Chapter Six
At dinner with her family Saturday, Bethany picked at her plate and half listened as Dalton regaled them with the story of a woman on that afternoon’s tour who had been shocked to discover there were no coffee shops in the high country and the only restroom was a pit toilet beside the road.
“She may never forgive her husband for signing her up for the tour,” Dalton said.
“But he tipped me twenty bucks, I think for putting up with her.”
“It always pays to be nice to people, no matter how difficult,” Mom said. “Bethany, did anyone interesting stop by the office this afternoon?”
Bethany fumbled her fork. For a moment she wondered if her mother had heard about Ian’s visit.
But no, Mom’s bland expression showed she was merely repeating the trick she had used when they were small, of asking each child to contribute something about their day.
“As a matter of fact, Ian Seabrook stopped by,” she said.
“What did he want?” Carter asked.
“He offered me a job.”
She had to fight back a grin at the silence that followed.
“A job doing what?” her father asked. One side of his face was swollen from his dental work, but he still managed to look stern.
“Administrative assistant now, but transitioning to manager of the via ferrata when it opens,” she said.
“It’s never going to open,” Carter said. “The climbers are organizing to speak against it at the county commissioners’ meeting. The county will never approve an operating permit.”
“I hope you turned him down,” her mother said. “It doesn’t sound like a good opportunity at all.”
“I told him I’d think about it.” Bethany focused on her plate, too afraid to let them see her disappointment.
She had hoped that the announcement that a man like Ian—a person who could hire anyone—had offered her a job managing a big concern like the via ferrata would have impressed them, if only a little.
Maybe it would have helped them to see her in a new light, as a mature woman with talent and intelligence.
“You have a job,” her father said. “You don’t need another one.”
“I’d like to find something with a little more potential for advancement than working the front counter at the family business,” she said.
“When your father and I retire, you and the boys will take over the business,” her mother said. “That day will be here sooner than you think.”
The last thing Bethany wanted was to run a business with Carter and Dalton.
Her brothers would always team up against her when any decision had to be made, yet they were sure to leave her the bulk of the paperwork because you studied accounting and we’re more people-oriented.
That last part was true, but it didn’t mean she wanted to be the office drudge.
Ian was offering her the opportunity to run her own office.
“I don’t have to decide anything right away,” she said.
“You heard your brothers,” her mother said. “It sounds to me like this Ferrari thing, whatever it is, doesn’t have much chance of succeeding. And then where would you be? We’d have to hire someone to fill your position, and you’d be unemployed.”
Right. Because no one else would hire poor little Bethany. “I’d find a job, Mom. I’m not incompetent.”
“I didn’t say that, dear. But things aren’t always as easy as you think. One of the reasons your father and I decided to buy this business was to offer you and your brothers security.”
“Aaron is doing all right without your help,” she said.
“Aaron may not want to be a cop forever,” her dad said. “Twenty years and he’ll be eligible for a pension, and then what will he do? He can help with the Jeep tours.”
He sounded so pleased and proud. Bethany offered him a smile. “That’s really sweet of you, Dad.”
“Sweet. And smart. So see? You don’t need another job.”
Why were families so hard? Everything her parents did for her, Bethany knew they did out of love.
She’d needed a job, so they’d made one for her.
She’d needed a place to live—Here’s an apartment right here.
How could she make them understand that all she really wanted was to make her own choices and stand on her own feet?
If she failed, she liked to believe that she was strong enough to get up, dust herself off and move on. All she wanted was the chance to try.
Bethany shoved back from the table. “I have to go. I’m meeting Chris at Mo’s.”
She and Chris had a tradition of meeting at Mo’s Pub on Saturday nights to catch up on the week.
Originally they had spent the time bemoaning their single status, but that had changed since Chris had met Rand Martin, a gorgeous trauma surgeon who had won her heart.
Together they had adopted a nine-year-old girl who’d escaped from a cult in the area.
The child, Serena, and plans for her upcoming wedding were keeping Chris busy lately.
“I can’t stay long,” Chris announced as she slid into a booth at Mo’s across from Bethany. She swept her blue-dyed hair out of her face, the bright colors of her full-sleeve tattoo flashing in the overhead light. “Serena has that flu bug that’s going around, and I hate to leave her too long.”
