Lost and Found: Sara Martin Series Read online

  Lost and Found

  A Novel

  Danelle Helget

  Copyright © 2011 Danelle Helget

  ISBN 978-0-87839-500-2

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Electronic Edition, June 2011

  Printed in the United States of America

  Published by

  North Star Press of St. Cloud, Inc.

  P.O. Box 451

  St. Cloud, Minnesota 56302

  Contents

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  27

  28

  29

  30

  31

  32

  33

  Check out these other great books by Danelle Helget

  www.northstarpress.com

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  Special thanks to:

  Jared

  My amazing husband. Thank you for entertaining the kids while I wrote. And for believing in me.

  Kristin

  My BFF. Thanks for the countless hours of listening to me babble about this journey. Also thanks for your semi-pro editing skills and strong opinions.

  Molly

  My Writer's Group friend. Thanks for your editing skills and support. I enjoy sharing stories and coffee with you.

  Jeremy

  My policeman friend. Thanks for your help and expertise in the details of the story.

  Sarah Kuck

  My photographer. You do amazing work. Thanks for sharing your gift with me for this book.

  Seal and fellow staff

  My publishers. Thanks for believing in me, and for all your professional help that made this dream into a beautifully finished product.

  For Jared, Brooke, and Taylor, with love.

  1

  We'd been driving for what felt like days, and I thought we would've been there by now. “Jake, I think we should stop and check the directions,” I said. “Jake? Jake!”

  “What?”

  “I said I think we should stop and check the directions.” I looked at him, and he seemed a million miles away. We'd been married for four years, and lately I'd felt like I didn’t know who he was or where he was for that matter. He was so distracted.

  “No, it should be right up here,” he said, and he was right back to staring at the road.

  I put my arm up and lightly scratched the back of his head with my nails. Jake was six feet and 190 pounds, most of which was lean muscle, like other Martin men. He had soft, tan skin and a head full of thick dark-brown hair. “What’s wrong?” I asked him, “You seem so lost lately. Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah. I’m sorry, Sara. I’m fine. I was just thinking about work.”

  Jake worked hard but what could possibly bother him so much? He was a construction worker. Pouring foundations for buildings couldn’t be so stressful that you had to bring it home with you. I, on the other hand, had deadlines and court dates to be ready for and tons of paper work I should have brought with me but didn’t because this week was suppose to be for relaxation and rekindling. I worked the family law department of a large firm. Mostly I did wills, trusts and health directives, but once in a while I took on bigger cases. This past week was really busy for me. I had a lot to finish up before I left.

  We hadn’t vacationed in a long time. One week, in a rented cabin in the woods, with our closest friends, Lily and Mark, should do the trick. Hiking trails, the lake, use of the boat and fire pit, and best of all, miles from everyone and everything. I couldn’t wait. And the weather forecast was perfect for the week, high seventies and sunny, lows in the mid-fifties.

  I'd found the cabin listed in our local paper. Fully furnished, on a lake and not too far from home. The price was great, and when I called the number and spoke with the property manager, Harold, I was instantly sold. Harold described the property. He said an older couple owned it but lived in town, in a house closer to their jobs. They hired a property manager to take care of the upkeep and reservations and rented it out for extra income.

  I heard my phone ringing. My cell was getting a signal out here? That surprised me. It was Lily. After convincing her that we were headed in the right direction, I passed the phone to Jake so he, too could tell her to relax. They were following close behind us in Lily's car.

  Jake rolled his big, brown eyes and took the phone. “No, I promise I know where we are. Don’t worry, I’ll get us there. Just think about which bottle of wine you want to open first, okay? Five minutes, I promise.” He disconnected and passed me back the phone. “She's so worried all the time. Doesn’t Mark have any pull with her? He’s the one who downloaded the directions,” he added.

  I shrugged and shook my head. Smiling, thinking about how Lily would never survive on her own. She couldn’t even make it through a haunted house with her eyes open. I probably couldn’t either though. I was afraid of the dark, always had been. I could admit it though. I, Sarah Martin, was afraid of the dark. There, it was out! I was okay with it. Really.

  The roads seemed never ending. We took Highway 10 north out of the cities and stayed on it for what felt like hours, then took 371 into Brainard. I was officially bored. We’d gone through Brainard, a larger city with lots of stuff to look at, but that felt like years ago already. Since then it had been long, boring roads with a farm maybe here and there. There were a lot of cornfields out there, too. It was almost spooky, yet peaceful at the same time. This city girl would get lost in a second out here. I wasn't feeling any better as tar turned to dirt. Just the lack of street signs made me nervous. I really needed to get one of those GPS things. Our final destination was Nisswa, a quiet smaller town. The cabin was on a lake named Hawsawneekee, far from the big cities, but technically not too far from civilization.

