Home on Apple Blossom Road (Life in Icicle Falls) (8 page)

“So,” Aunt Beth said, “are you two ready for your next clue?”

It was about time. Colin nodded and shoved away his empty plate. “Bring it on.”

Aunt Beth produced a pink envelope from her kitchen junk drawer and laid it on the table. Colin and Mia both reached for it. Remembering her earlier comment, he pulled away his hand and let her open it.

She didn’t read it out loud so he prompted, “What does it say?”

“‘Go to your favorite haunt and ask for a...’” Her brows knit.

“A what?”

She passed the stationery over. “It’s a word scramble.”

“I should’ve known she’d slip one in,” he grumbled. Sure enough.
Ask for a Nitesuj Grerub.
“Okay, you’re the smart one,” he said to Mia. “What’s this supposed to be?”

She shook her head.

“Great.”

“Guess you two will have to put your heads together,” Aunt Beth said with a smirk.

“Or bang them on the table,” Colin muttered. “Come on, let’s go out on the porch.”

* * *

“I hope you’re enjoying this,” Dylan said to Beth as the two disappeared.

“Immensely.” She grinned and took another bite of her dessert.

“I don’t know,” Mark said. “It’s all pretty...”

“Unorthodox,” supplied Dylan. “Sending these two on a scavenger hunt isn’t going to make them fall in love and live happily ever after.”

Beth pointed her spoon at him. “That’s where you’re wrong. You’ve been wrong about those two ever since that incident in the orchard. In fact, if it wasn’t for you, they’d probably be married by now and have a couple of kids.”

“Oh, fine. I’m the destroyer of happiness,” Dylan said sourly, pushing aside his plate.

“I’ll admit they played their own parts in that, but you scripted your share of the mess. You’re a cynic when it comes to relationships. And you know why?”

“Please don’t tell me.”

“Well, I’m going to. It’s because you’re a wounded romantic. What you need is...”

“Oh, no. No advice from my sister,” he said, holding up a hand.

“It’s not too late,” she told him. “You could get your own happily-ever-after.”

“I’m perfectly happy, thank you,” he said. “And don’t worry about me. You’ve got your hands full bossing Mark around.”

“I’ll share the wealth,” Mark offered.

“That’s okay,” said Dylan. He kissed his sister on the cheek and left.

“He’s hopeless.” Beth finished the last bite of her cake.

“Sorry,” Mark said. “I’m with Dylan on this one.”

“That’s because you’re a man, and what do you know about love?”

He grinned. “I picked you, didn’t I?”

She smiled at that and kissed him. “Yes, you did, you lucky boy.” She’d barely finished speaking when they heard the sound of a car starting. “Looks like they figured out their clue.”

* * *

“Since when is there such a thing as a Justine Burger?” Colin said as he and Mia drove down Center Street.

“Since your grandma and Aunt Beth designed this hunt,” Mia replied.

“Let’s hope the servers at Herman’s were told about it,” he said as they pulled into the parking lot.

The only thing that had changed about Herman’s Hamburgers was the model and year of the cars parked outside. They walked past the same life-size wooden figure of a woman in a German dirndl holding a platter with a hamburger. The little sign hanging from her neck still said
Willkommen in Herman’s
. The place was packed with young families crowded into booths for a Friday-night treat, devouring burgers and shakes and, same as when Colin and Mia were young, teens hanging out and flirting. It smelled like fried onions, and even though Colin had just had dinner, his mouth watered.

“This place never changes,” Mia observed as they got in line behind a half dozen teenagers. “Even the menu’s still the same.”

“Except for the garlic fries,” he said, pointing at a high school boy walking by with a huge serving of them.

“An excellent addition.” Mia sighed. “I wish I had room for a chocolate-dipped cone.”

How many of those had they ordered over the years? Enough to stock a hundred ice cream trucks, probably.

“Colin.”

The voice behind him cracked like a whip and made him jump. He turned to see a petite redhead wearing shorts and a top that showed off a perfectly toned body. Her lips, a little thin to begin with, were now an angry, red line. And the green eyes were narrowed to slits.

“Lorelei,” he stammered. “What are you doing here?” She didn’t eat beef. Why had she picked tonight to start?

“What do you think I’m doing here?” she snapped. “I was trying to find someplace to eat and saw your car pull in.”

“Uh, good choice for dinner. They’ve got great burgers.” Oh, boy, was that the best he could do? Under the circumstances, yeah.

