18. Caving In
eighteen
Caving In
M y eyes dart from the clock to the sky as the sun begins to sink between the peaks. It’s like the mountain is swallowing it with its gaping mouth. I’m racing to beat it. The winter solstice is around the corner. The days are short enough, but between these peaks and valleys, they’re even shorter.
Erika leans over the console, peering at the speedometer. “You’re driving faster than normal.”
“Gotta get you there before it gets dark.”
She draws back, studying me. “Are you pissed at me, Kourt?”
I take my eyes off the road to answer, and I’ll be damned if I don’t see a little hurt looking back at me. “Why would I be mad at you?”
Those eyes search my face for a long beat before she shrugs. “I don’t know. I’m sure having to chauffer me everywhere gets old.” She glances out the window. “I hope you feel you have the freedom to say no regardless of Blitzen or Helen. I could always ask someone else, to lessen the burden.
“Go right ahead.” I punch Bluetooth. “Call Ellis Andrews.”
“Kourt!” she shrieks. “What are you doing?”
Bluetooth croons, “Calling Ellis Andrews.”
“Hang up!” She looks like she’s about to bail out of the moving truck.
Naw, I’m driving too fast.
The phone’s ringing as our gazes lock and latch, and Ellis picks up. “McClain, shove that statue up your own ass.”
“Figured it was a good fit for yours.”
“Eat me.”
“You’re a fucker, you know that Ellis?”
“Just described yourself, McShotty.”
I cut my eyes at Erika, who’s every bit as red as her sweater. “Just wanted to make sure you got it.”
“I got it. I’ll be sure to thank Erika next time I talk to her.”
“Go ahead. She’s right here.”
I’m not sure she’s not going to bail out the truck, even at this speed.
Erika yells, “Ellis, I’m so sorry, he’s being—”
“I know what he’s being. He’s a natural born dick. Thanks for the statue. It’ll do good at—”
Click.
“You hung up on him!”
She. Is. Mad.
Good. So am I.
“I placed the call. I can end it when I want.”
She turns in the seat to face me, square on. “You didn’t let me ask him to take me to Angel’s Hollow.”
“Erika, there’s no fucking Angel’s Hollow.
It’s Devil’s Lantern Cavern, unless you and Walter can get everyone in the state of Kentucky to agree to rename the damned place.
And I guarantee Ellis wouldn’t know how to find it—and if he could, he wouldn’t scuff up his fancy shoes hiking up the mountain.
He’s a golf course guy. Probably too big a coward to go into Devil’s Lantern, anyway. He’d shit his pants.”
Now that’s a look I haven’t seen on her. Something between shock and rage.
“Wow. That’s the most words I’ve ever heard you string together without a pause or a grunt.”
I heave a sigh. “Talking to you is over-rated.”
“Let’s just forget it. I’ll get someone else to take me another day.”
“Walter’s already on his way to meet us there.”
If the twenty minutes of silence driving to Walter’s felt uncomfortable, the drive to Devil’s Cavern is like fingernails on a chalkboard. She’s sitting over there stewing.
This silence isn’t all that golden.
Does she really want Ellis Andrews? Can she not see through him? I thought she was smarter than that. Is she doing it to get under my skin?
“What do you see in him?”
What does anyone see in him?
Nothing. No answer. She doesn’t even look my way.
Screw it. Maybe I will hand this festival shit off to someone else. Let Ellis have her.
“He’s nice to me.” She’s talking to the windshield.
And I’m not?
“It wasn’t a big deal. He asked me if I wanted to go to a basketball game.” She turns to face me with so much hurt in those eyes. “A ballgame you’d be coaching. I wanted to see you in action in your environment.”
Well, fuck me. “You could’ve asked—”
“That’s the point, Kourt! He asked me . I’m your albatross. You have to drive me everywhere because all I have is the Beetle and you refuse to let me drive if it’s below freezing—”
Our gazes meet. “You still don’t understand how dangerous these roads can be. And you’re not my albatross. Just… anyone but Ellis Andrews.”
Her eyelids flutter with a million questions as I pull onto the gravel parking lot. “We’re here.” Thank God.
She stares ahead, her delicate brows shifting high, following the cliff wall as it towers toward the sky. “ Up there ?” The cave is halfway up.
“Yep.” I open my truck door. “We need to hurry. The sun’s getting low.”
Her gaze darts around, surveying the limestone face of the sheer rock wall, looking almost terrified as she stands outside her door. “Will people climb all the way up there?”
My stride slows and I pause to look over at her, watching her take it all in. The way she’s always awestruck by what she sees… I don’t know why, but it affects me too. She makes me see it all again for the first time.
“The climb to Whispering Bear is steeper and enough people go there every year. So, I’d think so. There’s also a trail, with steps. The state’s made it easy for tourists. And there’s a wide, flat entranceway for the ceremony.”
