Page 79 of Love in Tandem
He shrugged. “Nothing we need to talk about right now while you’re grumpy.”
“I’m not grumpy. I’m just . . .”
“What?”
“Hungry. I want pancakes.”
“Well, why didn’t you say something? Faye offered to make us some if we were willing to stick around.”
“We don’t have time to stick around. Not today. We can’t afford any more distractions.”
“Hmm . . . by distractions, do you mean photo opportunities?”
She smacked his back. “Stop stirring up trouble.”
“No trouble here. In fact, I’m the one trying to stick to the ground rules we established.”
“Can we not talk about ground rules or anything until I’ve had a chance to wake up a little more? Like maybe in fifty miles after we cross the finish line?”
“Sure.” Zach gave it a good minute before he angled his head her direction. “I just thought we’d agreed no more kissing.” Zach noticed Charlotte pedaled harder whenever she was annoyed. If he kept bugging her, they’d have fifty miles under their belt by noon.
“Don’t act like that was my fault.”
“I’m not placing any blame. I’m just saying I’d appreciate it if you’d learn to keep your hands and lips to yourself.” She smacked him harder. “You’re already not doing a very good job.”
“You kissed me back.”
“I was being polite. We were guests. Somebody had to show some manners. I guess I should just be relieved you didn’t try breaking the no-nudity clause again.” Cold water washed down his neck and back. “And now you’re definitely breaking the no-wasting-resources clause.”
“You are in some mood today.”
“Must have been that kiss.”
He didn’t have to turn around to know she was trying not to smile.
Maybe he’d been wrong. Maybe she pedaled hardest when she was happy.
He just wished he felt nearly as happy as she did to be approaching the end of their time together.
The afternoon sun beat down on Sophia’s head as she stared at the blisters on her hands. The dirt covering her clothes. The muddy sweat on her arms. “Are you sure you’re looking at that sketch right?”
Joshua held the paper in one hand as he lifted his other arm toward the rock wall. “I don’t know how else to look at it. Right field should be somewhere in that direction. Which means home plate should be somewhere around here.”
Those words would instill a lot more confidence if they weren’t the same words he’d been uttering ever since they loaded a cooler and shovels into the back of an old truck to begin their search several hours ago.
Sophia glanced around Hopkins’s property. She hadn’t seen this many holes since digging up her parents’ backyard in search of one of Hopkins’s other promised treasures years ago. In a weird way, it felt like things were coming full circle for her. Lots of holes, zero treasure.
“Is there any place we haven’t looked yet that would make sense for home plate?” So far they’d dug up the entire garden, the perimeter of the gazebo, and one giant circumference around a funny-shaped tree—that last one at Sophia’s insistence. But so far the only treasure they’d discovered was soil and worms.
“Maybe that’s the problem,” Joshua said, folding the sketch and shoving it into his back pocket. “We’re assuming Hopkins would have chosen a place for home plate that makes sense. Knowing him, left field is right field. Or the dugout is the bleachers. Or—” He stopped waving his arms around like a crazy orchestra conductor and froze. “Is it me, or does that one rock look out of place?”
Sophia twisted to follow his gaze. “Yeah. Remember, I pointed that one out the first day I was here. It looks bigger and darker and all . . . pentagony-ish.” She gasped. “Do you see what I’m seeing? It looks like home plate. Did we find it?”
“Maybe,” Joshua said, digging the map back out of his pocket. “Okay. Yeah. I think I’m starting to see it. Maybe that wall wasn’t supposed to be outfield. Maybe—”
She couldn’t stick around for more maybes. She had to know.
Sophia sprinted, reaching the stone wall several steps before Joshua did. She dropped to her knees, struggling to move the giant stone on her own. Thankfully with Joshua’s hands next to hers, they shoved it aside easily. And both saw it at the same time.
