I laughed as Mia’s eyes bulged, and she shoved my shoulder.
Fuck, was she beautiful, even surrounded by death like a wilted rose in the winter.
I patted the side of the bag before standing and filled the hole back in.
Our feet made quick work of high-tailing it out of there and disappearing into the woods. The moon wasn’t our friend on our way back, and I depended on the little light put out by the flashlight and a sense of direction. It took us over an hour to find the door, which we’d left open, but now it was closed and airtight. “Shit.”
“Don’t say shit,” Mia whispered from behind me.
“Fuck,” I uttered in a breath, working the handle again.
“What?”
“The wind must’ve closed it shut.”
“So, open it.”
“I can’t.” I dropped the bag and planted my palm over the stone wall for leverage as I tried again.
“Ollie …”
“I’m serious, Mia. The bloody thing is stuck.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. I knew it. You’ve gone and pissed her spirit off,” she huffed beside me, “What do we do now?”
“Plan B.”
“Which is?”
“Camping out.”
“You meaning to tell me, you show me our beautiful home today, and I’m spending my night in a cemetery.” Mia groaned, but I couldn’t see her anymore against the pitch-black night. “And I have to pee.”
“You’ll have to hold it, love. It’s illegal to urinate on sacred ground.” And I regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth.
“But it’s perfectly okay to hide forty-three thousand dollars beside a famous dead novelist?” She gritted out in a whisper-yell, and I was sure her hands were flying, and I could only imagine her expression. “Is anything we’re doing right now legal, Ollie?”
Her tone only meant I was in trouble. “All right, you’re right,” I pushed my hands through my hair and turned in place, “pop-a-squat, princess.”
“Here?”
“I would rather you do it here than back at a grave.”
She shone the flashlight on my face. “Okay, don’t look.”
“Mia, I can hardly see my own hand.”
“And plug your ears.”
Chuckling, I turned and hung my head, thinking maybe I should ring Travis to rescue us, but remembered I’d left my mobile back in the car. Mia shuffled inside her jeans, and a tree limb fell. I jerked my head around. An owl hooted overhead. The taunting night wasn’t on our side. “Mia, are you finished?” I was ready to get out of the choking vegetation and back under the moon.
Another twig snapped. I whipped my head around.
“Mia?”
The silence screamed, playing tricks on me. I scanned the forest for her flashlight.
“Dammit, Mia. Answer me!” A hand grabbed my shoulder, and I twisted in place to see Mia jump from behind with the flashlight in her face, giggling. “Christ,” I let out a breath and clutched my hammering heart. “That’s not funny. You are not funny.”
