Seek and Cherish: A small-town rockstar rom-com (Sanctuary Book 5)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Honey

“We’ll come to the outlook just around the next bend here.” I push as much confidence as I can into my voice as I tromp up the deer trail, scanning constantly for bears or mountain lions or whatever else might be lurking out there.

I might not be as terrified as I once was, but the forest is still freaking scary.

“You’ve said that five times now,” Dani says behind me. “Just admit you have no idea where we are.”

“It’s almost four.” Clover stops on the trail, hands on her hips. “We should head back.”

Dani and Clover are the only sisters I could convince to come with me to find the treasure. Daisy and Goldy both claimed they’re no good in the woods, but will help with identifying and pricing whatever coins and jewelry we might find. I’m no good in the woods, but I’m here. I suspect they think this is a waste of time and hopeless.

Dani and Clover probably think this is a waste of time, but they love a hike through the woods. It still took a full week for them to clear their schedules and make it out here with me.

Stepping to the side of the trail, I shrug out of my pack and bend to pull out the map. Jaxon made careful notations every time we went out so that we’d never hit the same place twice, but with everything that happened the day we found the skull rock, he didn’t note our last location.

I spent three days crying and missing him like a co-dependent idiot, and, by the time I thought to note the location, I didn’t remember exactly where we’d been.

And I really didn’t want to admit that to my sisters.

I spread the map out over the leaf-covered ground and point to the one thing I’m certain of - we want to be on the Western side of the mountain. “Jaxon and I were in this area when we looked down into a glen and saw a boulder that looked like a skull.”

“Skull rock?” Dani asks.

“You’ve seen it?”

She frowns. “Grant showed it to me. We didn’t go down to it, but we could see it from an overlook.” She scans the map and points to a section several inches south of where we are. “It’s down here. If that’s where you want to take us, we’re a few miles off course.”

I slump. “I’m sorry.” Tears burn my eyes. I thought I’d cried them all out. “I wanted it to be a surprise, and I thought I knew where to go, but I’m the worst at directions.”

“It’s okay.” Clover rubs my back. “Now we know, and we can try again another day.”

Another day that’ll probably never happen.

Another day for Dell to harass me for his money. He’s been texting me non-stop, though I have yet to see him in person again. “Can’t we try? It doesn’t get dark until after nine.”

Dani and Clover glance at each other and communicate silently.

“Let’s try,” Clover says. “I’m starting a new yoga class tomorrow and I don’t know when I’ll have another free day.”

Dani looks less certain. “Even if we get there, it’s a few hours back to the house. We have to nail the directions and move fast or we won’t get down the mountain before dark.”

Nervous energy thrums through me like this is a life or death situation. Maybe I’m being overly optimistic, but finding this treasure feels like the solution to all my problems. If I can just do this one thing, I’ll be okay. My heart won’t hurt anymore over Jaxon and my sisters will finally see me as more than the baby of the family.

We move as quickly as we can, stopping frequently to check the map. The setting sun lets us know we’re heading in the right direction, but time feels like it’s flying and I’m sick with the certainty we aren’t going to make it.

It’s after six when Dani stops and gestures for the map.

I hand it over, hating the way she won’t meet my eyes. “We’re still too far away, aren’t we?”

Dani looks over the map, shaking her head. “Maybe. The bigger problem is there’s a waterfall between us and where we want to be. To get around it, we either have to go up or down, but either way is going to take too long.”

“You didn’t realize this sooner?” Clover’s sweaty and her face is red. She hasn’t said anything, but she’s moving slower and slower, and I can tell she’s running out of energy.

I’m beyond out of energy, running only on desperation and heartache.

“I don’t come this way often,” Dani says gently, even though her brow is scrunched and the map is trembling in her tired hands. “I didn’t think of it until I recognized this area.”

“We should go back,” I say. “Everyone’s tired and Grant always says overtired and disoriented is the worst place to be when you’re in the woods.”

“I’m sorry, Honey,” Dani says. “I know how much this meant to you.”

“We’ll still make it happen.” Clover pats my back, relief clear in her voice.

“What’s the easiest way to get back?” Now we’ve decided, I just want to get home, where I can be alone and maybe learn to accept that my dream of my sisters and I forming some kind of tight bond is never going to happen.

