Down the Hidden Path (28 page)

The back wall of the hardware store was dedicated to camping and hunting and offered a good supply of fishing gear. Jeremiah was going to spend a small fortune on the top-of-the-line backpack and a goose-down sleeping bag for David. Earl, the store clerk, had pointed out the merits of the lightweight pack. Miah was just choosing a lantern when Earl returned. “You say it’s for a twelve-year-old? He’ll grow right into this one.” Earl patted the backpack as if Miah needed more confirmation about dropping the hundred bucks on it.

“I think I’ve got everything.” He followed Earl to the front.

Earl took the purchases and placed them on the counter. “One of my employees, he’s a senior at River Rock High, just bought this sleeping bag. Going to some hunting cabin this weekend.”

Miah stopped digging in his wallet. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Him and his buddy. I overheard them talking. Said they’re getting beer on the way.” Earl shook his head. “Man, I remember what it was like to be eighteen.”

Miah’s heart was pounding. Surely it wasn’t one of the seniors taking his son. “Just the two of them going? No younger kids?”

Earl pinched the bridge of his nose. “I think he said some of the basketball team was going, but I’m not sure.”

Miah’s hands were shaking as the nausea unfurled in his stomach. “What’s the kid’s name? Your employee?”

“Randall. You know him?”

He quickly accessed the details he knew from David. “He have a little brother named Trey?”

Earl shook his head. “No. But his friend does. Markus Billings. The other boy that’s going along.”

Miah had to close his eyes and count to five before he could say more. There was a white-hot ball of fire in his gut. “I’m pretty sure Randall and Markus are going to Old Man Carver’s hunting cabin. And the basketball boys going with them are from the junior high.”

Earl’s face paled, the smile disappearing. “What?”

Someone yelled from the back corner of the store. “Hey, Earl, I’m here.”

Earl threw an angry look in the direction of the camping gear. “I’m having a talk with that boy now.”

Miah motioned with his thumb. “That’s Randall?”

Earl nodded, but when Miah flew away from him, Earl hollered, “Wait.”

But Miah was a soldier on a mission. His target lay somewhere in the back of the store. He rounded a curve so fast, he nearly took out a display of rope. Sound intensified around him. He heard the squeak of tennis shoes and knew he’d almost reached his target. One more corner and there he was. Tall, skinny, wearing a green shirt with the hardware store’s logo on the breast pocket. Randall. Target acquired. Miah gave half a glance behind the kid who’d been stacking water bottles on a cardboard display. First, the boy turned in greeting, but when he saw the murderous look on Miah’s face, his grin faded quickly.

Miah’s fingers dug into the material of the kid’s shirt and with one quick shove, the boy was against the wall, feet dangling beneath him. “You were taking alcohol on a camping trip with a bunch of twelve-year-olds?” The words were audible, but only barely, through gritted teeth.

“What? No. No, I swear.” The kid clamped his hands over Miah’s as if he could pry his way free.

Earl finally caught up to them. “Are you going to Old Man Carver’s hunting cabin or not?”

At least Miah had backup. Earl wasn’t calling the cops on him.

The boy continued to dangle. “Yeah, but we’re not taking—”

Miah shoved him higher on the wall.

Earl stepped closer. “I heard you bragging about it, Randall. I think it’s best you come clean; this is a decorated war veteran and I’d guess he knows how to hide a body. His son was one of the boys going.”

Randall’s eyes had rounded to the point where Miah wondered if they’d pop right out of his skull. The kid shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. The beer was just for me and Markus. We figured no one would be checking up on us, and the kids would all be busy roasting marshmallows and stuff.”

Judging by the look on Randall’s face, Miah’d made his point. He lowered the kid to the ground. “This is what you’re going to do. You’re going to call and cancel that trip. You’re going to apologize to the parents, and you’re never going to offer to take those kids again, you got it?”

Randall nodded furiously and started breathing again when Miah released his hold.

Earl placed a calming hand on Miah’s shoulder. “I’ll see that he makes the calls.”

Miah nodded. “Appreciate it.”

Earl guided him back to the front of the store. Earl hadn’t tried to stop him, but he obviously didn’t want the situation to escalate any further. “He’s got a truck to unload and was going to get out of here at six to get ready for the trip. As soon as he’s done with the truck, I’ll have him sit down and call those parents.”

Miah cast a glance at his watch. It was after four now. David was probably home from school and Gray would be leaving the lodge soon to get ready for their date at the Neon Moon.

“You want me to refund your money on the camping gear?” Earl started taking things from the bags.

“Nah. We’ll be going soon enough. Once it warms up a little more. I’ll keep everything.”

Earl replaced the lantern in the sack. “Sorry about this.”

“Not your fault.” But Miah couldn’t help but wonder if this was a harbinger of things to come. He was raising a boy. And boys found trouble. Sometimes, they didn’t even mean to, but trouble abounded in the realms of boyhood. David was a tween-ager. It could only get worse from here.

Earl pointed down the aisle in Randall’s direction. “He really is a good kid.”

Miah chuckled. “Good kid, bad idea.”

The two shook hands and Miah left. Now all he had to do was figure out how to tell David his camping trip was canceled.

He drove home in silence without even the radio to keep him company. The weather had warmed to a comfortable forty-five degrees, as if the weatherman were taunting him.

When he pulled into the drive, he spotted Gray, and his stomach did that tightening thing he was becoming more and more used to. She wore jeans, a vintage T-shirt that was too worn to read, and her hair was tucked behind her ears. One hand clamped on the railing at the foot of his porch stairs. She shook the railing back and forth and the motion made her entire body move.