Bethany stuffed down her disappointment. A sick child trumped a dateless friend any day of the week. “Poor kid. I hope she feels better soon. What else is new with you?”
“Not a lot. Except I’ve decided to take a leave of absence from search and rescue. I have too much else to deal with right now.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, but I understand.” Because that was what friends did, right? They understood. “I’ll miss seeing you.”
“You’ll see me plenty,” Chris said. “After all, you’re my maid of honor. By the time the wedding rolls around, you’ll be sick of me.”
Bethany forced a smile. She wasn’t losing her friend.
She was only losing that closeness of knowing she could call any time and Chris would be there for her.
Chris had other priorities now. She listened to Chris’s description of her hunt for the perfect bridesmaid’s dress and remembered her own excitement before her wedding-that-didn’t-happen. And then Chris was standing.
“I’m sorry. I really have to go,” she said. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
Bethany watched her leave, then stared at the half-eaten plate of nachos they hadn’t really shared.
If things had worked out with Justin, she could have offered advice and maybe a few funny anecdotes for her friend.
She would be moving ahead with exciting plans for her own life instead of just being… stuck.
She wasn’t stuck, she scolded herself. She was moving, if not very fast. She had a new job offer. And an interesting new man in her life. Possibilities. The trick was to keep from screwing things up.
* * *
Ian spent Sunday setting pins in the canyon walls to mark where the various features of the via ferrata would go.
He didn’t have to do this himself, but it felt good to get out his climbing gear and stretch his limbs.
He scouted interesting routes up the face of the cliff, stretching for hand- and footholds, the familiar smell of sun-warmed rock flooding him with memories of so many other climbs, from the first scrambles in the White Mountains of New Hampshire to his summit of El Capitan in Yosemite on his twenty-first birthday.
He had gone on to establish new routes and lead climbing expeditions all over the world, but even the most extensive expedition was reduced to the simple act of the next move and then the next, relying on his body to carry him up and up, testing his nerve and his limits, believing he would always reach the top.
Late afternoon, he was resting on a ledge halfway up the cliff after driving in a pin to mark the beginning of a walkway that would jut from the canyon wall when a Rayford County Sheriff’s Department SUV crawled down the road into the canyon and parked in front of the trailer. A deputy exited.
“Up here!” Ian shouted and waved, catching the deputy’s attention. “I’ll be right down.”
He was down in a matter of minutes and walked over to meet Aaron Ames.
“I heard you were a big-time mountain climber,” Aaron said by way of greeting.
“It’s been my focus the last few years.”
“So why come to Eagle Mountain and do this?” He gestured toward the wall Ian had just descended.
“I saw my first via ferrata in France. I was struck by how it brought so many different people to challenge themselves in the mountains. I wanted to recreate that kind of community.”
“I see that banner is still up there.”
Ian looked over his shoulder at the sheet the protesters had hung. Only two sides remained fastened, so the cloth draped, a limp flag. “I thought I’d see how long it would stay up there,” he said. “Not much longer, I don’t think.” He turned back to Aaron. “What brings you here?”
“We’ve identified the remains found here.”
“Come in and let’s sit down.”
Inside the trailer, Ian filled a glass with water from a pitcher in the refrigerator and drank it down. “Would you like some?” he asked Aaron. “Or I could make coffee.”
“Nothing for me, thanks.”
Ian sat at his desk, and Aaron took the chair opposite.
“The couple in your cave were Abby and Gerald Boston,” Aaron said.
“They were a newly married couple who disappeared from Eagle Mountain almost fifty years ago. Their families thought they had left town and cut ties with everyone. If they were planning to leave, they didn’t get very far. ”
“How were you able to identify them so quickly?” Ian asked.
“We got lucky. Gerald’s driver’s license was in a rotting billfold beneath the body.
Since he was from Eagle Mountain, we contacted the local dentist. He’s the son of the dentist who cared for the Bostons,” he said.
“We were able to get his dental records from storage and confirm the identity. From there, we obtained his wife’s records and confirmed the second skeleton belonged to her. ”
“Fifty years. And no one knew what happened to them?”