I lean over the map with Dani and, together, we figure out the best way back to the trailhead. After a snack and a drink, we start out. We have to go uphill before we can go back downhill and my quads are aching before we’ve made it a quarter of a mile.

I’m grateful for all the days I spent hiking. I never could have lasted this long without them, but this is longer than anything I’ve done before and I’m really feeling it.

The day has taken on the golden glow of evening and the crickets and frogs have started their mating songs in earnest. Everyone’s looking for someone to share a bed with for the night.

I got far too used to sharing a bed with Jaxon, and I’ve had trouble sleeping since he left. Since I pushed him away, to be exact. If he were still here, I’d never have gotten lost and my sisters and I could be heading home with the treasure right now.

But he’s not here. He hasn’t called or texted and his cottage is empty, Barley and Begonia gone. I hope he didn’t sell them to someone else, but I can’t imagine them in LA. Do people even have yards there?

“Even though we didn’t find the treasure,” Dani says as we hike single-file down the narrow trail. “I’m glad we got to spend the day together. This was fun.”

“Me, too.” Clover hops over a big rock like she’s found a renewed energy. “I’ve been stuck inside at the gym so much lately. It’s nice to finally get outside.”

If I weren’t so tired and disappointed, I probably could have managed the smile and cheerful agreeableness they expect from me. “I’ve been asking you to hike with me or play music with me or have a movie night for months. You’re only here now because you couldn’t come up with a believable excuse.”

Clover looks back at me, eyes wide and mouth gaping. “Honey. That’s not—”

As though my anger and my sharp words propelled her, she catapults forward, probably tripping on an exposed tree root, and hits the ground so hard she slides down the mountain, only stopping because Dani catches her.

This is my fault. I feel as guilty as if I’d reached out and pushed her.

I kneel by her side and rub her back as she moans. “I’m so sorry, Clover. Are you okay?”

“My ankle.” She lifts her face, a dead leaf stuck to her cheek and more in her hair. “Pretty sure it’s sprained at the very least.”

Dani and I help her upright.

“Okay.” She concentrates, face scrunched tight. “I’m okay. Let me go.”

We step away, and she puts weight on both feet. Almost immediately, she crumples. “Not okay. I’m not okay.”

We grab her before she sinks to the ground, holding her between us.

“We need to find somewhere to make camp for the night,” Dani says. “We’re never going to make it off the mountain before the sun sets, and I don’t know these woods well enough to navigate in the dark, even with a flashlight.” She looks over at me hopefully.

Obviously, she’s forgotten I was the one who got us lost in the first place. “We can’t be out here in the dark.” Panic at the very thought rises in me like a hot, tight bubble. “We have to at least try to make it back to a trail. If we can do that, we can make it home.”

“What about Grant?” Clover’s voice is strained. “Maybe he can come out here and rescue us?”

Dani shakes her head. “I haven’t had cell service since we got about a mile into the woods.”

“I haven’t either.” It’s hard to get the words out around the dread. “But if we keep going, we’ve got to come back into cell phone range, right?”

Dani gives me a pitying look, and I hate that she knows why I’m scared.

I could kill Dell for telling my sisters that embarrassing story. A story in which I look like an idiot who got lost, instead of an idiot who trusted the wrong person.

“We’ve got about an hour until the sun sets completely and it’s full dark.” Dani has every right to be frustrated and annoyed with me, but she speaks calmly. “We can spend that time trying to find cell service, but it’s safest for Grant and search and rescue to wait until morning to come get us anyway. The smart choice is to find a safe place to set up camp for the night, knowing that we have enough water and it’s going to be warm. Personally, I’d rather have a decent place to sleep than have to stop wherever we are when it gets too dark to navigate.”

Damn it. She’s making too much sense. My lizard brain is screaming that logic doesn’t matter. We need to get out of the woods, even if we have to race through the dark, but my lizard brain is an idiot.

“Okay.” I swallow hard. “Any ideas where we should go?”

Dani nods. “We’re not too far from the waterfall. Grant showed me a small cave near it the last time we came up here. That would be the perfect place to set up camp for the night.”

“Aren’t there park trails to the waterfall?” Clover asks. “Seems like it would be a popular hiking destination.”