  Finally, the never-ending dirt road brought us up a driveway to a sweet little log cabin. It was absolutely adorable. It looked pretty new. Both the cabin and the grounds were very well kept. The yard around the cabin was good sized, freshly mowed, and had lush, green grass. The lake in the background looked really blue, not what I was used to seeing in Minnesota. The lake was completely surrounded by large trees that came all the way to the banks. On the left, behind the cabin, the elevation was much higher. The property around the cabin was covered with huge oak and maple trees, thick with leaves. The very tops were starting to change color already. The trees in the yard were nothing compared to the thick woods behind the cabin. The woods seemed to go on forever. At the very edge I could see a little, well manicured trail leading into the woods. The pontoon at the dock was new and looked big. A nice fire pit area off to one side of the yard was surrounded by chairs, tiki torches and a large pile of split wood. It was beautiful, breath taking. Perfect. I rolled down my window and took a deep breath. Ah, fresh, clean air.

  “Are you seeing this?” I asked Jake, to make sure he was still with me. He put the Jeep in park and sat back in his seat, looking around the grounds.

  “Yeah, wow, I feel better already.” He turned the key back a
nd we both jumped out. Mark and Lily were already at their trunk digging in the cooler. A moment later we were all standing in awe, drinking cold beer, leaning back on their car.

  “This is going to be a great week,” Mark said, tipping up his beer.

  Mark Berens was in real estate, so I was sure he was never impressed with properties—he saw them all day long. He loved his job, and he was good at it, too. Mark, a hard worker and a handsome man, with light, blond hair, cut short and always was clean shaven, was about six-foot-two and the perfect weight, not too thick, not too thin, and he worked out some so he was well toned. Over the last few years he had bought and sold a few fixer-uppers. He knew a lot of contractors and could see the potential in places most people would walk right past. If I remembered correctly, he currently had two rental properties. But that changed often. Usually Mark rented out single-family homes and as soon as people got settled in, he'd feel them out. If it sounded like they liked the place and planned to stay in the area, he’d throw a great price on the property and offer them first dibs. They almost always took it, and then he’d be on to the next property a few months later. It helped that Lily was a mortgage broker and could get him locked in at great rates with low closing costs and easy terms.

  Lily Kowalski, my BFF, had been dating Mark “officially” for four and a half years. They'd been living together for three of that. The four of us had been really close since the eighth grade. They had a really nice apartment about ten minutes from us, in the Twin Cities in Bloomington, so we saw each other often. Lily went to business school for a year, dropped out and then worked at a bank for a while. While she was there, she got a great job offer from a client that she immediately accepted. Although she had currently been at her job for about five years, she never loved it, but it was easy work, a comfortable environment with good pay, plus she got nice bonuses and amazing benefits. So she didn’t love it, but felt sort of stuck with it since she had no desire to go back to school. Lily always told me she was going to marry money, so she wouldn’t have to work. Mark was good at his job but far from rich; she may have to settle.

  “To great friends, great places, and new memories to be made.” Lily held up her beer in salute. We all clinked bottles and said cheers.

  “Sara, did you bring the pool floats?” Lily asked.

  “Yes, and I remembered the foot pump!” I smiled at her, remembering our last trip to the beach.

  “Great,” she yelled, “let’s go!”

  Lily took off running, stripping off her shirt to reveal a teeny bikini top. She was tossing flip flops and hopping on one foot trying to got her jean shorts off on the run. She was in incredible shape. She worked out a few times a week with Mark, and it showed. She was making her way to the beach slowly, stripping on the run, all the while trying not to spill her beer. We all just stood there and laughed. She was the wild one of the group, always ready to go.

  Mark slammed the last of his beer and slapped Jake on the back. “Well, Martin, let’s unload and find the grill. I’ve got steaks thawed out, and I’m starving.” With that Mark and Jake turned toward the trunk and started grabbing stuff.

  “That sounds perfect, you two cook supper and I’ll catch up with Lily and keep her afloat,” I said with a smile. I walked down to the beach and found her waist deep in the water twisting back and forth, taking sips of her beer with her face to the sun. It was a beautiful picture, so peaceful.

  “Hey, you gonna help or not?” I yelled. “Start pumping these up, and I’ll go get the cooler.” I tossed the two floats and the pump on the sand and ran back to the car.

  At the car I met up with Mark. “So you ready for a little R&R, a lot of beer?” he asked, with a wink.

  He smiled as he folded his arms and sat his butt back against the car. I couldn’t help but notice that he may have put on a few pounds, which was working in his favor. “How are things with you?” I asked.

  “Good, I guess. Business is good and we’re here. Hopefully this will be just what Lily and I need to reconnect. We've been struggling lately,” he said, his voice dropping. “She seems so out of reach. She’s crabby and distant and says she's just been tired lately, but I don’t know what to think. She just acts different and seems annoyed by my presence,” Mark said, sadly.

  “Really? I’m sorry,” I said and reached out to rub his arm. “Jake’s been the same way, work stress I guess, but maybe this week will help everyone. We have seven days to forget about the world and just think about each other.” I punched his arm and nodded as to not give him a chance to argue that point.

