Free What She's Looking For by Trent Evans Page B

“It’s not
Kimber. Just picking up a few things. Not that it’s any of your fucking
business.”
    “Oh, in that case, I’m in. Let me
get a shower and we can roll.”
    Drake opened the front door, the
coolness of the morning air flooding the entryway.
    “Hey, Drake? I just got an idea.”
    Drake looked back over his
shoulder, frowning. “Oh shit, here we go.”
    “Go find Jed for me , will ya? He’s
coming with us too.”
    “Why the hell are we bringing the
dog?”
    Parker beamed. “Need his opinion on
something. I’ll be out in a few.

Chapter Eight
     
    A shley felt like an idiot after that
dinner she’d had with all of them. So she kept her distance, always mindful of
one of her favorite aphorisms from Mark Twain: “It is better to keep your mouth
shut and appear stupid rather than to open it and remove all doubt.”
    What a way to make a first
impression with them. But she kicked herself for even thinking that way. Why
did she think she even needed to make an impression? She wasn’t trying
to impress anyone, was she?
    She feared she was probably kidding
herself if her answer to that question was ‘no’.
    So she immersed herself in trying
to get her life back together. Working for something, achieving, striving.
Those were all laudable things — especially in the service of helping to get
her out of her own head.
    One of the hidden benefits of
working in real estate, were the number of places you got to visit, the little
corners of the world she’d never otherwise see. Every town had them, and Chelan
was no different. The one place that most touched her though, the place she
came back to often, was the memorial on the south shore of Lake Chelan.
    In 1945, a school bus carrying more
than a dozen children had skidded off of the road during a snowstorm, and slid
into the icy waters off the south shore. Only a handful of the kids on board, along
with one adult, escaped with their lives. The bus was eventually recovered from
a rocky ledge, a couple hundred feet below the surface, with some of the dead,
including the bus driver, still inside. What bothered her the most was that
some of the bodies were never found, forever lost to the lake that was over a
thousand feet deep in places. The thought of that accident haunted her, and it
was evident that it still haunted the town of Chelan more than sixty-five years
later.
    Ashley couldn’t help the tears that
welled in her eyes as she’d stood by that monument, the noise of the traffic on
the road behind her lost to her perception, watching the placid waters of the
lake, knowing that some of those babies were never found. She’d never had
children, but she didn’t know how she’d ever be able to go on after losing a
child, let alone two. Some of the dead were lost with their siblings.
    A hand clasped her shoulder and she
jumped in her chair. Her boss Debbie smiled down at her, a cup of coffee in her
hand.
    “You have a call waiting for you,”
she said, setting the cup down on Ashley’s desk. She had really gotten lucky
with Debbie. Ashley had told her new manager some of why she’d suddenly
relocated out west, but not all of it. Debbie was sympathetic and kind — two
great attributes to have in a boss.
    Ashley punched her phone line. “Ashley
Dietrich, how can I help you?”
    “You could help me by keeping me
company on Friday.”
    She was stunned for a moment. Who
was it? Her heart raced momentarily, thinking maybe Terry had found her number.
Found her. Then she had it.
    “Parker? Hi.” She winced at the
uncertainty she let slip into her voice.
    Of course it’s him, you idiot.
    “I need to talk to you. Someone
else answered the phone. Are you somewhere you can talk?”
    “Ah, not really.” She looked over
toward Debbie’s office door. It was wide open, and she could hear her boss
typing away within. “I’m sure it’s fine, though. What do you need to talk
about? You raising my rent?”
    “It’s about last Friday. What
happened after