Lorelei looked as if she’d rather bite his head off than eat a burger. “Are you taking a break from your...whatever?”

“Treasure hunt,” Mia said. “Hi. I’m Mia.”

Lorelei looked at Mia as if she might just bite her head off, too. “I’m Lorelei, Colin’s girlfriend. I came up here to help him.”

“That was nice of you,” Mia said sweetly.

Colin was beginning to sweat. They needed to turn up the AC in here. “Lorelei, I’m sorry, but I can’t bring in outside help. It’s a stipulation in the will.”

Lorelei glanced suspiciously at Mia.

“We’re inheriting something together,” Colin explained as the line moved up.

“Together.” Lorelei repeated the word like a student learning a foreign language. “And you’re looking for it at a burger place.” She sounded beyond skeptical.

Not surprising. This was really weird. “One of our clues is here.”

A carefully penciled eyebrow shot up. “Written in French fries?”

And Gram had thought this would be fun? Now it was their turn to order. “We want a Justine burger,” he told the skinny kid taking orders.

The kid scratched his nose, inadvertently drawing attention to a zit growing near one nostril. “A what?”

“A Justine burger,” Colin repeated.

The kid gaped in confusion then called to the girl at the drive-up window. “Hey, Carly, have we got a Justine burger?”

“A what?” she called back.

“A Justine burger.”

“Nope.”

“Nope,” the kid echoed. “Sorry.”

“Maybe we got the clue wrong,” Colin said to Mia.

Mia shook her head vehemently. “No way. Is your manager here?”

“Yeah, I’ll get him.” The kid took off.

“You’re looking for a
burger
?” Lorelei sounded incredulous.

“It has our next clue,” Colin explained.

“You expect me to believe that?” she said in disgust.

“Yeah, I do. Why would I lie?”

Again, Lorelei checked out Mia. “I don’t know. You tell me.”

Oh, boy.

Now the night manager, who didn’t seem much older than the kid taking orders, appeared. “Hey, you guys wanting the Justine burger?”

“Yes,” said both Colin and Mia.

“I think Evan knows about that.”

Of course. It made sense that Gram would have talked to the current owner of Herman’s. “Thanks,” Colin said. “Where is he?”

“He’s not here. But he’ll be in tomorrow when we open at eleven.”

“Looks like that’s it for tonight, then,” Mia said, and Lorelei smiled.

“I guess so. I’ll take you back to Aunt Beth’s.”

“Hey, what about me?” Lorelei asked.

“I can walk back,” Mia said. “It’s not that far.”

“I don’t mind taking you,” Colin told her. It was tacky to make her walk home. “I’ll be right back,” he promised Lorelei, who’d already slipped her arm through his.

She frowned.

He pulled a twenty from his wallet. “Order whatever you want and a huckleberry shake for me.”

The frown didn’t leave, but she took his money and said, “Okay.”

He gave her a quick kiss and that was embarrassing. It shouldn’t have been. She was his girlfriend, after all. But with Mia standing right there...

As if she cared. She’d moved on years ago, so what did it matter if he kissed another woman in front of her?

“You could’ve stayed,” she said as they got back in the car.

“Hey, I’m not such a bum that I’m going to leave you to walk home.”

“Like I said, it’s not far.”

“It’s the principle of the thing.”

“You always were chivalrous,” she said softly. “You remember punching Billy Williams in the eye?”

He snickered. “Poor, old Bill Will.”

Then there’d been the other time, with Adrian Malk, but neither brought that up. Too humiliating for both of them. Silence entered the car like a big old rhino and camped between them for the rest of the ride.

The car had hardly come to a stop when she hopped out. “Thanks.”

“I’ll come by tomorrow at ten to.”

She nodded, then ran up the walk to Aunt Beth’s.

He watched her go, thinking what a great ass she had. Heck, she had great everything. The woman looked good from every angle. Why wasn’t she with someone?

His cell phone let him know that Lorelei was waiting. And that brought up a whole new question. Why was he with someone who wasn’t Mia? Oh, yeah, because Mia hadn’t wanted him. Anyway, he was happy with Lorelei. She was great.
They
were great. Yep, great.

“We finally get to hang out?” she greeted him when he sat down next to her in the booth at Herman’s.

“Sorry,” he said, and kissed her. Not so embarrassing this time.

“Well, I did come all this way,” she reminded him.

