Best Dating Rules: A Romantic Comedy (The Best Girls Book 2) (19 page)

She swallowed convulsively, and her pleading gaze darted toward Spencer. But he crossed his arms and glared back without sympathy.

“I... She said she wasn’t going on the hike. She said her sister might go. She told me she just wanted to know where the hike was. I swear!”

“And so you told her the hike was on the Devil’s Path?”

Her mouth dropped open. “How did you... I mean, I didn’t know she’d actually go.”

“And you remember clearly? You told her Devil’s Path? What else did you tell her?”

“I think I told her we were camping at the Devil’s Tombstone. But I didn’t think she’d actually go. I mean, after she had that ruffie, you’d think she wouldn’t go on a two-day hike.”

He pinned her with his eyes. “Who told you that? Who told you she had a ruffie? You were there weren’t you? It was you!”

“No... No, I...”

Gherring loomed over her, his entire body shaking. Spencer wondered if he was going to hit her. “I’m going to deal with you after I find my daughter. Attempted murder is a serious charge!”

He turned to Spencer. “How do we get out of here? We need to get to Devil’s Tombstone now.”

“Don’t you have a helicopter or something?”

Gherring laughed bitterly. “No, only a jet. But I might buy a helicopter after this, just in case.”

“It’ll take us three hours to get back out of here, and over an hour to drive to Tombstone Campground. It’ll be dark by then. I hate to say it, but we need to send Charlie. They could drive straight to the public campground and search from there. It’ll still take them probably two and a half hours to get there.”

“Anne can’t go,” Gherring stated, “and Charlie shouldn’t go by herself.”

“Grace. Grace will go with her. Maybe Charlie can borrow some hiking shoes from my other sisters.”

With a groan, Spencer dropped onto a nearby rock and buried his face in his hands. “That hike... Do you know that hike, Mr. Gherring?”

Gherring sat beside him, pulling out his sat phone. “I do.” He squeezed his lips together, shaking his head. “It’s one of the hardest hikes I know. Maybe the toughest.”

“Do you really think she could make it on her own? I mean, she could be anywhere on the trail. Or off the trail, for that matter.”

“Despite some of her recent decisions, she’s usually a smart, resourceful girl. She’ll be okay. Her note said she had supplies.”

“She just got out of the hospital after almost dying from a drug overdose.”

“She’ll be okay.”

“She’ll be okay,” Spencer repeated. “And when I see her again, I’m going to kill her.”

“Me first,” Gherring said with a wry grin.

Emily stood on the trail with Josh and Brad, looking at the fork leading to the Tombstone Campground. It was six o’clock—almost eight hours of hiking. No, not hiking. Crawling, climbing, scrambling, stumbling, falling, with a small amount of walking. She’d never hurt so much in her entire life. And the temperature was beginning to drop. She’d already had to add a layer for warmth. On the last climb, her ankle started aching, so now she was limping.

“I know you’re hurt. Will you take a pain pill if I give you one?” asked Josh.

“I don’t know.” Emily hesitated, but her ankle had settled into a constant throb. “I tend to over-react to drugs. I don’t take much medicine.”

“Let me see your ankle.” He pulled up her pant leg to probe around on the tender area.

“Ouch!”

“You see—you need to take something. Your ankle’s already swollen. There’s no way you’ll be able to hike tomorrow.”

“I will, too. I have to. How else will I get home?”

“Fine. Then at least take something for the pain.”

“All right. At least my ankle is making me forget about all the other places that hurt.”

“Are you allergic to codeine?” he asked.

“No, but it makes me sleepy.” She accepted the pill from Josh and downed it quickly with some water.

“Too bad we don’t have any anti-inflammatories,” Brad commented.

“Yeah,” said Josh. “We really need to ice it, too. You should seriously consider abandoning this hike. We could get Smiley’s Taxi to pick you up here.”

“Please, I can’t leave now. I need to talk to him first. Maybe I could leave in the morning.”

“I still don’t get why you’re doing this hike,” said Brad. “What guy could possibly be worth this? If we hadn’t happened along, you might still be out there.”

“I know, and I’m grateful. I really am.”

“I still say this guy’s a jerk,” Josh insisted.

“No, he’s not. I was the jerk. I went out with this other guy, and he saw me. But now I know it was a mistake. I only want the chance to tell him.”

“And you had to do this hike just to talk to him?” asked Josh.

“No. I... Oh, I’m stupid, I guess. I wasn’t going to have a chance to talk to him until Monday. And I was afraid if he went on this big weekend hike, he’d hike me right out of his system. And I wanted to prove he was important to me.”

