The Target (7 page)

“I can’t believe you got them to strip,” Sara finally said.

“Well, all but one,” Jaime teased.

Sara smiled. “I’m not that easy.” She cleared her throat. “A cop? Couldn’t make up something a little less threatening?”

“Threatening? Well, should I have told them I’m just a boring old CPA? Not much fun in that.”

“I see. No, we wouldn’t want them to think you’re boring. Although I don’t see how that would be possible, considering the entertainment you provided today.”

“What about you, Ms. Michaels?”

Sara frowned. “What about me? And please call me Sara. I don’t know why some of them continue to call me Ms. Michaels.”

Jaime nodded. “Are you having any fun out here or are you technically working?”

“Technically? Yes, working. I’m supervisor, tour guide, chaperone, whatever you want to call it.”

“So you have to continue being a counselor out here. I guess it’s not like you’re just out hiking with a group of friends.”

“Exactly. They’ve become friends with each other, of course. Good friends, in fact. Abby and Lou Ann are nearly inseparable and that’s something that they’ll carry with them long after I’m forgotten. But up here, this is just the culmination of our sessions. I’m still the Sarge, as they call me.”

“It must be exhausting … and very lonely.”

Sara stared. She couldn’t believe that this stranger had hit on the truth so quickly. She took a deep breath then let it out slowly. “It’s been,” she smiled. “Yeah, lonely. I spend twelve weeks total with these women, meeting every day, some days two or three hours at a time in sessions. And then there’s the physical activity we do. A spare hour here or there is spent planning the next day’s session.”

She leaned forward, holding her hands out to the fire. “Sometimes I feel nearly overwhelmed by it all. So, this two-week trip is my down time, I suppose. It gives me a chance to get away too.”

“Surely, you’re not the only one running your clinic.”

“No. We have nutritionists on staff, trainers. We have a trained psychologist who meets with the women once a week.”

“I thought you did the counseling.”

“I do. I don’t have a Ph.D. but I have extensive training. But having Dr. McNally on staff is a bonus. And I’ve recently hired three more counselors to take on sessions.”

“So, you don’t really have a private life?” Jaime guessed.

“No, not really. But for other reasons than I just don’t have the time.” Sara pulled her knees up and leaned on them. “Have you heard of Senator Michaels?”

Jaime shrugged. “I’ve heard the name, of course. I’m sorry, but I’m not really into politics. You’re related?” Jaime was thankful it was too dark to see. She never could lie worth a damn.

“He’s my father and please don’t apologize. I absolutely abhor the profession. And I’ve had more people than I can count pretend to take an interest in me personally just because he is my father.”

“Using you for what?”

“You would be surprised how many political groupies are out there and what they hope to gain by getting in good with a senator’s daughter. The fact that I have a thriving business doesn’t seem to hurt.” Sara peered into the darkness trying to see Jaime’s face.

“For as long as I can remember, my father’s been in politics. I grew up in Colorado Springs. He was on the city council. Then mayor. Then elected to the state legislature. And he’s been a two-term senator.” She let out a heavy breath. “Now, he’s decided to run for president.”

“Wow,” Jaime murmured.

“I hated being a senator’s daughter. I can’t imagine being the
president’s
daughter.”

“Well, what are his chances of being elected?”

“Realistically, I’d like to say none. He’s extremely conservative and has the backing of most of the major religious groups. But he’s so far to the right, I can’t imagine him being elected. On the other hand, he’s never lost before.”

“So I take it you don’t work the campaign trail,” Jaime said.

Sara laughed. “When Mayor Michaels became State Representative Michaels, I was camping out on Barr Trail on my way to the top of Pikes Peak. He sent one of his aides up to get me. We were going to go as a family to Denver. He found me in a tent with another girl.” Sara laughed again. “We weren’t sleeping.”

Jaime laughed too. “Shook his conservative image?”

“Had it gotten out, sure. I mean, you’ve heard of the Family Values Association? They practically paid for every one of his campaigns. They’re also, still to this day, the most outspoken opponent of gay rights. They would have hung him out to dry.”

“So you’re … in the closet?”

