Chapter 26
“You looking for Rick?”
Nolan turned to find an older man in a bathrobe standing at the edge of Rick’s front yard holding a garden hose.
“Yeah.You seen him?”
“Not for a few days now.Said he got the Jeep going and took some time off work to go test her out.”
“Shit,”Nolan hissed,turning to look at the house.“You have any idea where he could have gone?”
The neighbor went back to watering his rose bushes.“Well,I do,but I’m not sure I should tell you.Who are you again?”
Nolan crossed the driveway to plead his case face-to-face.“It’s a matter of life and death.Can you please tell me?Rick would want you to.”
The man studied Nolan’s face and must have judged him to be trustworthy.“Well,I’d say he’s out at the lake.”
“The lake?”
“Yeah,up at the cabin.You know where that is?”
“Oh sure.I’ve been there a million times.How exactly do I get there again?”
“Matter of life and death,you say?”the neighbor asked with squint.
“Well,hopefully more life than death,but it’s really,reallyimportant.Can you please tell me?”
“Here,”the old man said,handing Nolan the garden hose.“Hold this.”He fished in the pocket of his robe and took out his phone and took a picture of Nolan and one of his car.He put the phone away and took back the hose.“Okay,so no funny business.I got evidence.”
Nolan nodded solemnly.“No funny business.”
The man gave Nolan the directions to the Monroe cabin as best as he could remember them.Nolan tried to pay close attention,but the man rambled on a bit and contradicted himself frequently.After promising to get a new tire before attempting the rough roads out by the lake,Nolan profusely thanked the man and headed out to find Rick.He,in fact,never even considered stopping to buy a tire.Time was of the essence.
The twisty gravel roads and dead ends near the lake were more confusing that Nolan thought they would be,but he let out a sigh of relief as he saw a sign nailed to a tree that said simply“Monroe”with an arrow pointing up a particularly narrow and rough gravel road.He was so excited to be on the right track that he didn’t try to avoid a deep rut soon enough.His rickety spare tire snapped right off the axle and the undercarriage hit the ground with a sickening crunch.
Nolan got out to survey the damage.It didn’t look good.After assessing the situation,Nolan set about freeing his car and getting back on the road.He trotted a short distance away and found the donut.It looked a bit flatter than it had been,but he supposed it would still work.He checked out the hub that had recently held the tire and noticed only three of the five studs that hold the lug nuts in place were still there.The other two had apparently been sheared off.He hoped three would be enough.
Nolan lay down in the gravel road and began slowly working the car’s jack underneath the frame of the car.It was a tight fit since one quarter of the frame was resting on the edge of the rut but he managed to get it into position.As he began jacking the car up,he noticed the base of the jack was sinking more into the gravel than the car was actually raising up.
“Well there’s your trouble.Your damned tire fell off.”
Nolan spun around to see who had come up on him while he was distracted with the car.“Rick!”
Nolan stood up and ran to him,grabbing him up in an intense hug.Rick’s strong arms wrapped around him and he buried his face in the crook of Nolan’s neck.Relief flooded through Nolan and he began to cry.
“Hey.None of that now.”Rick leaned back and wiped a fat tear away that was rolling down Nolan’s cheek.“It’s okay.It’s just a car.”
“Oh,fuck that car.I am just so relieved.I’ve missed you so much and I didn’t think I’d ever find you.”
Rick laughed,one had still at the small of Nolan’s back,their lower bodies pressed against each other.“I don’t know if I should be flattered or scared by your little Nancy Drew detective skills.”
“Why aren’t you more surprised to see me?”Nolan asked.
“I got a text half an hour ago from my neighbor.Why were you holding a garden hose in those pics?”
“That doesn’t matter.I’m just glad I found you.Please don’t ever disappear again.”
Rick nodded,but didn’t reply to his plea.“Let’s get you cleaned up.”He pulled his hand away from Nolan and looked at the red goo that was covering it.“Is that…”
“Damn!That was my Pop Tart!I must have smashed it.”He turned to try and look as his own ass.
Rick dissolved into laughter.“I’d say smashed it is an understatement.You’re covered in,”Rick licked one of his sticky fingers.“Strawberry.Come on,you’d better change before you get ants crawling up your ass crack.”
The incline up the gravel driveway was steeper than Nolan had imagined.By the time they were at the top,he was drawing in deep,ragged breaths.Rick was as hale and hardy as ever.A wide,proud smile spread across his face as he gestured to the cabin.“What do you think?”
A charming single-story cabin sat comfortably nestled amongst some bushy evergreen trees.Simple landscaping hugged the edge of the wrap-around deck that was built to ensure a great view of the lake.