He stopped the truck and watched while she tested the stability of his railing. When she saw him, her smile was bright, full, and just for him. He’d turned her concentration into a beaming grin, and blast it all if he didn’t want to do that over and over every day of his life. Take all of Gray’s seriousness and turn it upside down. She needed him. As a counterbalance. And he needed her for everything and then some.

She placed a hand to her forehead when the sun hit her. “This needs to be tightened.”

His fingers itched to crawl over her skin. Miah moved in closer, snagging her by the waist in one arm. “Is that so?”

Her full concentration left the banister and landed on him.

His body hummed like a race car in response. He’d like to follow this train of consciousness for a while, see where it led, but there were other things that took precedence.

“We need to talk.”

She blinked. “What’s up?”

He sat down on the stairs and she followed his lead. “David’s camping trip.”

“He can’t wait. He’s been asking Caleb all about building a campfire, and he’s raided your pantry for marshmallows and graham crackers.”

“Gray, there’s not going to be a camping trip.” Miah filled her in on the situation, his reaction and Earl’s response. “Luckily, I’m not banned from the hardware store. I’m also not in jail for assaulting a minor. So, on those fronts, we can call the incident a success.”

She dropped her head into her hands, then let her fingers glide through the strands of hair that had fallen forward. She made two fists at the back of her head, holding her hair off her face. “How do we tell him?”

“Tell me what?” David closed the lodge door behind him and stepped out onto the porch.

Miah’s mouth hung open. He knew all the words were in there, they just weren’t working their way forward. The phone rang, its sound muffled through the door, and David bolted. “I’ll get it.”

Miah and Gray stood to follow him in. Gray slipped her hand into Miah’s as they walked.

David listened as they both watched his face go from young excitement to utter disappointment. Even his posture seemed to curl under the news. When he sat the phone on the kitchen counter, he said, “Trip’s canceled.” And with that, he sighed and trudged past them. “I’m going up to my room to read.”

Caleb stepped into the kitchen. He did a quick scan of Gray and Miah and said, “Who died?”

“Not helping, Caleb.”

Caleb shrugged and went to the refrigerator to stare inside.

Gray checked the kitchen doorway to make sure David was gone. “His trip was canceled because Miah found out the older boys were planning to take beer along with them.”

Caleb grinned. “Dude, he is so gonna hate you.”

Miah braced his hands against the butcher-block counter of the kitchen island. “Not. Helping.”

Caleb popped the top on the root beer he’d grabbed from the fridge. “You’re not going to tell him, are you?”

Miah looked at Gray, who looked at Miah, then they both looked at Caleb. The younger man shook his head. “Don’t admit anything. It’s bad enough the trip went south. But for it to be his fault . . .”

Gray shook her head. “It’s not David’s fault.”

Caleb’s shoulder tipped up. “Sure it is. His dad is the one who found out.”

Miah buried his face in his hands. His fingers smelled like Gray, but he forced the quick, hot image from his mind. Through his digits he muttered, “This is a disaster.”

“David will be fine.” Caleb drained the drink and spun on his barstool to toss it into the trash. “Let it rest for a day or two. Then, if you have to tell him, do it. But not now; it’s all too raw.”

Was he actually considering taking parenting advice from his twenty-five-year-old brother? Then again, Caleb was almost as close to David’s age as he was to Miah’s. Maybe he had a point.

He looked to Gray for her thoughts on the subject, but the blank stare said it all. She was as clueless as he on how to handle this.

Caleb rolled his eyes. “Look, I’ll put the phone on silent, so no one can call him tonight. You guys go have your date and I’ll hang here with the science geek. I’ll corrupt him with the new RPG game I bought.”

Gray’s eyes narrowed. “Rating?”

Caleb shook his head. “E for everyone.”

She did her mom-nod and settled into her seat waiting for Miah to make the call. Man, this stuff was tough.

“That’s nice, Caleb, really. And I know you only bought that game because you know it’s one David likes, but I think it would be better for him to go out with us tonight.”

Gray perked up. “Yes. I agree.”

Caleb lifted his hands and dropped them. “Whatever, but he’s not going to want to go.”

“Then we’ll stay here.”

“Yeah,” Caleb smiled. “Make it worse for him. He’s been working like a dog to get you two together.”

Miah tapped the counter. “We’ll let David decide.”

Caleb hunched over a hunting magazine on the counter. “Okay, but when he turns you down, let him know I’m ordering cheeseburger pizza.”

Miah stopped at the door and faced his brother. “You’re bribing him.” Then, his face split into a smile. “Thanks, Caleb. You’re the best.”

“I know I am.”

Thirty minutes later, and after Caleb was exceedingly right about . . .
everything, Miah and Gray sat down to dinner at the Neon Moon.

Caleb stood motionless, his attentions drifting to the good deed he’d done earlier in the evening by offering to babysit David. They’d eaten an entire pizza and David had slaughtered him at the new video game. He’d be inside right now requesting an opportunity for payback, but he’d been drawn to the front yard when he heard something rustling against the trashcan. A furry little thief entered his line of vision. It was dark, but he easily identified the family of raccoons that had learned a delicious buffet of food awaited them in the trash bins by the side of the house. Caleb spotted one just as it trekked through the yard on the scattered water puddles and remaining snow. Everything had still seemed frozen solid until the sun peeked out in the early afternoon and started melting the world around. He’d take the snowmobile out tomorrow if it was cold. Since they were pushing the end of February, who knew if he’d get another chance. He placed a block on top of the trash and went back into the house.