“Oh, God no. I would never allow my father to do that to me. I owe him nothing. I put myself through college.” She smiled affectionately.

“Well, with help from my grandmother and my mother. He refused. He wanted me to go to a religious university. He still insisted I was pretending to be gay to get back at him for some reason and if I went to a
school of God
, I’d come to my senses.” She shook her head. “No. My father and I don’t speak. We don’t really have a relationship at all anymore. Most people probably don’t even know that he has a daughter, which is fine with me. I like my privacy and I like my separation from him. But I don’t know how he intends to pull this off. When you’re a presidential candidate, everything about your life is scrutinized and everything is open for public debate. I doubt that he can hide the fact that he’s got a gay daughter.”

“You said you’re not close to your father. What about your mother?”

“Oh, I love her to death. We have lunch whenever she’s in Denver and when she’s in Washington we talk several times a month.”

“And how does she feel about you?”

Sara smiled. “You mean my being gay? My mother’s been nothing but supportive. She loves me, regardless of how my father feels. And her political views don’t necessarily mirror his. She’s actually terrified he’s going to get elected.”

“Terrified? She doesn’t want to be first lady?”

“She thinks he’d be an awful president. I have to agree.”

“But if he did get elected, wouldn’t you be required to participate?”

“Participate in what?”

“Hell, I don’t know. Like I said, I’m not really into politics. It just always seems the daughters get air time.”

“What I’d be required to participate in would be a Secret Service escort. Can you imagine having someone around every single hour of the day?”

“What about your clinic? Your sessions?”

“Yes. We’d have an agent here with us right now.”

“Well, maybe you’ll get lucky and they’ll assign a female agent,” Jaime teased.

It was a cloudy, cold morning and Sara looked up, wondering if the forecast of no snow was wrong. Everyone had donned sweatshirts and some had even slipped on gloves. But within an hour, the skies began clearing and the sun warmed them. At the first stop, Sara pulled off her sweatshirt and shoved it into her pack.

Most of the others did the same. She noticed that Jaime replaced her sweatshirt with a flannel shirt that she left open over her Tshirt.

Their eyes met and Sara smiled slightly before looking away.

She hadn’t intended to reveal quite so much to the other woman last night but it had felt good to just talk with someone.

She spent most of her time listening to others talk and she rarely took the time for casual dinners with friends where she could share some of her thoughts and feelings. There just wasn’t enough time.

In truth, there really weren’t that many friends. And that was her fault. She had a hard time trusting people. She’d been burned too many times when she’d found they were more interested in her father’s name than in her.

Maybe that’s why she was starting to take a liking to Jaime.

Jaime didn’t care who her father was.

“Wow. Look at that,” Sandra said, pointing overhead. “What is it?”

They all looked up, watching the large bird as it circled over them.

“It’s a golden eagle,” Jaime said. “Isn’t he beautiful?”

“He’s
huge
.”

“I guess so. Six-foot wing span.”

Sandra stared at her. “You know a lot, don’t you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Out here. You know what the trees are, what the mountains are, the birds. Like that little bird we saw this morning, the one with the black cap. What was it again?”

“Mountain chickadee,” Jaime supplied. “And I don’t know all that much. You just learn as you go. Next time you’re out here, you’ll know a bird and impress someone, huh?”

Sandra laughed. “It’s beautiful out here but I can’t imagine doing another hike like this one.”

“Why not?” Jaime asked as they fell into step again.

“Oh, you look right at home out here. So does Sara. But I’m an old city girl. Never been camping a day in my life.”

“So this is a crash course, huh?”

“But I’m having fun. Yesterday in the hot springs was wonderful. I hope we can do that again.”

“I’m sure we can.” She pulled out the trail map that was folded in her back pocket. “Look here,” she pointed. “I’d guess we’re about right here,” she said, moving her finger across the map. “See all these blue dots? They’re springs. See where the trail goes? Once we cross over the Mt. Harvard trail, we’ll be crossing all sorts of streams and most of them have hot springs.”

“Where did you camp before?” Celia asked as she looked at the map.

