One Bride for Five Mountain Men

“If they head in the right direction, yeah, I guess it is.”

“All I need is a Skype session, Timothy. I can get this all sorted out, buy us some time at least. Isn’t it worth a shot?”

After a few more minutes thinking about it, he finally presses his lips together and nods. Pushing himself out of the chair, he leaves the room, returning shortly with a laptop tucked under his arm. He closes the door behind him, latching it quietly.

“I mean, we’re not doing anything wrong,” he mutters defensively. “It’s probably just best if Carty doesn’t walk in right at this particular moment.”

“Understood,” I breathe.

He sets the laptop up in front of me and I open the Skype app, trying to remember my login credentials. I’m so accustomed to having everything on my own devices, it’s really weird to be on somebody else’s laptop. Somehow, I manage to get the right username and password in there and scroll to my contacts, double-clicking instantly on Nance’s name.

“You know what, I’ll just give you some privacy,” Timothy mutters as he leaves the room. But I’m not even paying attention. Instead, I’m listening to the artificial ring tone, my heart beating wildly in my chest.

“Lola!” comes a voice as her face, distorted and strange, appears on the screen.

I wave reflexively, suddenly giddy at the sight of her face. Man, I guess I missed her. Didn’t expect that.

“Oh my God, where have you been? We’ve been worried sick about you!” She cries out, squinting at the screen. “Where are you? Is that the hotel? Is that a bed? Are you back in Sacramento?”

“Okay, okay, okay,” I laugh, holding my hands up defensively. “One question at a time! First of all, I’m fine. Totally fine.”

Her brow furrows suspiciously. “Is someone forcing you to say that, Lola? Blink three times and I will understand!”

“No, of course not!” I laugh. “You watch too many thrillers. Oh my God, Nance, it is so good to see you! I am totally okay, I promise!”

“Well, what the fuck happened to you, Lola?” she demands, suddenly angry. “Because if you are okay, then I am pissed! I have been worried sick about you! Do you realize that there are six separate search parties crawling all over that mountain, looking for your mangled or decapitated or half-eaten ass? Do you realize that?”

I wince, certain that is at least partially true. “Well, I did take a bit of a tumble. I mean, look…” Leaning over wildly, I raise my left leg so that she can see the bandage around my swollen ankle. That should make her at least a little bit happy.

“What did you do, sprain it? All this over a sprained ankle?”

“Well, no…” I explain uncomfortably, feeling the conversation getting away from me. “I fell. I guess I just lost control of my skis, and I fell. Maybe I hit my head or something, because when I woke up it was snowing. Really snowing.”

“Well, yeah,” she scowls. “That’s why we couldn’t find you right away. That storm came out of nowhere! Roger said he had never seen anything like it!”

“Yeah, something like that…” I agree, remembering that Jake said any idiot should have known the storm was coming. That’s what I get for letting some strange jerk get me on top of the mountain. Last time I ever do that, I promise myself silently.

“But as soon as the weather was okay, we started looking for you right away. I promise. We’ve been so worried about you! Chad too!”

I start to talk, and then bite my lip. Did she know? Curiosity boils inside me. I wouldn’t totally rule out the possibility that Nance would have tried to make me commit infidelity without even telling me, if it suited her purposes somehow. I mean, she can be kind of mercenary when the situation calls for it. That’s why she’s the boss and I’m the underling.

“So, anyway, the next thing I knew I woke up in some kind of cabin or shack or something,” I explain, embellishing here and there, leaving out anything that I think is important. “These old guys, hunters or something… They didn’t even speak English. But they wrapped up my ankle for me and then dropped me off in, um, Virginia City.”

“Virginia City? What the hell are you talking about? Is that where you are? All your stuff is in Tahoe! Your luggage!”

“Oh… right. Well, you can just take that back to Sacramento for me, can’t you?” I suggest hopefully.

She rolls her eyes. “I guess so?” she sneers. “I mean you didn’t pack a whole lot. Or I can get it to Virginia City? Is that where you are?”

“Well, I was,” I begin to babble. “But now I’m in, um, Reno. In a hotel. But I can’t tell you more than that!”

“You can’t tell me more than that?” she repeats suspiciously. “Lola, exactly what is going on?”

I lean forward, blocking out everything on the screen except my face, as though whispering in her ear. “Listen, Nance, I think I found something. I think I may have found a story. It’s too early to say, okay? I just need you to trust me on this for a little while.”

“What kind of story?” she asks slowly. Her eyes are narrowed and I can tell she’s not entirely buying this.

“Just a story… I’m not even really sure yet,” I dodge. “I mean, you know, there are all kinds of stories around here. All these rich people have something to hide. They’re always up to some kind of shenanigans or something. I mean—”