Page 22 of Holidate Fail
“We have to go forward,” Heath insisted.
Dahlia restrained herself from rolling her eyes. “No. We have to go back. We did it your way last time. It’s my turn.”
“But the coordinates are—” Lacole started.
“Off the map. And not in a good way.” Dahlia walked through the thick mud to a tree illuminated by the car’s headlights. “See this birch?” She went to a bush. “And this buttonbush? These plants all grow by water. And yes, they grow elsewhere as well, but with the number of river trees and the level of ground saturation? We’re not driving forward anymore unless you want to end up in a river.”
Dahlia may not know the latest social media dance. She may not know how to flirt or dress or to tell a guy that she’d known over ten years that she liked him, but she did know rivers and lakes and oceans and streams. “Let me put it this way. I’d rather walk back to Fountenoy Hall than get into that car if it’s moving forward.”
“And since it’s my car, I’m siding with the woman with the Ph.D.” Kelly held out his hand to Lacole with an air of expectation.
The fact that Kelly took her at her word…she couldn’t stop the sensation she was falling like a leaf for this guy. Again. Her whole body wanted to plaster itself against his.
“All right.” Lacole dropped the keys into Kelly’s outstretched hand, and they all got back into the car.
Dahlia plopped herself in the front seat before anyone else could. She told herself it was to better see the terrain.
She knew she was lying.
Kelly put the car in reverse and stepped on the gas.
Nothing moved.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He tried again, the whirring sound of rotating tires surrounding them in the car.
“I have a winch, but I’m not sure about these trees and this ground in the dark.” He turned off the ignition. “Anyone have a working phone? My battery’s dead.”
Dahlia raised hers and waved it around. “No service.”
“Same,” Heath said. Lacole shook her head.
“Okay. Heath?” Kelly raised his eyebrows at the other man.
“Yeah,” the other man said, and got out of the car.
“Can you drive in reverse while Heath and I push?” Kelly asked Dahlia.
“Yeah.” Talk about a physical challenge. Getting into the driver’s seat from inside the car had her reaching and stretching more than she had in any of the scavenger hunt events, but her other choice was getting wet and muddy.
Heath and Kelly got into position, then Kelly gave Dahlia a thumbs up. She put the car in reverse and pressed the gas.
Nothing but whirr.
“This is bad,” Lacole poked her head between the seats. “I bet there are a ton of dead bodies around here. Swamps are the perfect place to hide murder victims.”
“If the alligators don’t get them first,” Dahlia said.
“Alligators?”
“Relax. There aren’t any near here.” Probably. At least, not if they kept making noise.
“I saw some neon lights before we turned. So is being eaten by a wild animal better than being a murder victim?” Lacole pondered.
Dahlia looked at her in the rearview mirror. “Are you okay?”
“We’re in the middle of nowhere with no phone and no idea of how to get home. Of course I’m not okay! We should have gotten the damn lollipops.” She was silent for a moment. “So, listen.”
Dahlia braced herself. Conversations that started that way never ended well. “Yeah?”
