Rocky Mountain Mayhem (33 page)

Vivian turned to face the girls. “Y’all ready
to go? I don’t want to hike down this mountain with
flashlights.”

They were ready and Wendy was helped down the
mountain by two burly firemen. She seemed pretty okay with
that.

The old mining camp looked eerie in the dusk,
and Vivian had no inclination to stop or peek inside the shacks.
She picked up the pace to keep up with Lucy.

They got to Bighorn Creek and the firemen
splashed across carrying Wendy. They sat her down on the other
side, then helped Vivian, Kate and Lucy across. It was much harder,
in the fading light, to see the rock and logs they had used in
crossing that afternoon.

The switchbacks were easier to manage going
down, and for that Vivian was thankful.

Once at the bottom of the trail, they gave
individual statements to Agent Smith. Their stories were the same.
Craig jumped out of a tree, zapped Hayes and Cervantes, shot
Nelson, shot Finck twice, Wendy bear sprayed him, he clawed the
crap out of Shick before being handcuffed.

Smith walked Vivian over to Lucy’s SUV where
the girls waited.

“Is there anything else we need to do?”
Vivian asked him.

“What time is your flight tomorrow?”

“It’s at 4:40, so we need to head down the
mountain by noon. Wendy and Kate fly out about that time, too.
Lucy, who lives here in Boulder, is dropping us off.”

“Nothing for now,” Smith said. “We’ll
probably be by tonight to wrap things up, or it could be in the
morning. For now, drive safely back to the hotel. I recommend
picking up some crutches for ‘Grace’ here.” He nodded to Wendy.

“Yeah, good idea,” Kate said.

They got into Lucy’s SUV and she cranked up
the engine.

“I can’t believe it’s over,” Vivian said as
they left the parking lot. “Talk about a bad breakup.”

“That’s not the only thing that’s over,” Lucy
said, putting on some Beaver Balm. “Our vacation is over as of
tomorrow.”

“So not fair,” Vivian said. “I could use
another day, or four.”

“Let’s not get all blah. We need to
celebrate!” Kate said and patted Vivian on the back. “You are free
from drama, and we have one more crisp, cool night at The
Ridge.”

“True. Let’s do it up right,” Wendy said.
“Maybe hit Beaver Liquors, grab some champagne. I need to drink for
medicinal purposes.”

Vivian looked at her. “Need some natural
anesthetic?”

“Yeah, sure. Grapes are natural. Anyway, back
to my master plan. We go back to the hotel and y’all can take a dip
in the grotto while I relax in a lounger, and then we can enjoy the
fire pit and chow down on s’mores.”

“Okay, but I’m buying the champagne,” Vivian
said. “As long as we don’t buy it at the hotel. It’d cost me a
small fortune! Or maybe a small child.”

“You’re not lacking in those,” Lucy
laughed.

“Let’s book it to the beave!” Wendy said.

Lucy drove into town where they stopped at a
pharmacy and grabbed Wendy some crutches. Then they were off to
Beaver Liquors for natural anesthetic — two bottles of wine and a
bottle of champagne. They didn’t stop at the novelty section this
time. They were women on a mission.

Once at the hotel they stopped by the front
desk and told Trey about the hike and the takedown. He was
impressed, especially with the bear spray and karate kick. Seeing
Wendy using the crutches, he sent for a wheelchair.

“I’m pushing her,” Lucy said and got into
place behind the wheelchair the instant it arrived.

“She’s a little too excited about this,”
Wendy said, hesitantly sitting down.

“I’m an excellent driver. Cars, wheelchairs,
you name it.”

“I dunno.” Wendy propped her feet on the two
rests. “How many accidents have you been in?”

Lucy shushed her and pushed her to the room
without running into anything. Vivian deemed Lucy worthy of
wheelchair duty.

Three of them changed into swimsuits, robes
and slippers and Wendy kept on her hiking clothes. No sense in
sweating in anything else, she reasoned.

Wendy hopped to the wheelchair and sat down
holding a bottle of wine and four cups. “I’ve got us set in the
beverage department. Let’s jet.”

They walked and wheeled to the elevator,
taking it to the spa.

“I could get used to this,” Wendy said as
Lucy wheeled her into the grotto.

“As if this place doesn’t spoil you enough,
now you want to be carted everywhere!” Vivian said, depositing her
robe on a lounger.

