saw the bear and her cubs go. There’s a path, a little overgrown, and it’s not near a road. Tell them Andy’s been missing from the front yard since just before five.” He walked toward the porch and Mitch bolted out the door with two bottles of water. He smiled and gave Mitch a pat on the shoulder. “Thanks, buddy. Stay with your mom, please.”

“Can you find him?” Mitch asked.

“Sure we’ll find him.” Then he turned to Katie. He gave her a quick kiss. “Keep your head. Don’t panic. Just stay close to the house with Mitch. If Andy turns up before I do, try blasting the air horn as a signal.”

“Please, Dylan,” she said softly. “Please.”

“If I’m any judge of this place, pretty soon there will be a bunch of guys helping. You can keep calling to him—maybe he’ll get turned back in the right direction and hear you. Listen carefully in case he calls back, but if he does, don’t go running into the woods. Sounds bounce around in the forest and you might go in the wrong direction. We don’t need you and Mitch lost. If you hear him, just call back so he has something to walk toward. Got that?”

“Got it.”

He turned and loped into the forest, a five-year-old’s backpack slung over one shoulder. It had been a long time since he’d ventured into uncharted territory like this and about ten years since they’d had someone lost in the mountains around Payne. Never a little kid.