North Dakota Weddings (4 page)

“You look exhausted.”

“That bad, huh?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way.”

“I’m wounded nonetheless.” He grinned to ease her concern. “I’m sure I look like something that crawled out of a grave. I haven’t slept in too long.”

Maybe that’s why he had the crazy urge to touch the lone strand of hair that loosened from her tight do.

As if hearing his thoughts, she pushed the hair from her face. “You’ve got a comfortable place to rest. And even though there’s a lot of renovation to be done, you can stay here while we work. Your uncle did. There is part of your living space that needs to be finished, but I can show that to you later. You just look…”

“Like I’m about to collapse.”

“Yeah.”

“He must have been some paranoid old fool to buy this place.”

Andi smiled. “Okay, I wasn’t going to say it, but I’ll agree with you, after all.”

“Let me sleep on it. I’d be crazy to make any decisions just now.”

“Here’s my card.” She held it out between two fingers.

Taking it, Vance studied her reaction. Her wide, beautiful smile didn’t hide the disappointment behind her intense blue eyes. Somehow, he felt disappointed, too, and wished he could give her an answer. The one that she wanted. But he already carried the burden of bad decisions made in haste.

He wouldn’t make another one.

B
ack in the bodacious remodeled section, Vance watched Andi and her sister exit through the blast doors, leaving him alone in the space pod floating through the universe. Considering his love of astronomy, that was probably the best way for him to think about it—a sort of virtual reality of the mind. How else was a guy who hated close quarters to tolerate living in a small underground capsule?

With some serious mind control.

Plopping on the still-warm sofa where Elisa had lounged, he chuckled, thinking of the great impression he must have made looking like a sleep-deprived zombie. No wonder Andi’d brandished the mallet.

He flipped his cell open but, of course, got no signal.
The landline it is
.

He dialed his parents’ number and absorbed his surroundings while waiting for an answer.

“Hello?”

“Dad, hey.”

“Son, we’ve been wondering about you.”

“I’m at Uncle Vance’s house, if you can call it that. Did you know about this?”

Dad chuckled. “You mean you didn’t know that it’s a refurbished missile site? What planet are you on?”

Dad knew him too well. “I’ll admit, the construction company has done some amazing stuff.”

He pictured Andi showing off her work. Even though she’d put on a good show as a professional, her veneer of confidence was a little too thick in his opinion. He’d seen a crack and, underneath, she seemed desperate to finish the rest. Maybe business wasn’t too good in Herndon, North Dakota. Or, maybe she wanted to focus on a niche market.

“Son? You seem distracted.”

Too late Vance realized his thoughts weren’t on the conversation. What had Dad been saying? “Sorry. This whole thing threw me, that’s all.”

“Well, what do you think you’ll do?”

“I’m not sure. I think the woman who owns the construction company wants to finish the work she started for Uncle Vance. I think she needs this job.”

“You know you can’t make a decision based on her need for a job.”

Couldn’t he? “Right.”

“The quicker you decide, the better. But we can talk about it when you get here.”

Great hacking malware
. He’d forgotten to tell them he wasn’t coming to Texas until
after
Cancun. God created procrastination for a reason, and Vance was willing to give it a chance. But Mom would be…well, he didn’t have a good euphemism for her at the moment.

“I’m not sure when that will be, but I’ll let you know when I know.”

“Good enough.”

Vance ended the conversation. His father wasn’t one for long talks anyway, preferring to get to the point.

Except for the humming of the refrigerator, complete silence surrounded Vance. Once the lights were off, total darkness would envelop him as well. What was he supposed to do with a missile site—all underground? Although all evidence of a nuclear arsenal poised for war had long been removed, the place unsettled him. Thankfully, he would be leaving in a few days, heading to Cancun.

He’d done what he said he’d do. His parents had urged him to look at it, stay a few days, see if he could figure out why Uncle Vance had given it to him. Decide if he wanted to keep it. But after seeing it, he knew there was no way he could live here, so he’d definitely sell.

Could Andi be right when she said finishing the remodel could mean a lot more money when he sold? Made sense. But could it be enough for him to start his own company? Forget about working for Peter?

The thought wormed its way deeper, but even that couldn’t combat the heavy fatigue that crashed over him. He needed sleep. A fluffy blue pillow, compliments of Uncle Vance, rested next to him on the sofa, so he grabbed it and, after reclining, pressed it over his eyes.

The pillow was a partial lunar eclipse, leaving just enough light to prevent sleep. He found the light switch, hoping the lights that came on automatically when the blast door opened could be shut off again when inside. He flipped the switch. Complete and utter darkness engulfed him, magnified by the fact he was in a box. Underground.

He grappled for the switch and flipped it on like a little kid afraid of the dark. Except this darkness would alarm even the biggest tough guys. Without infrared or night vision goggles, he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. If he woke up in the middle of the night and stumbled for the bathroom, he could end up falling down a dark shaft somewhere.

What he needed for comfortable sleep was soft dark. If he hired Andi the builder, he’d make that his first request—a dimmer that would create soft dark. Eh, he’d buy a few nightlights next time he was in town.

A large window in the ceiling so he could gaze at the stars would be good, too. Not only was that impossible, it was unnecessary. He wasn’t staying.

Then why did he have to keep reminding himself?

With the lights remaining on for now, Vance lay on the sofa and once again tugged the pillow over his head, willing himself to rest. This time, images of the missile site remodeler kept sleep at bay. If only she didn’t so closely resemble the photograph in the frame at his office, which he’d dubbed his dream girl. Though Andi had pulled her hair into a tight ponytail, he imagined the gorgeous blond strands lying across her shoulders or blowing in the breeze like in an overdramatized shampoo commercial. Her blue eyes soft and receptive, rather than guarded and secretive.