“You’re not stupid,” said Josh. “I think you’re really brave. And really cute. And I hope you drop this other jerk and date me instead. You think I’m kidding, but I’m not.”

“Josh, you don’t even know me. But thanks for the sentiment. That’s really sweet.”

“Are you sure that’s where your friends are going to be?” asked Brad, indicating the trail to the camping area. “It’s a public campground, and it’s usually full in the summer. The backpackers usually camp up here on the trail.”

“I don’t know. I thought they’d probably catch up to me on the trail.” She blinked back a few tears, angry with herself for losing control.

“Look, Emily,” Brad said. “We’re going about twenty minutes from here to set up camp. If your friends don’t show up, you can camp with us.”

Josh and Brad exchanged a look. “I don’t think we can leave you here,” Josh said. “We’ll walk down with you and make sure you find your friends. If they don’t come, you’ll camp with us. We can set up in the dark. We’ve done it before.”

She nodded mutely, swiping away the tears that streaked through the dirt on her face. Josh led the way down the trail, and Emily limped behind him with Brad taking up the rear. A few minutes onto the trail, Josh turned his head, aiming a comment at Brad.

“Hey, looks like this detour was worth it for the scenery.”

Brad craned his head to look around Josh. “How many?”

“Five, I think!”

“Five what?” asked Emily.

“Girls.” Josh chuckled.

Emily peered around Josh down the trail. “Charlie?”

“Ohmygosh! Emily? Is that you?”

Josh stepped back as Emily limped down and six girls collided together, hugging and crying.

“What are you doing here?” Emily asked.

“Looking for you!” exclaimed Charlie. “What do you think? This is even stupider than Thursday night. What happened to my sensible sister?”

“I’m meeting the hiking group up here,” Emily said. “I would’ve been fine. You didn’t need to come.”

“You don’t look fine,” said Grace. “You look pretty beat up.”

“I need to clean up before Spencer comes. But I’m not leaving before he shows up. I didn’t suffer for eight hours just to give up and go home. He’s got to give me a chance to talk to him.”

“Well, he’s not here,” said Charlie. “So you might as well go back with us.”

“He didn’t come?” Her chest constricted, and she couldn’t breath.

Charlie reached out to steady her. “Woah! Are you dizzy?”

“Emily, this isn’t even where the group went hiking,” said Grace. “Becca lied to you.”

“She lied? He’s somewhere else?” Emily bit back bitter tears. “I really did this for nothing, and now I’ve lost him anyway.”

“You haven’t lost him,” said Grace. “I told you he loved you.”

“Yes, I have,” said Emily. “He hiked all day and worked me out of his system.”

“I’m confused… I thought he didn’t go on the hike,” Olivia said.

“No, he went on the hike looking for Emily,” said Hannah.

“Actually,” Charlie told Emily, “Spencer didn’t go on the group hike—he came to your apartment to talk to you. Then Steven and Spencer almost killed themselves, running the entire ten-mile hike and back at Harriman trying to find you. And Steven got us tickets to see
Let It Be
, tonight, and we’re missing it!”

“Eh-hem.” A voice cleared behind them.

Charlie looked up at Emily’s companions and grinned. “Sorry. Are we blocking the trail?”

“No,” Emily corrected. “These two guys pretty much saved my life today. There seems to be a lot of that going on lately. This is Brad, and this is Josh.” She gave each of the guys a hug. “And this is my sister, Charlie, and my friends, Grace and Hannah and Claire and Olivia.” She gave the guys a shaky smile. “I know now I’d never have made that hike without y’all. I really owe you.”

“I’ve got a great idea,” said Charlie. “Let’s bring the guys back with us, and we can take them out for a late dinner to thank them.”

Emily examined the two men, noticing for the first time both were extremely attractive, with well-muscled physiques. No wonder Charlie wanted to bring them back to the city. Grace also seemed interested in the idea, or in the guys. She was giggling at something Brad said to her. Well, she’d be glad if something good came out of this awful day. Maybe someone else could find love. As for her, she’d blown it again.

“We appreciate the offer,” Brad said. “But, I doubt we could all fit in your vehicle. Or did you come by taxi?”

“Nah,” said Charlie, “We’re in a limo—plenty of room. Do y’all live in the city? We could drop y’all by your places to clean up, and then meet for dinner.”

“A limo? You’re kidding, right?” said Josh.

“No,” said Claire. “It’s a real limousine. You should come—it’s fun.”

“Why on earth did you come out here in a limousine? Are you rich or something?” asked Josh.

“Heck, no,” said Charlie. “But my stepdad is. Are you guys coming? Or are you camping on the cold hard ground and hiking all day tomorrow.”

