Searching For Treasure by L.C. Davenport

their byplay with much interest, grinned as they approached him.
    "Smart aleck ,” she muttered as Jack carried her past Noah.
    The courtyard was set up exactly as it had been the night before, the only exception being the lack of a live band. Jack deposited her on her feet, tweaked her nose affectionately and then headed over to check out the karaoke machine Oscar was setting up. With a small frown Dana realized that he still had not spoken a word to her since he'd left her room this afternoon.
    Grace was practically bouncing on her toes from excitement. "I just love to sing!"
    Rose looked heavenward in a give-me-strength expression. "We know, Grace, but why don't you give some of the others a chance?"
    "Hey, Mr. Hudson!" yelled Noah, who along with Josie, had muscled out Oscar and Jack for control of the karaoke machine, "I bet you know this one." He popped in a disk and Henry laughed uproariously as he heard the distinctive first few bars of a familiar song.
    "You bet I do, boy, I'm not as old as you think." He took Rose by the arm, much as she had his arm the night before, and said, "Come on, R, I dare you!" Giving no reaction to the shortening of her name, Rose good-naturedly allowed herself to be pulled forward. Dana thought Noah's grin would split his face when he gave each of them a microphone and they began. What they lacked in skill they more than made up for in enthusiasm.
    Dana tried to avoid karaoke machines as much as possible, so she fished a soda out of the ice-filled washtub, and sat down next to Mark, who looked as if he couldn't understand why the adults were getting so excited over what amounted to a high tech music box. He was studying his grandfather as if he was a strange creature he had just been given to dissect. With a grin, Dana jerked her head towards the pair. "I guess he likes to do more than just dance, huh?"
    "I reckon." Mark smiled at her shyly. "I didn't get a chance to tell you earlier, but I'm glad you're al right, Dana."
    "Thank you. I'm glad I am, too."
    "You and Jack aren't still mad anymore, are you?"
    Dana sighed. Does everyone know about it? "No, we're not mad anymore."
    "Then how come he's sitting over there and you're sitting over here?"
    Dana had been wondering the same thing. After losing interest in the karaoke machine, Jack had settled in a chair out of the way from everyone else. He was looking more cheerful than he had a dinner, much more like his old self, yet he was still keeping himself distant. Henry and Rose had finished their song and Grace was giving her all.
    "We must be the non-singers in the group." Oscar joined them, pulling up a chair. Grace hit a high note. "Or at least the only ones willing to admit it ,” he said wincing. Oscar studied Dana for a moment, still watching Jack with a puzzled frown. "I gather things between you two have become complicated." Dana looked at him. "Not that it's any of my business."
    Dana sighed again. She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. "I guess complicated is as good a word as any. To be honest I'm scared to death. I'm afraid of what might happen if things change."
    "All things change. Everything must grow and change or they die. Everything: plants, people, and relationships. You said you are afraid of what might happen if things change. Haven't they changed already?"
    He was right. The genie was out of the bottle and there was no putting him back in again.
    "My guess is ,” Oscar observed, "that you fear losing him if you push beyond the limits of the friendship you have enjoyed for so long. Maybe you should ask yourself if it's possible you'll lose him if you don't."
    Dana felt a cold knot settle in her stomach at his words. She hadn't thought of that. Briefly, she tried to imagine her life without Jack's almost constant presence and was unable to. In her imagination, all she could see was a big black hole where he used to be.
    Noah had thought everything was back to normal when they had started goofing around in the