That irritated him. Who’d asked her to? “I told you that you didn’t need to. I don’t know how long it’s going to take.”

“That’s okay. I’ve got all weekend.” She slid a burger his way. “Here. I ordered us veggie burgers.”

Veggie burgers? He hadn’t noticed that on the menu. When did Herman’s start serving veggie burgers? And, “Where’s my huckleberry shake?”

“All that fat,” she said, wincing. “I got us water instead.”

Water? At Herman’s? “I don’t think so,” he said, and went and ordered himself a shake. Large.

She frowned when he returned with it. “You’re clogging your arteries.”

“Hey, you told me yourself that we need some fat in our diets.”

“Not a boatload in one serving,” she said. “Do you want to die young?”

He shrugged and took a guzzle. Oh, yeah. That was what good tasted like. “I’ll die with a smile on my face.” He offered her the glass. “Try some.”

“No, thanks,” she said, wrinkling her nose.

“Suit yourself.” He took a bite of his veggie burger.

“Yummy, isn’t it?”

Not compared to a cheeseburger with grilled onions. He wrapped it back up and shoved it toward her. “I’ll pass.”

Lorelei gave up on the subject of nutrition. “Your old friend is pretty.”

Colin found himself wishing they’d kept talking about fat and fake meat. “Uh, yeah.”

“How long have you known each other?”

“Since we were kids. We grew up together.”

“But you’re not related.”

“No. My family took her in when she was seven.”

“So, she’s adopted?”

“More or less. Her mom and my aunt were best friends. Her mom died of cancer.”

“Gosh, that’s sad,” Lorelei said, and took a big drink of her water. “But you’re both inheriting something?”

He shrugged. “My grandma loved her.”

“I guess.” Lorelei seemed shocked that Gram could leave something to someone who wasn’t a blood relative.

Maybe that was unusual. Colin didn’t know. All he knew was how his family operated, and that was with open arms. Well, except his dad, who was more of an arms crossed kind of guy.

“What do you think she left you?”

“I have no idea.”

“Was she rich?”

He hadn’t thought she was. Maybe he’d thought wrong. But where had she gotten the money for stocks and savings? She’d had to sell the orchard to pay for Gramps’s stay in the care facility. All Colin could figure was that Gram hadn’t used it all up before he died. Still, she’d lived so frugally, as if she was just managing on Social Security. He’d always tried to get her extravagant gifts for Christmas and birthdays to make up for it—two-pound boxes of chocolates from Sweet Dreams; gift certificates to Schwangau, the fanciest restaurant in town; hardcover copies of books by her favorite authors. She had the complete collection of Vanessa Valentine novels.

“Maybe she was like those millionaires you read about,” Lorelei mused. “They’re eating dog food and they have millions in the bank.”

Colin frowned at her. “My gram never had to eat dog food.” No one would have let that happen.

“Not her, but you know what I mean.”

Discussing his grandmother’s finances with Lorelei felt wrong. “Can we not talk about this?”

She blinked. “Oh, well. Sure.” She wadded up her hamburger wrapper. “Why don’t we pick up some wine and go back to that B and B where I’m staying. The view is gorgeous.”

He knew what the view was. He’d seen it most of his life. But he said, “Okay.”

They got a bottle of local wine, and he followed Lorelei back to Gerhardt’s Gasthaus, where they sat out on the balcony of her room, taking in the evening glow as the sun set over the mountains.

Lorelei oohed and aahed for a couple of minutes and then returned to the topic of Colin’s inheritance. “It’s really kind of cool, this whole treasure-hunt thing,” she said, and took a sip of her Gewürztraminer.

It would’ve been cool if Gram was still alive. And if he wasn’t having to do it with Mia.
Do it
... No, no, don’t be thinking like that.

“If it’s money, you should invest it. We could invest it in something together. Did I tell you? Lenny might be selling the gym.”

“What?” Colin tried to pull his wandering thoughts back to the conversation at hand.

“Now that would be a great business to invest in.”

Suddenly, he felt like a buzzard. Colin and Lorelei, Mr. and Mrs. Buzzard. “I really don’t want to talk about stuff like that now.”

“I was just trying to be helpful.”

“Well, you’re not.”

She sniffed. “You don’t have to get snotty.”

“Sorry,” he said with a sigh. “It’s been a long couple of days.”

“Of course it has,” she said, and poured him some more wine. “It’s hard to lose someone you love.”