“There’s a trail to the bigger falls on the Eastern side of the park,” Dani says. “This waterfall is less dramatic, and it’s in a deeper crevice in the mountain. It’s harder to get to and more dangerous for dummies who think it’s fun to see how far they can get climbing over moss-covered rocks.”

“Okay.” We’re going to be okay. If I keep telling myself that enough, maybe I’ll believe it. “Lead the way, Dani.”

***

Clover is getting heavier by the second and it’s getting too dark to see where I put my feet in the dead leaves. “Are mountain lions active at night?”

“No idea,” Dani says. “We’re making so much noise they’ll hear us coming and avoid us. Don’t worry.”

Another tree branch smacks me in the face. I flinch, but keep going. Walking through the woods three abreast in the near dark means there’s no way to avoid brambles or tree branches.

“There it is.” Dani points ahead to what looks like a black hole.

“Is it big enough for all of us?” Clover grips my shoulder tight, her nails digging in.

“The entrance is small, but it opens up into a pretty big space.”

A space that’s probably full of forest predators. “I’ll keep watch outside the cave,” I say. “I won’t have any trouble staying awake.”

“There’s nothing to watch out for.” Dani sounds so confident, I almost believe her. “And it’s better to have some cover against the night chill, especially since we’re in shorts and tank tops.”

“I thought you said it would be warm tonight.”

“Warm enough we don’t have to worry about frostbite or hypothermia, but it could get down to the mid fifties. Plus, you don’t want to wake up covered in dew.”

I close my eyes, just for a moment, and wish with everything I am to be back home, snuggled under three of my fluffiest blankets. When I open them again, I’m still in the woods and it’s gotten even darker.

“Are you shaking?” Clover squeezes me with the arm she’s got around my shoulders.

“I’m fine,” I say automatically.

“You can admit you’re scared. We won’t make fun of you.”

“I didn’t get lost.” I need them to know. “Dell left me. He was punishing me for something I didn’t do.”

“I thought he was nice,” Dani says. “But he’s an asshole. Why are you still hanging out with him?”

Ugh. I never should have brought him up. “I’m not. He wanted to meet up to talk. I only agreed because… I thought he might have changed?” Fear is making it hard for me to think straight, and my voice is lacking the confidence I need to convince them.

Something tugs on my foot, and I jerk it free with a gasp and a small squeak of a scream.

“It’s okay.” Clover sounds like she means it, even though I heard her hiss of pain when I jostled her. “We’re almost at the cave.”

“A small, enclosed, completely dark space that bears would love to live in.” Why can’t I shut up? “Sounds great.”

“I’ll go in first and make sure it’s not inhabited,” Dani says.

We reach the cave, which is really just a hole in the mountain side. Dani slips out from under Clover’s arm and guides her to lean against the rocky outcropping.

“Are we sure this won’t cave in with us inside?” I’m not letting go of Clover, even if she can hold herself up against the rock.

Something crackles near us and my heart pounds so hard it hurts.

“Honey,” Clover says in a gaspy voice. “I can’t breathe.”

She rocks her hip to push me away and I realize I’m hugging her tight and pressing her against the rock. “Sorry. I’m so sorry, Clover.” Tears burn my eyes. We’re all going to die out here, and it’s my fault. “I never should have made us come out here. I know you didn’t want to do it.”

“You don’t need to be sorry. I’m glad we’re getting to spend so much time together. I just don’t understand why finding this treasure is so important to you. It’s not like we need the money, and we have plenty of years ahead to look for it.”

“All clear.” Dani pokes her head out of the cave and gestures to us. “Come on in.”

I help Clover to the ground and she crawls inside. I’m all alone in the dark forest, but I really don’t want to go into that cave. There’s only one exit and if anything decides to come inside with us, there’ll be nowhere to run.

“Come on, Honey,” Clover calls from inside. “It’s actually really cozy in here.”

I close my eyes, but when I open them, I’m still outside in the woods and facing down a cave. I suck in a breath and hold it as I crawl inside.

Clover and Dani have turned on their phone flashlights and leaned them against the cave walls to light the space. It’s just large enough to fit all three of us lying down and tall enough that we can sit upright. There’s a dark corner in the far back of the cave that anything could come out of, so I take a seat right next to the entrance.

I turn on my phone’s flashlight and lean it against the wall next to me. “It’s colder in here than it is outside.”

