Legacy, page 4
Rachel laughed. “Yeah, my parents are exactly like that. I’ve gotten the silent treatment from my mom since I moved.”
“Well, Meg’s happy you’re here, obviously.”
Rachel grinned, her cheeks coloring slightly. “I’m so happy I met her. We’ve been together only a few weeks, but it’s going well. I haven’t dated anyone like her before. My previous girlfriends were so uptight—career-focused, money-driven, overachievers. I always thought that’s what I wanted, but Meg kind of swept me off my feet.”
Jo smiled, happy to hear it. Meg was definitely not career- or money-focused. She worked seasonally as a ski instructor or river-rafting guide and lived in a tiny studio apartment. She probably wouldn’t work at all, if she could get away with it.
“Carter’s glad you’re here, too. She can’t say enough about you at work. She told me the other day she doesn’t know how she ever got along without you.”
Rachel grinned and wiped her forehead. “Whew! What a relief. I mean, I thought it was going okay, but it’s hard to tell at a new job.” She paused. “You know what—I don’t know what you do. Are you a lawyer, too?”
Jo laughed. “I wouldn’t do that for all the money in the world. I work in the parks department for Fort Collins.”
“Oh, cool. That explains why you’re outside a lot.”
“Almost every day.”
They were quiet for a long, awkward pause. Jo was terrible at this kind of small talk. Luckily, Rachel broke the silence.
“What does Carter’s wife think of you two?”
“What do you mean?” Jo asked.
“I mean, how does Daniela deal with having two of you? Has she ever mistaken you for Carter?”
Jo laughed. “Once. And it was embarrassing as hell.”
“Oh, do tell.”
Jo shook her head. “No way—Daniela swore me to secrecy. Even Carter doesn’t know.” She looked around to make sure she wasn’t nearby. “But I will say this. When it happened, Daniela was naked. I know exactly where and what her tattoos are on some fairly private places.”
Rachel started giggling, and soon they were both laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Meg asked, walking into camp.
“Nothing,” Rachel said, giggling again.
Meg cocked an eyebrow her way, which sent Jo into another giggle fit. Meg started laughing simply watching them, and before long the three of them were breathless, clutching their stomachs.
Jo had just managed to calm down and was wiping her eyes when Carter joined them. Seeing their faces, she asked, “What’s up?” and it sent them off again.
Chapter Four
They were about five miles down the road when they heard a loud pop. Jo had to grab the wheel to keep the car from going off the road. Carter screamed, but Jo gritted her teeth and managed to steer over to the side of the road to a stop. They both sat there, quiet, tense, and almost panting. They were parked on the downward side of a very steep hill about twenty feet from a hairpin turn that overlooked the valley below.
“Jesus,” Carter finally said. “I thought we were going over the side for sure.”
“Me, too.”
“Was it a tire?”
“I guess so.” But it hadn’t felt like a flat tire at all. More like an explosion. Jo had had lots of blowouts in her life, and none of them had ever made her lose control of a car all at once like that. She made herself let go of the wheel, her knuckles actually white. She wiped her sweaty palms on her pants and climbed out of the car. She saw what had happened at once and swore.
“What is it?” Carter asked, getting out.
“Both tires on this side are flat.”
“What?”
Carter came around to the driver’s side and cursed loudly. “Great. Now what the hell are we going to do? We’re in the middle of nowhere!”
Jo paused. If they’d brought a second car, they could have walked back to the trailhead for the cabin, but the three of them had carpooled yesterday to save gas. Their cabin was about twelve miles from the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. The road they used to get to the trail to their cabin was almost entirely deserted, especially now at the end of the summer season. Going back toward the cabin was completely pointless—there was nothing in that direction besides hiking trails. This road eventually hooked up with the main one through the park in that direction, too, but in a very roundabout way. If they continued the way they’d been headed, downhill, they would hit the main road in perhaps three or four miles.
“We’ll have to walk, I guess,” Jo said.