“Would it be your pleasure to do that for
me?” Wendy asked Vivian sweetly as she opened the bottle and poured
everyone a cup.

Lucy gave the toast. “To our last night in
our Rocky Mountain paradise. May it not be full of surprises!”

Clink!

Before getting in the hot tub, Kate grabbed
everyone two slices of cucumbers. “We deserve to pamper
ourselves.”

“Amen to that,” Lucy said, sitting on the
ledge in front of Wendy’s lounger. Kate sat down next to her.

Vivian sat on the ledge close to the
waterfall and put the cool cucumber on her eyes and leaned back.
Warmth and bubbles enveloped her, a million tiny air massages,
working out the stress. The cucumber chill soothed her eyelids. She
wanted to float like that forever.

“Viv. Viv.” Lucy was pushing on her arm.
“Wake up.”

“What? Huh?”

“You fell asleep! I’ve never seen anyone
crash that fast. Ever.”

Vivian peeled the cucumbers from her eyes.
“I’ve had a rough week. Guess I needed a nap.”

Kate was already out of the water and
toweling off. “We were getting pruney, so we decided it was
time.”

“Besides, I need more natural anesthetic,”
Wendy said, dropping into the wheelchair.

Lucy slipped on her robe. “I’m getting
hungry.”

Vivian was, too, so she dried off and threw
on her robe and slippers. “I’m ready.”

They went back upstairs, freshened up,
changed into warmer clothes and decided to celebrate at
Felix’s.

“Should we go ahead and pack up the champagne
and s’mores stuff?” Lucy asked.

“Probably a good idea,” Kate said. “I’m
sitting by the fire pit right after dinner. No more moving. No more
worrying. No more anything, except for the calm movement of my hand
bringing to my mouth warm, melted chocolate and lightly roasted
marshmallow mushed ever so gingerly between two graham crackers.
Mmmmm.”

“Maybe we should have those first,” Vivian
said.

“I need some real food. We can splurge, but
nobody order the $500 margarita!” Wendy said, wheeling herself to
the door of the suite.

MATT, the host, greeted the girls in Felix’s
and escorted them to a lovely table. Wendy asked for the wine list.
Matt made a few suggestions, and she ordered a bottle of Archery
Summit Red Hills Estate pinot noir.

“It’s nice to sit here and not worry that
someone’s watching,” Vivian said, opening her menu, her back to the
wall. She had a great view of the restaurant and the
mountainside.

“True that,” Lucy said, flipping a page in
her menu. “Now what do I want?”

“I know what I’m having,” Kate said without
even cracking her menu open. “I want a big-ass steak. Medium rare.
On the side I want the scalloped potatoes and glazed carrots.”

“Ditto,” Vivian said. “Except do they have
mac and cheese? I do love myself some good mac and cheese. And I
want mine medium. I don’t do blood.”

“Are you getting that instead of the
potatoes?” Lucy asked.

“Nope, instead of carrots. I want carbs with
my carbs. Bring it on.”

Lucy shook her head. “I think I’m having the
Hawaiian roasted pork tenderloin.”

“I can’t decide,” Wendy said. “I’m torn
between the blackened trout and the venison stew. I’ll ask which is
better.”

Matt returned with the wine and Wendy went
through the sniffing, swirling and tasting before approving. The
waiter arrived to take their order and Wendy asked for a
recommendation. He said both the venison and the trout were good,
but he went on and on about the trout, so trout it was.

Matt and the waiter left, and Lucy held up
her wine glass. “To the capture of Craig, compliments of
Wendy!”

“And karate chops!” Wendy said, slicing her
hand through the air.

“And bear spray!” Kate added.

“And to my brave, loyal, very best friends,”
Vivian said. “I couldn’t have done this without y’all.”

They cheersed and had just put down their
glasses when the waiter arrived with a crab cake appetizer.

“Compliments of Felix’s,” he said.

Lucy drizzled the white wine butter sauce
over the crab. “Score!”

Vivian took a bite and did a little dance in
her chair. “Oh my god, this is good.”

This called for another toast. “To
Felix’s!”

Clink.

“It is so nice here,” Wendy said, looking out
the floor-to-ceiling windows. The moon glowed against the mountain
and glittered off the pool. “I can totally understand why you love
living in Colorado.”