“Not by much.” Dani looks as comfortable in this cave as she does at home on her couch. She’s clearly not worried about being eaten alive. It doesn’t make me feel better. “And the great thing is that the temperature will stay constant. As it gets colder outside tonight, the temperature in here won’t drop. Not exactly toasty warm, but better than out there.”

“Uh-huh.” I point at the dark corner. “What’s that?”

“It’s a small tunnel that might lead to nothing or might lead to another cave. None of us will fit in it to find out.”

I wrap my arms around myself to stop them shaking. “So anything could come out of there?”

“Nothing’s coming out of there.”

“You don’t know that. Ancient, unknown monsters can live in caves and we’d never know until it showed up to eat us.” I feel sick. “We’re going to die and this is all my fault.”

“We’re going to be fine.” Dani speaks with absolute confidence. “Though we could have avoided this, and Clover wouldn’t have to spend the night in pain if you’d just told us from the start you didn’t know where to go.”

Leaves crunch outside, and I scoot away from the entrance of the cave. But Dani’s words have reminded me of something. I open my pack and pull out my portable first aid kit. Inside, I find a packet of pain relievers and hand them over to Clover.

She takes them gratefully and swallows them with a swig from her water bottle.

“Honey thought she knew where to go.” Clover’s legs are stretched out in front of her, her pack on the ground. She should keep her stuff together, just in case we have to run. She smiles at me. “You did the best you could. But you still haven’t answered my question. Why is this treasure hunt so important to you?”

I cross my legs under me and stare out the cave entrance, watching for trouble. “It’s our legacy. Don’t you want to learn more about our grandfather?”

“All I need to know is he was a con-artist like Dad,” Dani says. “He was trash and I want nothing to do with the stuff he stole.”

I’ve heard Dani say things like this before, but I’m so on edge right now, my emotions so close to the surface, and it feels like she’s attacking me. “You don’t want to be here. I’ve been trying so hard to get you to spend time with me, for all of us to spend time together and get to know each other, but it’s never been what you wanted. If you could leave the house tomorrow, you would. You’d walk away, and I’d probably never hear from you again.”

“That’s not true.” Dani’s brows get that little divot between them that always shows up when she’s confused or frustrated. “We have the sanctuary farm together, Honey. I’m not walking away from that.”

“But you’d walk away from me.” My cheeks are hot. A tear slides down to my chin and drops onto my shirt. “None of you really want to be here. I thought if I could just get you all together in one place for a year, you’d remember how important family is and it could be like it was when we were kids, except I’d be included because I’m not a baby anymore. I just want to get to know my sisters.”

The silence is so deafening that I whip my head around to make sure my sisters are still here and haven’t been snatched by a cave monster. Dani and Clover are looking at me like I’ve said something horrible.

“What do you mean, if you could get us all together in one place for a year?” Clover asks.

Oh, shit. Oh, shit, shit, shit. My mind races as I try to come up with a reasonable lie, but I’m exhausted and my body is so tight with the tension of being out in the woods at night that my head is starting to ache.

This is it, anyway. We haven’t found the treasure and, in just a few months, our year together will end and my sisters will leave. Maybe it’s better they know the truth. Maybe it’s better they know the real me.

At least if they never want anything to do with me, I won’t have to experience the pain of rejection over and over again. There’s a part of me that hopes they might not be angry, but I know better. “I convinced Dad to add the addendum to his will to require us all to live together.”

“No.” Clover slaps a hand over her mouth.

“He was going to leave all of his money to some museum in Vegas so they’d put his name on it. I convinced him his daughters are his most valuable legacy.”

“No.” Unlike Clover, Dani’s not shocked. Her eyes flash with anger. “Dad would have never gone for that. He never did anything for anyone that didn’t benefit himself.”

I consider crawling out into the night and sacrificing myself to the forest monsters, but death by black bear seems like a horrible way to go. I smile gently. “He got soft in his old age. Sentimental.”

“You said you hadn’t seen him in years.” Clover wraps her arms around herself. “Not since we were kids.”

“Dad didn’t have a sentimental bone in his body.” Dani leans forward, hands fisted. “What did you really do?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Clover gives me a weak smile. “She did it because she wants us all to be close again.” She hesitates and shakes her head. “Why didn’t you just tell us that? We would have made time for you if we understood how important it is to you.”