“Are you kidding me? We don’t have any gear. It’s hot as hell out here.”
“We don’t have any other choice. Let’s take what we have and get going.”
“We’re going to be so late. Daniela will kill me.”
Even a cursory glance inside the car revealed their complete lack of preparation. Jo had brought a banana and the rest of her coffee, but her canteen was almost empty from the hike down to the car from the cabin. Carter was a little better off with more water, but neither of them had a hat or any other sun protection.
“We’ll cook out here,” Carter said, squinting and shielding her eyes from the bright, cloudless sky.
“Do you have a better idea?”
She shook her head.
“Then let’s go.”
Jo took the lead, almost storming off. She wasn’t angry with Carter per se, but she did hate it when other people gave up so easily. They had to get to the main road and to a phone—no use pouting about it. Carter might not be in the same shape she was, physically, but she was no slouch, either. Three miles downhill was less than an hour’s walk.
It was incredibly hot, however, and perhaps ten minutes later, Jo had to fight an urge to drink the rest of her water. It didn’t matter whether she drank it now or later, she would get dehydrated either way, but it seemed safer to wait in case she became desperate for something wet. Tiny rivulets of sweat were running into her eyes, stinging, and she cursed herself for acting like such a novice. It was never safe to head into the mountains unprepared, car or no car. She knew better than that.
She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she missed the first hint of sound behind them, but eventually she heard Carter’s footfalls begin to lag behind. She stopped and turned around, almost ready to yell at her, and then she heard it too: a vehicle, heading their way from the direction they’d come. They’d rounded the corner now, so they couldn’t see beyond the edge of the curve they’d already walked past, but it was clearly getting closer.
Carter had already stopped, peering up the hill behind them, and Jo retraced her steps a little to stand by her side.
“What is it?” Carter asked. “Another car?”
“I think so. We’ll just have to wait and see, and hope they stop for us.”
“They’ll pass our vehicle, so they’ll know what happened.”
As if she’d predicted it, Jo was pretty sure she heard the other car slow down and then pick up speed, and a moment later it came into view over the crest of the hill.
“Thank God,” Carter said.
It drove closer, and both she and Jo began waving wildly, walking on the road a little to get the driver’s attention. He or she apparently spotted them and made for the edge of the road, slowing and stopping some ten feet away. The vehicle was an old Bronco truck, green in places, rusty in others. The sun was shining directly behind it, so it was difficult to see inside, but after it stopped, the door opened, and someone very tall climbed out of the cab.
“Jesus, would you look at that,” Carter said, almost breathlessly.
If Jo could have found the air to talk, she would still have been speechless. The woman, when she appeared from behind her door, was a revelation. She was so impossibly tall, she seemed unreal—epic and godlike. Her face was somewhat cast in shadow because she was backlit, but the delicate planes of her cheekbones and her strong jawline were clearly visible. Her hair was a shoulder-length spun gold, and the sunlight that caught it reflected like a halo around her head. She paused, reached into the cab of her truck, and pulled out a wide-brimmed campaign-style hat, putting it on and damping that golden light. Her uniform was drab and shapeless, but the body underneath was anything but—muscular and trim, yet distinctly feminine.
“Can I help you?” the ranger said, walking toward them. Her smile was dazzling underneath a pair of bright, almost fiercely blue eyes. She was some six inches taller than either of them and seemed to gaze down at them from a distance.
Jo let out the breath she’d been holding and heard Carter do the same. Dazed, shaken, Jo was unable to formulate a single answer. She simply stared up at this vision.
“Yes,” Carter managed to say. “Please. Our tires—”
“I thought that might be the case,” the ranger cut in. “I saw your car back there. I’d offer you my spares, but they’re much too big.”
Jo licked her lips, her mouth incredibly dry. Her voice, when she finally spoke, was barely louder than a whisper. “That’s okay. We just need a lift into town or to the station so we can make some phone calls.”