“Well, that was the original plan.” Brad said. “But... I’ll leave it up to Josh. Whatever, you want. I’m game.”

“Why not? We can hike any time.” Josh sent a concerned glance in Emily’s direction and moved to steady her as she swayed against him.

She was dizzy and bone tired. She was also heartbroken, but she tried not to dampen the spirits of her friends. Josh supported her as she limped along, following the animated group down the long trail to the parking lot where the limousine waited. She climbed in and wedged herself into the corner seat, where she promptly fell sound asleep.

“They found her,” Gherring told Spencer. They’d reached their car and were trying to decide whether to drive toward Devil’s Tombstone when Charlie called. “They have her in the limo, and they’re headed back to town.”

Spencer felt his body relax as relief flooded his system. He hadn’t realized how tense he’d been. “Is she okay? I can’t believe she made that hike on her own.”

“She’s apparently okay, but a bit torn up. Nothing broken. They’re bringing two guys back with them. Evidently, these two met up with Emily on the trail and helped her out.” Gherring shook his head. “The girls are planning to take those boys out to a late dinner as a thank-you.”

Spencer felt a surge of jealousy. What was wrong with him? He should be grateful she had help. Otherwise, she’d probably be stuck alone on the trail or even lost. But he couldn’t help wondering how friendly they’d been.

“We should beat them home by an hour. Do you want to wait with us? Or do you want to go home.”

“I’ll go home. I really need a shower.”

“And then come back over for dinner with the group?” Gherring asked.

Spencer considered his options. He was exhausted, and he really didn’t feel like going out for a late dinner. On the other hand, he wanted to see Emily.

“I guess I’ll take a quick shower and then wait at your place for Emily to come back.”

“So you can kill her before I do?”

“Absolutely.” Spencer grinned before heaving an exhausted breath. “I’m so tired. I’ve hardly slept in two nights. And then today’s marathon...”

“I agree, but I’m okay to drive if you want to sleep on the way home.”

“Awesome. Thanks.”

He fell into a restless sleep, fighting images of Emily careening down a rocky chute.

“That was Charli
e
. They’re on their way up,” Anne told Steven as she hung up her cell phone. “All of them.”

“All of them?”

“The whole crew. I’m excited to meet Spencer’s other sisters.” She was munching on a cracker, relishing the sense of relief both of her girls would be home safe again.

“What about the guys? Are they coming up as well?”

“I don’t know. She said everyone, but weren’t they planning to drop the guys off to take showers?”

“We’ll find out,” said Steven as he walked to answer the doorbell. Anne was thinking how nice it was to be a part of something fun after being locked away in the apartment all week. Going to the hospital for Emily’s emergency didn’t count as an outing.

The doors opened and chaos erupted. Charlie came in, laughing, followed by three girls, about her height. All were excited and giggling as they rushed into the penthouse checking out the interior with curious glances. Then came Grace, conversing with a young man with close-cropped hair and a goatee. Next came a tall, broad-shouldered fellow with blond hair, cradling the limp body of Emily in his arms. Spencer, who was obviously fuming, followed right behind him.

Anne struggled to stand up. “What’s wrong with Emily?”

“She’s okay,” said the blond man with a smile. “She’s just sleeping.”

“Because you drugged her!” accused Spencer.

“I didn’t drug her. I gave her some pain medication.”

“Like I said, you drugged her. And you should’ve let me carry her.” Anne could almost see steam coming out of Spencer’s ears. “What did you give her, anyway?” he demanded.

“I gave her some acetaminophen with hydrocodone. Where should I put her?” he asked Anne.

“Please, lay her here on the couch.”

“Okay, but you should know she’s pretty dirty.” He nodded to Anne. “Hi, I’m Josh.”

“He saved Emily’s life today,” said Charlie. “Him and Brad.”

“I saved her first,” grumbled Spencer.

“Hi, I’m Brad.” The other young man walked over to offer his hand to Anne.

“I’m Anne, Emily and Charlie’s mom, and this is their father.”

Steven moved through the crowd to offer his hand to the young men. “Hi. I’m Steven.”

Brad and Josh stared with wide eyes at Steven.

“Steven Gherring? Are you Steven Gherring?” asked Josh, pumping his hand.

“I’m afraid so.” He chuckled.

Brad grabbed his hand and shook it. “Nice to meet you, sir. Charlie didn’t tell us who her dad was.”

“Technically, I’m their stepdad, but today I think I deserve to be called Dad.”

“I agree,” said Anne. “You definitely get dad status.”

“I’ll give you dad status for letting us use the limo,” said Charlie, giving Steven a hug and kiss on the cheek.