Jaime unfolded the map one more time. “Over here. We’ve probably got about two more days hiking before we get there. But it’s beautiful. The springs are about as big as a swimming pool. It would be a great area to spend two nights.”

Sandra poked her elbow against Jaime’s ribs. “Why don’t you mention that to the Sarge?”

“Well, she’s probably got an agenda. Might not be enough time to stop for two days.”

“Yeah, but ask anyway, would you?”

Jaime nodded. “Sure. I’ll give it a try.”

“By the way,” Celia said quietly. “I heard you two up talking last night.”

“Yeah, we visited a bit.”

“Making any progress?”

“With what?”

Celia smiled. “You know. With your date?”

Jaime burst out laughing, causing the others to stop and turn.

“What’s going on back there?” Abby demanded. “If you’re going to do jokes, you have to share with everyone.”

Sara turned around too, her eyes finding Jaime’s at the back of the line. She raised her eyebrows, waiting.

“Nothing,” Jaime murmured. “It’s private,” she added.

“Uh-huh.” Sara noticed the amusement on both Sandra’s and Celia’s faces and wondered what they were up to. “How about a break?”

“Don’t have to ask me twice,” Abby said, already tossing her pack on the ground.

“Sorry about that, honey,” Celia whispered as both she and Sandra leaned against the same tree as Jaime.

“No problem.”

“You know, I don’t recall Sara ever mentioning a special someone,” Celia said. She nudged Jaime with her shoulder. “You might have a chance.”

“Well, you’ll certainly be the first to know.” Jaime slid her eyes to where Sara was sitting, alone. The mountain breeze was blowing the blond hair onto her face and she watched as slim fingers reached out to try and tame it. Jaime stared, wondering when the last time was she’d found someone this attractive. Actually, she realized it had been months since she’d even gone out on a date and that was someone her friend Carol had set her up with. It had turned out to be a nice dinner but there wasn’t even a tiny spark between them and she had never called the woman again.

But Sara? Well, she would have given just about anything to have had Sara strip off her swimsuit yesterday. She closed her eyes and smiled. Of course, then she’d probably have just made a fool out of herself.

They hiked until nearly four o’clock, through stands of golden aspens and along ridges dotted with spruce trees. The views were incredible and most of the women pulled out small digital cameras to capture the scenes. Once, Sandra handed her camera to Celia and wrapped her arm around Jaime’s shoulder, smiling big as Celia snapped their picture.

There would be no hot springs this evening as they weren’t even near a stream but they would at least have a campfire. And they would need it. As soon as the sun dipped below the mountains, the cold returned. Jaime traded her flannel shirt for the sweatshirt again, then helped to gather downed wood for their fire.

Sara made a fire ring out of rocks and piled pine needles and cones inside before adding smaller twigs. She handed Abby a book of matches.

“Want to do the honors?”

“Absolutely.”

All the women watched as Abby knelt down and struck the match, cupping it to keep it from blowing out. Soon, the flame licked at the pine needles and they had their first big campfire going. Cheers and claps resounded and Jaime looked up, right into the smiling eyes of Sara Michaels.

After they ate their dinners and cleaned up the pots, all twelve of them crowded around the fire, trying to keep warm. But one by one, the cold chased them off and the women retreated into the tents and sleeping bags, until only Sara and Jaime remained.

“It’s barely eight,” Jaime said from across the fire.

“They’re not used to this much activity. But I thought having a fire might keep them up longer.”

Jaime nodded although she hadn’t missed the wink Celia had given her when she’d left them alone. The older woman was apparently playing matchmaker.

“You seem to be in pretty good shape for a CPA,” Sara said.

Jaime laughed. “I hate that stereotype. I’m a gym rat, actually.”

They were both quiet, staring into the fire. Then Sara leaned forward, watching Jaime.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“What are you doing here?”

Smiling, Jaime raised her eyebrows. “Are we back to that again? Still think I’m a serial killer?”

“I haven’t made up my mind. But surely, this can’t be your idea of a quiet backpacking trip. Why are you still traveling with us?”

Jaime stirred the fire, watching embers dance as they rose from the flames. “You want me to make up something witty or just tell you the truth?”

“I’m a big advocate of the truth.”