The ranger pointed at her. “I can do you one better. I’ll radio down and have someone at the station call a tow for you, save you a step.”
“Could you?” Carter asked, her voice still somewhat muted, uncertain.
“I’ll do it right now.”
The woman walked back to her truck, and Jo almost had to grab Carter’s arm to keep from staggering.
“Holy shit,” Carter said, eyes stark with disbelief. “Have you ever?”
Jo shook her head furiously. “No. Never. It’s not even possible. I’m pretty sure we’re both dreaming.”
“Well, don’t pinch me, ’cause I never want to wake up,” Carter said. She grinned, and soon the two of them were giggling like children.
“Damn,” Carter said, wiping her eyes. “I’m almost glad we got those flats now.”
Jo swatted her arm. “Hey! You’re a married woman.”
Carter squinted in the direction of the ranger and then back at Jo. “I don’t think Daniela would blame me. And anyway, a girl can look.”
Jo had to agree. No one could help but stare at the woman. She was standing by her truck, radio receiver in hand, her eyes distant as she talked with someone on the other end, nodding unnecessarily as she agreed with something they said. Jo and Carter watched her hang up her receiver again and walk back over to them. Again, her smile was bright, inviting somehow—friendly, genuine, and warm.
“Shouldn’t be long—half an hour, maybe—before we get a truck up here to tow you into town.”
“Oh, wow, Officer…” Carter said.
The ranger held out her hand. “Andy Knox.”
Carter shook it, pumping up and down with clear pleasure. “I’m Carter, Officer Knox, and we can’t thank you enough. It’s so hot out here, and my cousin Jo and I—”
“Cousin?” Andy said, then shook her head. “I would have thought you were twins. And it’s Andy. None of that officer stuff.”
“Okay,” Jo said, finally finding her voice. She offered Andy a clammy hand, and they shook. “Thanks so much. We were in a real pickle.” She could have kicked herself. A pickle? she thought. The woman’s going to think I just crawled out of the 1950s.
But Andy smiled, if possible, even wider. “It’s my pleasure.”
They stayed that way for a long beat, staring at each other, hands clasped, and Jo seemed to sink into those cool, blue eyes. She finally made herself let go, her face heating with embarrassment. If Andy had found the exchange strange, she did a good job of hiding it, as she turned to Carter with that same beautiful smile.
“What are you folks up to this weekend? I mean, before the flat tires.”
Carter was clearly still struggling to act normally, as it took her a few seconds to respond.
“Uh, well, we’re cleaning out our cabin. Up on Glenview Peak.”
“Oh yeah? Up at the old Lemke homestead?”
“Yes,” Carter said.
“We’re both Lemkes,” Jo added, unnecessarily, she realized, a moment after the words left her mouth.
“How interesting,” Andy said. “Not many people have private cabins in the park anymore. I’ve always wondered who owned that place.”
“Here we are,” Jo said, feeling like an idiot again a second later.
The three of them stood there silently, Andy still smiling, and Jo wished very much that she could erase the last three things she’d said. She sounded like a complete and utter idiot.
“What’s it like?” Andy asked. “Your cabin, I mean.”
“A little run-down right now,” Carter said, sounding more like herself. “It’s been…abandoned for a while.”
“But we’re fixing it up,” Jo added, unable to keep a hint of pleading from her voice. She couldn’t stop herself from wanting to impress this woman.
Andy opened her mouth to respond, but her radio squawked back in her truck. She touched the brim of her hat. “Excuse me for a sec, ladies. I’ll be right back.”
Again, Jo was unable to tear her eyes away from Andy’s retreating form, and she snapped back into reality only when Carter elbowed her, hard.
“Ow!” she said, rubbing her arm.
Carter rolled her eyes. “Get it together, Jo. You’ve gone all goosy on me.”
“Can you blame me?”
“No, but come on. You’re acting like a creep staring at her like that. Ask her up to the cabin.”
“What?”