“Oh.” Quiet. She’s very quiet.
I’m a dick.
“Walter’s behind us. He’ll show us the ropes.” I take a look at her shoes. I hadn’t thought about her shoes before. “You wore boots so we’re good.” Stepping forward I reach my hand back for her.
Hesitantly, she puts her hand in mine. It feels almost fragile next to my massive palms. Warm. “Sorry I was an ass.”
“You are an ass, Kourt.”
“I know. Come on.”
It’s a five-minute hike zig-zagging uphill. But the view at sunset is worth it. So is her reaction to it. Our anger seems to have dissipated on the way up.
“See the way the sun hits that peak and slices down the mountain? Just before it goes completely down it makes a glint of light in the middle of the cave opening, between the rocks’ shadow. That’s why they named it Devil’s Lantern.”
“Too bad. I’m running with the angel schtick. I refuse to call it Devil’s Lantern on a Christmas flyer.”
Damn. I guess the marketing exec showed back up.
She takes in the view one more time and lets out a chilled breath. I feel her eyes smiling at me before I turn to look at her. “I want to see inside.”
“Walter said specifically for us not to go inside—to wait on him.” I scan the empty road below. “He’ll be here any minute.”
“What are you, the cave police? It won’t hurt to peek in the entrance. I’ve never seen a cave.”
“Erika, no.”
Her lips curl into a smirk. “Are you scared? Like you said Ellis would be?”
My heart may thump out of my chest. I can’t believe she threw down that gauntlet. “I’m not a caver. Stay in the entry.”
“Come on!”
Shit . She’s heading in.
“Hold up, dammit. It’s a fucking cave!”
Cave… cave… cave … echoes off the cold, damp cavern walls.
Erika turns, eyes wide. She makes a funny, spooky face. “Eerie.”
“They say it’s haunted.”
“Really?” Even in the dim light, I see her wicked grin.
“It’s what they say.”
She startles and turns. “Did you see that?”
“I can’t see much of anything. We need to go back outside.”
“Over there.” She aims her arm straight ahead. “I saw a flicker.”
“No, you didn’t. If you did, it was a reflection from the sunset. Let’s get back outside. Walter will probably have a flashlight when he gets here.”
“You don’t have a flashlight?”
Are you shitting me? “Do I look like I have a flashlight?”
“You look like the kind of guy who would have a flashlight.”
“I don’t.”
“Cellphone?” She’s hopeful.
“On the charger. Yours?”
Her voice falls. “In my purse.”
“Then let’s get the fuck out of here.”
“Now look who’s being scaredy pants.” She marches off in the direction she pointed, I guess, looking for some phantom light.
“Goddammit, Erika come back!”
Four long strides—and fuck it—I’ve lost her. “Where are you?”
My bellow echoes off the walls.
Are you… are you… are you….
“Over here,” she whispers. No echo.
“Where?”
Where… where… where …
How big is this damn place?
“Kourt?” I turn to the whisper.
“What?”
“I can’t see anything.”
No fucking shit.
I move toward the voice, arms extended, my voice low.
“Stand still, Erika, and talk to me, quiet like that. I can find you.” This damned place is infamous for drop-offs.
Some a couple of feet, some a couple of hundred feet.
I’d think the state would have them roped off but who the hell knows in this blackness.
“I’m sorry.” Her voice sounds so small.
“Just stay where you are.” I’m moving her way slowly.
She sniffs.
“Are you crying?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Yes, you are.” I heard it. Her voice broke.
“I am not!” she yells angrily.
Not… not… not…
I turn in a circle. The sound bounces around. It’s impossible to get your bearings in this blackness. “Erika, sing something. Just… sing. Softly.”
“What?”
“ I don’t know. Anything. A fucking Christmas song.”
She huffs—I feel the heat of her breath—she’s right here. Turning, I grab her and tug her to me. She smells like Christmas cookies.
“Kourt,” she whimpers into my chest.
“It’s alright. Walter can’t be far. The sun set before we were counting on it.” I wrap my arms around her, and an intense warmth invades the cold space around us.
“I can’t see my hand in front of my face.” Her mouth moves against my chest.
“Then don’t put your hand in front of your face.”
She nudges my chest with her head. “You’re impossible.”
“I’ve been told.” I blink. I can’t see. Not a frigging thing.
Not even her, nestled in my arms. I can feel her.
Smell her. Hear the rhythm of her heart beating against my chest, or is it mine?
“Listen. I don’t want to move around, because there could be a drop off.
So, we’re just going to sit down, right here, and wait. Okay?”
She nods against me. I hold her shoulders. “Let’s sit, together.”
“Okay.”
I turn her as I squat and sit, and she moves with me. “Rest here, against me.” Nothing to rest my back on, so I spread my legs wide, knees bent. I pin her between them. “This way I won’t lose you again.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Damn right you’re not.