“It is a nice place,” Lucy said. “And I love
that the community does things to promote a healthy lifestyle, like
bike paths. In Boulder they’re everywhere. Try to ride your bike
anywhere in Texas and you’re highly likely to become road
kill.”

“We’re getting better,” Vivian said in
defense. “In Fort Worth our mayor is an avid biker and a proponent
for bike lanes. But others in city government had started the
campaign even before she was in office.”

“Even so, it’s not like Colorado,” Kate said.
“Austin is better than most cities in Texas, but pedestrians and
bikers are still likely to get run over.”

“It’s damn hot in Texas in the summers,”
Wendy said, taking a sip of water. “So I’ll stick to getting around
in my Trans Am.”

“I wouldn’t mind living in Colorado. Maybe
one day,” Vivian said. “Until then I’ll have the stationary bike at
my gym. I do have a good view sometimes, though.”

“Oh really?” Kate said.

“No one in particular, but there’s some good
eye candy.”

Wendy’s phone rang and she looked at the
display. It rang several times but she didn’t respond.

Vivian leaned across the table. “Who is
it?”

“Jake.”

“You gonna answer it?”

Wendy clicked on and rolled away from the
table. This was one conversation she didn’t want to have in front
of the girls. She tucked the phone between her ear and shoulder and
said hello. She made her way into the great room and pulled up by
the fireplace.

“How’s your trip?” Jake asked, sounding
upbeat.

Wendy laughed. “Just peachy. I’m in a
wheelchair.”

“You’re what?”

“Blew out my ankle today running from a
crazed stalker. Had to give my jacket to an FBI agent who got shot
in the leg. The Ridge is fabulous, though, and I’d love to come
back.”

“What the heck are you talking about? Do you
need me to fly up there? Are you okay?”

She sniffled a little. He still cared.
“Nothing’s broken, I’ll be fine. I survived falling out of the raft
that had been shot while we were whitewater rafting through the
Royal Gorge and Lucy got us stopped safely in the runaway truck
ramp when her brakes went out.”

“Brakes out? Falling out of a raft? Can you
please tell me what’s going on?”

Wendy went over the past six days,
highlighting some details, but not all. She did mention the five
FBI agents, hard to leave that part out, but she didn’t mention the
grotto incident. Or the elevator.

When she finished, Jake said, “Why didn’t you
call me?”

“For what?” she said, instantly pissed off.
He hadn’t been around much lately, why did he think his presence
would help now? “We’ve been in good hands. There isn’t anything you
could have done.”

“I’d just like to be there for you.”

“Really? It sure hasn’t felt like it lately.”
She hung up the phone, her hands shaking. She hadn’t had the heart
to break up with him over the phone, he deserved better than that,
but if he really cared about her, he needed to show it. She was on
the verge of thinking his caring only went so far, as in “let’s
just be friends” far.

She regained her composure and rolled back to
the dinner table. Their food had arrived, and she gave a quick
recap of the conversation as everyone dug in.

Lucy ate a bite of grilled pineapple and said
with a full mouth, “So, are you breaking up with him?”

Wendy teared up a little but was determined
to forget about the Jake situation for now. She wanted to have a
great time on her last night of vacation.

To lighten the mood, Vivian went over the
high school roster, updating the girls on who was where, who’d
gotten married, who’d popped out a kid or two.

Lucy and Kate had a few updates, but Wendy,
sticking around the Get Down, had the most.

“Did y’all hear Pete Montoya is a plastic
surgeon now?”

“Really?” Kate looked surprised.

“Has a practice in the Houston Medical
Center. I used to party with him in high school. I knew he was a
smart guy, but I just can’t picture him doing something so
serious.”

Vivian stabbed a piece of steak. “Is he
single and if so, do you have his number?”

Wendy laughed and they continued their
scrumptious dinner. A time or two, Vivian caught herself looking
around for psycho stalkers and had to remind herself that Craig was
locked up.

She took one last bite of mac and cheese and
pushed back her plate. “My name is Vivian Taylor, and I’m a
carboholic.”

“Yes, you are,” Lucy said as she reached over
and scammed a bite of mac and cheese. “Damn, that’s good.”

“Too good.”

Kate pushed back her plate. She had wiped out
the steak and most of the potatoes but left the carrots. “I was
just trying to look healthy.”

Wendy loved her trout and Lucy finished her
tenderloin. They sat for quite a while, chatting and polishing off
the wine.