  “Yeah, you're right and that’s exactly what I had in mind.” Mark pushed off the car, reached in the trunk, grabbed the last cooler out and slammed it shut. “Well, give us about an hour to get things settled and the steaks grilled, then we’ll eat,” he said.

  I grabbed the beer cooler from our Jeep and headed back to the beach. As I came around the side of the house, I saw that one float was inflated and Lily and Jake are standing near it laughing and smiling. “Hey, guys!” I yelled, “Can someone help me with this cooler?” They both looked a little startled. Jake jogged over and took it from me. He set it over by the beach chairs and returned to the house to help Mark.

  “So,” Lily said, “What’s the plan for today?” A little urgency in her voice made me think for a second that I may have interrupted something. She grabbed the other float and started stepping on the foot pump quickly.

  “Well, I guess we get to drink cold beer and lay in the hot sun while the boys cook and unpack. It doesn’t get much better than that.”

  “That works for me,” she responded.

  We clinked our bottles together and grabbed the floats. I stripped off to my black, one-piece suit and followed her into the lake. The water was warm. The lake was a smaller one, and in Minnesota a small lake warmed faster, but our summers were short so you had to enjoy every second of it. Once we were settled on the floats, we tied ourselves together and then tied one end to the dock.

  “Nice boat,” I said. “I can’t wait to spend a day out on the water.”

  “No kidding, this place is amazing. It's absolutely perfect, if I lived here I'd never want to leave. I feel so good just laying here, warm, buzzed and happy knowing that for the next week I have nothing to do but have fun,” Lily added. She was very easy to please.

  I figured as long as she had a beer in her hand, it wouldn’t matter where we were. We floated silently for a while. I could feel the air cooling down, it was about 6:00 p.m. and the sun's heat was weakening.

  “So how have you been lately, Lily? How’s work going?” I asked.

  She opened her eyes and looked at me. “Okay, I guess,” she took a long pull on her beer. “I’ve been kind of short with Mark lately. I think he's starting to notice it. I don’t know, sometimes I look at him and I think, you’re not the man for me. I feel like we've been drifting apart. He’s great ya know, he helps around the apartment, cooks, cleans, does laundry and is attentive to me, but I just don’t have the vibe for him like I used to.”

  “Wow, really?” I was shocked by this, they had always been such great couple. “I’m sorry. If you ever need to talk just let me know. Have you thought about talking to him about your feelings or trying a counselor?”

  “No, I guess I've been just living like it’s not bothering me. But lately I feel like I'm too old to be playing games. I’m not getting any younger, and the clock is ticking. I want a wedding and kids soon. I know he does too, but I just don’t know if I want it with him,” she said bluntly.

  “Wow, that’s a lot to deal with. I think you should talk to him. Maybe just opening up to each other will help, or maybe he feels the same.”

  Lily and I had been friends since the eighth grade, and I had never seen her with a boy for longer than a month. When she and Mark started dating, I really liked him. He was new in town and really nice. I was glad after the first month was over and he was still around. “Maybe you two are just in a rut, it happens. Relatio
nships have lots of ups and downs, maybe this was just a down part. I bet after some quality time together this week you'll feel differently.”

  Lily nodded but didn’t look convinced.

  “Are you cold? Should we go get changed for dinner?” I asked.

  “Yeah, let’s go in. I'm starving. We'd better stop by the kitchen and make sure the guys have it under control in there,” Lily said with a grin.

  We gathered up the floats, brought them up to the cabin and tied them to a chair so they didn’t blow away during the night. We carried the cooler through the back door of the cabin and set it down. The most amazing smell was coming from the kitchen. I walked up behind Jake at the stove and slid my arms around his waist. He jumped and stiffened up a little.

  “Oh, sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. It smells so good in here, what are you making?” I tried to peak over his shoulder but he was much taller than I, so instead I kissed his shoulder and came around his side. He was sautéing green peppers, mushrooms, garlic, and onions in a pan with oil. “Mmm. Looks great, even better with you cooking it!” I said, with a wink. “Lily and I are going to go clean up and change.” I glanced over at Mark and Lily, and they were both looking at me. They hadn't said two words to each other yet.

  “Come on Lily!” I said, to ease the awkward quiet between them. She followed me to the back of the cabin.

  The cabin was on the smaller side, one level, but perfect for us. The kitchen was a nice size, it had all the usual stuff and an island counter with four bar stools. A glass, sliding door with a paved patio just off the kitchen, opened to the lake. The appliances were all new, stainless steel, and the counter tops were a light, beige granite. Across from the kitchen wall was a family room with a fireplace, two small but comfy-looking couches, and two recliners. A coffee table separated the couches that faced each other in the middle of the room, perfect for playing board games. The two recliners had an end table between them and were placed in front of the large, bay window that looked out to the driveway. Just down a short hall was a small bathroom with all the essentials and a huge soaking tub with lots of candles around it. You could fit two in there easily. The walk-in shower could also, fit two. There were two bedrooms straight across from each other at the end of the hall. Both had a king bed with a night stand and a dresser, and a full-size closet.