He smashed the pillow against his face. If he pressed long and hard enough, he’d pass out before he suffocated, getting some sleep.

Hours later, Vance woke up to a growling stomach and the feeling he’d been run over by a military tank. He rose from the couch and walked to the fridge. In addition to food, he could use an energy drink to take the edge off his fatigue. Once his brain got going, it’d forget that the rest of him was still tired.

What were the chances the fridge was stocked with anything he would want to eat? Nope. Nothing there except one last soda and a few bottles of water. Andi hadn’t shown him the food storage room before she left, so he made his way through the rest of the refurbished area, noting the bedroom, then a small bathroom, which he quickly took advantage of.

Though he would have appreciated seeing food in the fridge, he wouldn’t want to see anything left over from his uncle’s time at the house either. He couldn’t call it a house, or his home. He settled on what Andi had called it.

Ground Zero.

What sort of person wanted his home underground in a place protected from everything but a direct hit from a nuclear bomb? He’d have to call Mom to find out more about his great-uncle. She’d known him much better because he was really
her
uncle.

A set of double doors beckoned him at the end of the narrow corridor. Vance opened the right door and came face to face with the food storage room. One glance and his hopes sank. He wondered if food set aside for long-term storage was really fit to eat. A seemingly limitless supply of freeze-dried meals stared back at him, featuring everything from chicken teriyaki, spaghetti with sauce, lasagna, and beef stew to more chicken and beef and noodles. It was all the same stuff, just prepared differently.

Yum.

A voracious hunger tearing at his gut, Vance made the trip to Herndon, only a few miles away, and stocked up on real food—stuff a normal person could survive on like Ding Dongs, chips and burritos, pizza, limeade and energy drinks, and a bag of broccoli crowns with ranch dip for good measure. Every guy needed his vitamin A.

While at Gary’s Grocery Store, Vance noticed Andi’s business card, along with those of other area businesses, pinned up on a small bulletin board, proclaiming her skills. She looked professional. He’d hire her if he were hiring.

For some reason, Cancun didn’t sound as interesting as staying in town and watching Andi transform the rest of Ground Zero. If he hired her to finish the site after all, he’d cancel his plans. Cancun had been Peter’s idea to begin with. Not his. The more he thought about it, the more jazzed he became about Andi’s completing the work, then his selling for a huge profit. Afterward, if God directed, he could start his own company.

While he stared at the bulletin board, an elderly woman approached him. “You looking for a church?” She touched her finger to a brochure pinned to the board.

“Well, that depends on how long I stay.” Vance explained the reason for his visit to town.

She nodded her understanding, welcomed him to town, and continued into the store to shop.

Back at Ground Zero he explored Uncle Vance’s office just off the living area. Vance opened his laptop and while it booted he assembled his telescope. As evening neared, he grew antsy, feeling like a caged animal. Now would be a great time to contact Andi and offer her the work. She hadn’t left his mind all day. Maybe that was God’s nudging him to give her the job. Finding her card, he opened his cell but there was no signal. Instead, he used the landline.

“Hello?”

“Andi, this is—”

“This is Elisa, I’m on the other line. Can I take a message?”

Vance paused, surprised at the girl’s rude tone. “Sure. This is Vance Young. Please let her know that I called and—”

“Okay.”
Click
.

Vance stared at the phone, disappointed he couldn’t talk to Andi. He’d been looking forward to hearing her voice. Or was it simply human contact he needed? At least in an apartment or house the normal sounds of life surrounded a person. He usually tuned it all out, but now that he was holed up underground, he noticed the quiet. He put in a call to Dad and let him know of his decision to hire the contractor after all, and that his plans didn’t include Texas at the moment.

After placing a pizza in the oven, he popped the top of an energy drink, then took a sip. He positioned himself on the sofa with his laptop and, after chugging the drink, crushed the can and tossed it at the garbage, missing. He’d have to change that habit if Andi would be stopping by, though she never said how involved she would be in the remodel. For all Vance knew, she might work from her office, allowing her subs to do all the grunt work.

In the meantime—the sugar had done its job. An image of Tom handing him a small disk came to mind. He’d completely forgotten and found it in his pocket. He loaded it. No password was required, allowing him instant access.

Incredulous, he stared.

“What…is this?”

Who had dropped it, and why had Tom given it to him?

Regardless, only one thing ran through Vance’s mind as he stared at the data spilling onto his computer screen.

This is just…stellar
.

The smell of bacon lingered in the air, and if there was one thing Andi hated, it was walking into a house that smelled like stale bacon. That or fish. She grabbed the air freshener and started to spray, then eyed the last piece of bacon on the plate. Elisa wouldn’t appreciate tasting Cool Caribbean Breeze on her bacon.

“Come on, Elisa!” She’d have to eat her breakfast running out the door.

Andi scraped the stack of bills and late notices into a box, then grabbed her large leather bag of a purse, cell phone, and organizer from the kitchen table. “You’re going to be late for school and you’re going to make me late, too.”

If Elisa had even heard her, it wasn’t likely she cared about Andi’s schedule. Even though there wasn’t much business to speak of right now, Andi never quit trying. Plus, she planned to stop by Freya Emerson’s this morning. Take her some cookies. Freya had been one of her grandmother’s long-time friends, and since Grandma’s death, Andi had neglected to have Freya over. Though Andi missed the visits, life seemed to get in the way anymore.

Thank goodness only a few more weeks of summer school remained. Andi wasn’t about to allow Elisa to take the bus today. In the fall Elisa would enter her sophomore year. Andi intended to make sure her sister made it to the high school even if it took until Elisa graduated. Despair overshadowed the aggravation she felt that she couldn’t trust her sister to walk into the school, sit in her seat, and do her work.