Alvarado Gold by Victoria Pitts-Caine

be at a major intersection in my life. It wasn’t just my job. My whole life had become a rising kettle of uncertainty soup. Add in my ongoing arguments with Eric for spice, the rekindling of my relationships with my cousins for flavor, and Gary Wright as the mystery ingredient. I let my head fall back on the pillow on the reclining patio furniture and closed my eyes as the pot stirred in a vision before me.
    I don’t know how many times the phone had rung before I realized it. I jumped up and dashed inside to see a Houston prefix displayed on the caller ID. I took a deep breath and reached for the receiver.

Chapter Eleven
    I hesitated and then let the phone machine pick up. I didn’t know what to say to him. I couldn’t get used to the prickles in my stomach and felt like I couldn’t breathe.
    “Addie. It’s Gary Wright. I was in hopes I’d catch you home. I had something to tell…”
    Oh well, why not? “Mr. Wright. Sorry, I was outside on the patio. You were saying.” Quick, what do I say next? I could actually tell him I was sorry I’d hung up on him. No, too fast. I need something safe. Weather. I could talk about the weather.
    “How’s Houston? It’s seventy-four degrees out here. Rather cloudy But nice.” Stupid.
    “I think it was about seventy-four degrees here today too but I didn’t call about the weather.”
    He didn’t sound irritated. What do I say now? Talk about the flowers. “The flowers are beautiful. They must have cost you a small fortune. I was upset with you but you shouldn’t have sent them.” I could hear myself babbling. He probably thinks I’m a total, brainless idiot.
    “Ms. Brown. I offended you and I’m sorry. I was too forward asking to come along on your adventure. The flowers were meant as a peace offering.”
    “Apology accepted. I would also like to apologize to you. I was rather rude in our conversation and that isn’t like me.”
    “No problem, I am sure I caught you off guard.”
    “Please, let’s start over. I would like you to call me Addie.” There, I’d said it. I’d opened the door half an inch. The ball lay in his court. “Actually, Mr. Wright, I talked it over with my cousin and we may need your help after all.”
    “Do you want to hear about the cave, then?” His voice hesitant, as he added, “And you can call me Gary.”
    “Sure.” I didn’t have anything to lose.
    “It isn’t just any cave. It has a subterranean well. Nature has created a sauna, if you can call it that, but the Indians used it for a sweat lodge.”
    Now he had my attention. “How do you know so much about all this?”
    “I majored in archaeology when I was in school, with a minor in Native American History. The information fascinates me.”
    He fascinated me. What was I getting myself into? I’d agreed to let him come with us. Maybe I shouldn’t have made it so easy for him to tag along.
    I shook off the thought and centered my thinking on what he said. I could almost hear myself talking about artifacts. He had the same thrill in his voice. Now, he appealed to me on a new level–intelligence. As Susan’s voice rang in my ears, with “amazing, violet-blue eyes.”
    “Anyway. The cave is dangerous. The floor is crumbling into the spring making it unstable. Some of the locals even believe it is a sacred.” He stopped his last sentence almost too abruptly and made me wonder if maybe he’d tried to scare us off.
    “Are you trying to frighten us away?”
    “I only want to help you. Please, I know a lot about the area. When I was in college, I used to go on digs near there. My mom even sent me an old newspaper article about two men from Oklahoma looking for gold.”
    He knew about the gold. I wish I could shake this suspicion he knew more than he should but he’d proven himself to be genuinely interested. I hated to admit it but I was interested in him, too.
    “We’re going down there Labor Day weekend. If you are still interested, we’ll make arrangements to have