“Nice to meet you,” Josh said to Steven. “And thanks for the ride home.”

“Thanks to both of you for taking care of Emily for us and bringing her home,” said Steven.

Spencer added sullenly, “And for giving Emily illegal drugs.”

“It wasn’t illegal,” Josh growled.

“Codeine—without a prescription!” He spat back.

Josh’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “But you see, I’m a doctor and so is Brad. So it was perfectly legal for us to give her hydrocodone.”

Spencer’s face deflated and he stomped into the kitchen.

“You’re both doctors?” asked Anne.

“Yes, Ma’am,” said Brad. “We’re third year residents at Mercy General.”

“She needs that foot elevated, and she needs to take some anti-inflammatories for the sprain,” Josh said. “But, I’m pretty sure nothing’s broken. Icing it would also be good—twenty minutes on, twenty minutes off.”

“What about dinner?” asked Charlie. “Can you wake her up?”

Anne frowned down at her sleeping daughter. “If you gave her hydrocodone, she’ll probably be out cold until tomorrow morning.”

Josh chuckled. “Well, she warned me she had a strong reaction to drugs. But I didn’t know she was that bad.”

“Mom,” said Charlie, “I told the guys they could shower off and change here, so we could go eat. Is that okay?”

“Sure,” said Anne, glancing at Steven for confirmation.

“No problem,” Steven said. “Follow me. We’ve got a couple of showers available.” He led Josh and Brad into the back.

Grace dragged her sisters over to the couch. “Mrs. Gherring, these are my sisters. Olivia, Hannah, and Claire.”

“Nice to meet you,” said Anne. “They’re so tall! What happened to you, Grace?”

“We think her dad was the mailman.” Olivia waggled her eyebrows at Grace, who whacked her sister on the back of her head.

“My Grandma was short, too. And she tells me what we lack in height is made up for in beauty.”

“I think it’s made up for in mouth. Ow!” Olivia giggled as Grace whacked her again.

“Are you in school, Olivia?” asked Anne.

“Yes, ma’am. I’m in nursing school.”

“And what about you, Hannah?”

“I just finished my first year of college—majoring in undecided.”

“Way to go Hannah. Keep it up and you can come be a ski bum with me.” Charlie gave her a high-five.

“Claire? What about you?”

“I’m a junior in high school next year. And I’m going to be an accountant.”

“Claire, you can’t even keep up with your purse. How will you keep track of people’s money?” Olivia stifled a laugh.

“Easy—it’s all virtual. I’m great with virtual stuff, like video games.”

“What about you, Grace? Are you still in school?”

“No, ma’am. I teach first grade, but I’m off for the summer.”

“The bad thing is she’s the same size as her students,” teased Olivia.

Spencer wandered back into the room and sat down across from the couch, staring at Emily, his mouth downturned.

Anne cleared her throat, catching his attention.

“I’m sorry she’s asleep, Spencer. Are you going to dinner? I know you’re starving, and she’s not likely to wake up tonight.”

“You should come to dinner, Spencer. It’ll be fun.” Charlie walked behind him to nudge his shoulder.

“With the two fabulous doctor heroes?” he asked sarcastically.

“I think you should stay home, you old grump,” said Grace. “Why don’t you like them? They probably saved Emily’s life. You should be grateful.”

“Well, I
really
saved her life. And today I hiked twenty miles, running most of the way. It’s not my fault she was on a different hike.”

“You’re right, Spencer.” Anne gave him her most reassuring smile. “We haven’t forgotten you saved her life. And if you hadn’t run twenty miles, we wouldn’t have found her. She’d still be out there. And she didn’t even have a sleeping bag. I’m sure she wasn’t prepared for how cold it is in the mountains at night.”

“We would’ve kept her warm.” Josh walked back into the room fresh from his shower, his hair still damp. “I wouldn’t have let her get hypothermia.”

Spencer huffed something unintelligible, and Anne hurried to change the subject. “Charlie, when is your return ticket? I didn’t even ask you.”

“I have to go back Tuesday. I’m really bummed Emily made us miss the musical tonight. But Steven still gets credit for getting the tickets. He gets big dad-credit for today.”

“Hopefully, when Emily wakes up tomorrow, she’ll feel well enough to do something fun,” said Anne.

Josh strolled toward the couch. “One thing I’d advise would be to wash off her cuts, although it may be hard to do with her sleeping so soundly. Brad and I washed some of them about five hours into the hike, and applied some antibiotic ointment. But she really has some pretty deep gashes, especially on her legs.” He moved toward Emily and started to raise her pant leg.