Carter laughed. “I’m serious. Ask her up. You heard her—she’ll be happy to see it.” She raised her eyebrows up and down. “And maybe more.”
“Are you kidding me? We don’t even know if she’s…like us.”
Carter gave her an even stare. “You’re the one who’s kidding yourself, Jo. She was totally coming on to you.”
“No, she wasn’t. She was being friendly. And anyway, why would she come on to me and not you? She thought we were twins.”
“Maybe it’s your winning conversation skills.”
Jo laughed. “Fuck you.”
Carter grinned. “Anyway, what could it hurt? She says no—no problem. But I’m pretty sure she’d like to see it.”
“I can’t. I mean, we just met—”
Jo stopped talking as Andy rejoined them.
“Can I offer you ladies anything?” Andy asked. “Water, maybe?”
“That would be amazing,” Carter said. “I’m parched.”
“Yes,” Jo said, frowning at Carter’s phony enthusiasm. “We’d love some.”
The two of them followed Andy over to the truck, and Carter managed to throw Jo a quick wink behind her back before saying, “Say, Andy? Jo and I were just wondering—”
Jo elbowed her, hard, just as Andy turned around. She’d seen the exchange, and her face crinkled briefly with confusion.
“Wondering what?”
Carter took a careful step away from Jo and threw her another wicked smile. “We were wondering if you’d like to come up and see the cabin some time. Since you’ve never seen it, I mean.”
At that moment, Jo would have been happy to have the road open beneath her and swallow her whole.
If Andy found the invitation strange, however, she didn’t let on, as she immediately smiled. “Really? I’d love to, actually. Like I said, I’ve always wondered what it was like. You guys are so lucky to have land inside the park.”
As Andy started digging around in the back of her truck, Jo leaned over to Carter and whispered, “I’m going to kill you.”
Carter smiled. “You’ll thank me later.”
“In your dreams, smart-ass.”
Chapter Five
Between getting the car towed and having four new tires put on, it was almost noon by the time Jo and Carter drove out of the garage in Estes Park. They decided it was better for Jo to return to the cabin, as the others would likely start worrying if they didn’t show soon—they’d been due back around one. Carter managed to text Daniela and let her know what had happened, but with no way to contact the others up at the cabin, it simply wasn’t fair to let them wait up there without any explanation. Carter dropped Jo off at the trail to the cabin and sped away. As late as it was, it would be a miracle if she and Daniela managed to get back before dark.
Carter had given Meg and Rachel assignments to start on while they were gone, and Jo jumped in to help Meg once she returned. Jo and Meg were cutting the branches away from the windows and tying them into bundles that would either have to be burned or hauled down. Rachel was inside cleaning the main room. They’d brought a lot of supplies with them on the way up yesterday, including gardening shears, a broom, and other cleaning materials, but Jo thought the job she and Meg were working on would have gone a lot faster with a chainsaw. She stood on the roof, cutting the tops of the branches off to make it easier for Meg to get the rest of them from below, but the work was slow and physically difficult. She was drenched in sweat and covered in dirt and sap.
“Can we take ten?” Meg shouted from below. “I’m about to fall over dead.”
“Sure. Let me climb down.”
Meg didn’t respond, and Jo took a second to rest. She crouched, resting her arms on her knees, balanced on the balls of her feet.
The view from up here was incredible. The cabin had been built near the top of a high peak overlooking a long, wide valley of aspen and pine in one of the more remote corners of the park. The location had several benefits, including the absence of neighbors for miles in any direction. You could spend the whole year here and never run into another person. For Jo, it was heaven on earth. Before her Aunt Nancy had taken the keys, she had spent almost all her vacation and free weekends up here, on her own or with Carter and Daniela.
“You okay up there?” Meg called.
“Yep. Heading down now.”
Jo walked across the roof to the makeshift ladder she’d set up—a log they’d propped up against the side of the cabin. It had several thick branches that functioned like the rungs, and she climbed down quickly. Rachel and Meg were waiting at the bottom, gaping at her.