“I didn’t want you to do it because you felt obligated.” Tears are streaming down my face now, and my throat is so tight it’s hard to talk. “I want you to spend time with me because you want to get to know me. I wanted you to choose to hang out with me, to stay up all night talking to me. I wanted to be worthy of your time.”

“Oh, Honey Bear.” Clover’s voice breaks on my nickname. “We love you. Of course, you’re worthy of our time. I’ve been caught up in my career and Asher, but I was never choosing any of that over you.”

“How did you convince Dad?” Dani stares at me, her jaw tight. Tears and heartfelt confessions are meaningless to her because she’s on the hunt for answers. She thought she knew me, thought I was sweet, agreeable Honey and now she’s not so sure who I am.

I meet her gaze head on. She’s not going to give up until I tell her everything. I know her well enough to be sure of that. “Dad owed me.”

“He owed all of us. That never mattered to him in the past.”

I shrug, pretending a nonchalance I don’t feel because I’m in this now and there’s no way out. “You didn’t make him hundreds of thousands of dollars and not even get a designer bag out of the deal.”

“Are you joking?” Clover’s brow twists in confusion.

“I really, really wish I was.”

I tell them everything. All the trouble I got in with Maya and Dell, how Mom sent me to live with Dad, and what he taught me. What I did with what I’d learned when I got home.

When I finish, I feel hollowed out. I’ve forgotten my terror of the cave and the noises outside, because all my fear now rests on how Clover and Dani are going to react to what I just told them.

They stare at me, looking shell-shocked. “You conned people?” Clover asks.

I nod. “Grown men are shockingly susceptible to a seventeen-year-old girl who pretends to be fascinated by them.”

“That must have been awful.” Clover’s eyes are wide and glassy. “Was it awful?”

“They were just showing themselves to be the assholes Dad told me they were. It was a pleasure to take their money.”

“Why did you stop?” Dani asks. “You obviously enjoyed it. Why did you stop when you and your friends were making so much money back in Roanoke?”

I look down at my hands, my knuckles white from how hard I’ve been squeezing them together. I can’t back out now. They’ll never understand unless I finish the story. Swallowing hard, I look back up. “We hurt someone. She wasn’t much older than us and we thought she had money. Her parents had money. It was just some harmless fun. We’d take her for a couple grand and she’d go off to college and be fine.” I remember her face so clearly. Remember her pain. “But you never know what anyone’s going through. Not really. She was pregnant. Three months. And her parents had kicked her out of the house. She was trying to put together enough money to pay rent and take a few classes at the local community college.”

“What happened?” Clover asks.

I shrug. “Most people, they get conned and they can afford what they lost. If they figure out they’ve been tricked, they’re usually too embarrassed to do anything about it. The ones who try to do anything about it...” I shrug. “Dad taught me to always have an insurance policy. Something I could take to the police, something to put the attention back on the mark. Dad always had at least three ways out. With Casey, I had four. But she wasn’t stupid, and she was desperate, because we took everything from her. When she found me, she was homeless and sleeping in her car. Everything she had left of any value except that car had been stolen. Most of her friends had gone off to college, and she had no one to turn to.” I look up at the rough cave ceiling, remembering the fear in her eyes, but also the determination. “Her ex wanted nothing to do with the baby and she had no support, no skills beyond a high school degree, and no job. Still, she was determined to have that baby and give it a good home.”

“That’s amazingly brave,” Clover says softly. “And maybe a little na?ve.”

“Yeah. I thought so too. I gave her back the money we’d taken from her. I gave her every penny I had, and I left Dell and Maya and moved back in with Mom. The girl, Casey, she moved in with us too.”

“How did I not hear about this?” Dani asks. “I talk to Mom at least once a month.”

I shrug. “She didn’t stay with us more than a month. Casey had already been accepted to a university in Vermont. Mom got in touch with the school and explained Casey’s lack of funds and her pregnancy. They got her set up with family housing, financial aid, and a job. Mom even sweet-talked them into giving her a small scholarship.”

“Mom is amazing,” Clover says.

“Mom is a tiger. She doesn’t take no for an answer when it matters.”

“I can’t believe she sent you to live with—”

“Boo!” A head pokes through the cave entrance and Dell crawls inside. “Where’s my treasure, ladies?”