Page 45 of Eligible Best Friend

“If only you didn’t need the treasure to pay for it.”

“Exactly. I’d have to bring home more than a mood ring to pay for it. But still, I’ve been thinking of where I can go when I leave Fargo.”

She’s getting farther ahead. My pace slowed at when I leave Fargo. We just spent the night together and she’s talking about moving?

And that’s when it hits me. The girl I’m falling for has no intention of staying.

Thirteen

Lia

I kneel down and scrape away dirt that’s exactly twelve inches away from a weathered metal fence post. At the beginning, in the park, the posts were wooden, but as we progress, they’ve turned into metal ones that are significantly older.

My trowel scrapes along a surface that’s definitely not dirt. “Oh! Here it is.” I don’t care how simple this find is; this is always my favorite part. The whole point of the trip is the find.

I manage to find the edges of the box and lift it out. The dirt’s been churned enough recently that there’s little resistance.

Ford kneels next to me, a granola bar open in his hand. He’s been quiet the whole trip, but then I’ve prattled on and on about all the locales I’d love to try my hobby at. “Are they always buried?”

“Not always. Sometimes, they’re in tree trunks, tucked between rocks, or even underwater, like that cave I mentioned. Have a seat. Part of the fun is going through the swag.”

Ford sits and I take a spot next to him. We both lean over our find. He sifts through the trinkets while I dig out an emoji bandage, my pen, and my own granola bar.

“So, you want to travel?”

I smile wryly over the small bin. “You got the hint, huh?”

“Didn’t your parents go anywhere?”

“We used to take vacations and stuff. I miss that, but that’s not the kind of traveling I want.”

“How do you mean?”

I slip the bandage into the box, sign the logbook, and shut the lid. It gives me time to think about my answer. There’s a difference, but I’ve never had to express it before. “I like to travel with a purpose. Ironically, that’s the only time my parents didn’t have an agenda. When we went to Cabo, it was to lie on the beach and relax. When we flew to Paris my senior year, it was to eat at cafés and go to museums. Sometimes, they just booked a suite at a luxury resort and pampered themselves.” While I died of boredom.

“You wanted to explore more?”

“No. Well, yes. I wanted the treasure at the end. A reason for doing what I was doing. Museums are okay, but their purpose is education or enrichment. I had enough of that in school and I don’t know how many fundraisers and holiday parties I’ve gone to at museums and art galleries over the years. I want to see the world from ten thousand feet, and not just to fly to Paris and back. I want to see the mountains and…I don’t know. I want adventure but with a purpose.”

His gaze is steady, the blue of his eyes almost neon under the sun. “You ever think about being a flight paramedic?”

“You mean like with Great Plains Life?” I open my granola bar and take a bite. Ford and I have talked before. We’ve talked about regrets and our past, but this time it’s different. I get to tell someone what I want to do. My dreams. “I guess I haven’t considered it.”

“But you’ve thought about becoming a paramedic.” He says it like it’s a given, but I haven’t. My life has done a complete one-eighty in a short amount of time and I’m only starting to catch up.

“I’m finally stable with a good job. I’m at a point where I can start thinking about what I want to be when I grow up, and it’s a great feeling to know that I can be anything.”

“What do you mean? You moved and took the EMT course.”

“Yeah, but the course was an accelerated one. A quick and easy way to earn decent money. Plus, I always admired the crews we hired for the big fundraisers. One time, when I was in high school, a guy dropped from a massive heart attack at a campaign rally. The paramedic was on him in seconds. When Mom’s team followed up the next day, they got the report he’d survived. I never forgot about it. That and my grandma’s nursing tales must be why the course intrigued me.”

“Is being a career EMT what you want?”

“Mmm…maybe. It’s versatile and I enjoy it.” I chomp on my granola bar, taking off nearly half of it. Good thing I bought the slightly gooey ones that’re easy to chew or I’d risk choking. “Plenty of people are career EMTs.”

“With a little more schooling, you could be a paramedic. Just as versatile and you’d be great at it—and get paid more.”

“Maybe. I want to take my time and decide what I really want to do in life. Mitch has been on me about the paramedic course, too.”

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