“Don’t touch her,” growled Spencer.

Josh pulled his hands back. “Look man, I’m not assaulting your girlfriend. I’m a doctor.”

“We’ve already heard you’re a doctor,” said Spencer.

Grace said, “Yes. And technically, she’s not your girlfriend, either. Right, Spencer? I mean, she’d probably be your girlfriend by now if you hadn’t refused to talk to her on Friday.”

“Grace!” Spencer said. “That’s enough.”

“In fact,” she continued undeterred, “I think you said you weren’t sure you could ever stand to be around her again—“

“Grace!”

“Well, let me just state for the record, if she isn’t taken, I’m definitely interested,” said Josh.

Spencer stood and faced him with his fists clenched. “She’s taken!”

“Fine... at least for now. But I’d take better care of her if she were mine.”

“Josh, Spencer! Please sit down.” Anne said. “You’re upsetting me.”

Spencer sat down on the floor next to Emily, and Josh walked around behind the couch.

“Josh, we really appreciate what you did to help Emily,” said Anne. “You don’t know her well enough to realize this, but no one tells her what to do. It certainly isn’t Spencer’s fault she got herself into trouble.”

“Yes ma’am. I did note she has a mind of her own,” Josh admitted.

“That’s the truth,” Charlie agreed. “She’s never been sweet and obedient like me.”

Steven returned to the living room. “Oh, were you telling a joke? Was that the punch line?”

“Very funny,” said Charlie. “And here I’d been saying earlier what a great dad you were.”

“Are you guys ready to go? I’m starving.” Brad returned, freshly showered, and took his place beside Grace.

“Come on, Spencer,” she urged. “I won’t tease you any more. There’s nothing you can do here.”

Josh moved to Spencer and held out his hand, “I’m sorry, man. I think we both had a pretty tough day. I won’t mouth off any more.”

Spencer stood up and shook his hand, but his mouth was set in a grim line.

“Come on,” said Claire. “We get to ride in the limousine again.”

Spencer was still furious. How did this guy dare to insert himself into Emily’s life? He’d only known her for half a day. The only thing that made this guy a hero was dumb luck—he happened to be there at the right time. And why did Spencer have all the bad luck? Why did he run and hike all those miles looking for Emily, while this jerk got to just show up and save the day? And after all of his efforts, Spencer didn’t even get to carry her up to the apartment. And then the jerk had the audacity to be a doctor. Both of them—doctors. He watched his sister across the table as she laughed with Brad, her head leaning in close to his. Was he looking down the front of her shirt? He needed to have a talk with his sister.

“Spencer, you’re awfully quiet,” murmured Charlie. “Are you still worried about Emily? I saw her before she fell asleep. She’s going to be fine.”

“No. I mean... Yes, I’m worried, but that’s not it. I don’t trust this Josh guy,” he answered softly, since the object of his disdain was sitting on the other side of Charlie.

“He’s okay. You can’t blame him for having a crush on her. It happens all the time, so you better get used to it.”

“What do you mean, it happens all the time?”

“Every guy she meets falls for her. She usually doesn’t even pay attention. I’d bet a million dollars she didn’t even notice Josh is good-looking.”

“You think he’s good-looking? I think he looks like a jerk.”

Charlie chuckled. “He’s cute, Spencer. But that doesn’t mean Emily thought so. I’ve known her all my life and I’ll tell you she’s never done anything like this for a guy before.”

“What do you mean? What did she do for him?”

“Not for him, you big dummy—for you. She went on a crazy hard hike and planned to camp out, sleeping on the ground. These things are way out of her comfort zone. And she did it for you, not for Josh.”

“She’d never been on that hike. She had no idea what she was getting into.”

“But if you know Emily, you know she read all about it before she went. She at least knew it would be really difficult.”

“And I’d never have expected her to do that. I was coming to her apartment to talk to her.”

“I know, I know. But she didn’t know that. And let’s face it. You didn’t even know you were coming to talk to her until right before you did it.”

“If I’d just talked to her on Friday, none of this would have happened. It’s my fault she’s all bunged up.”

“Don’t be silly. This is Emily we’re talking about. She has a mind of her own, and it works in crazy unpredictable ways.”

“So you don’t think she’s attracted to Josh? The
doctor
?”

“No, I don’t. But let me ask you a question. Have you forgiven her for going out with Asher Denning?”

“That seems like it happened months ago. Yes, I’ve forgiven her. I didn’t even think about it after I found out she was in trouble.”

“Well, you need to remember she doesn’t know that. She thinks you’re still angry. And when she wakes up tomorrow, it’ll still be on her mind.”