Page 28 of A Ranger for Christmas
A loud crash boomed in the other room as the boys yelled. Sherry, shaking her head, said she’d be right back before disappearing into the other room. Seconds later silence returned.
“Those three rattle like thunder when they get going,” Lucas said.
“It’s nice. They add life to a house.”
“Chaos is more like it,” he said, grinning.
Sherry returned, shaking her head. “Marisa, tell me about your work.”
“I work at the university. Ancient studies. I just returned from Mexico a few days ago after a six-month dig.”
“Mexico,” Sherry said. “Lucas was just in Mexico.”
Marisa could feel her face warm, but if Sherry noticed she didn’t say anything.
“Find anything interesting in Mexico?” Sherry asked.
Marisa cleared her throat. “A portion of a stone tablet covered in glyphs. It tells the story of a Mayan ruler, I think.”
“Think?”
“The language shares similarities with the Mayan language that has been deciphered for the most part. But there are other glyphs that don’t fit.”
“Your boss says it could be a huge find,” Lucas said.
She arched a brow. “My boss? Bradley? So far, he’s dismissing the find. He thinks I’m overestimating it.”
“What do you think?”
She carefully scooped more stew. “I think it’s going to be huge.”
Lucas chuckled.
“What’s so funny?”
“I’d like to see his face when you get his job. He’s not going to like it.”
She grinned. “I don’t want his job. Too much paperwork.”
“So are you two going to spend the night?” Sherry set coffee mugs in front of Marisa and Lucas.
“Is that all right?” Lucas asked.
“Of course it is. I’ll put you in the boys’ room and Marisa in the spare room.”
Marisa scooted to the edge of her seat, her unease returning. “You don’t have to host us tonight.”
Sherry, sipping her coffee, waved away Marisa. “Too late to go anywhere. And you look like you could use a good night’s sleep.” When Marisa considered a protest, Sherry said, as if the matter were settled, “So tell me about this work you’re doing for Lucas.”
Marisa hesitated, not sure what she could or couldn’t say about the work.
“It’s a code,” Lucas said. “We’ve had a team on the case for months with no luck, and she cracked it in a day.”
“I don’t remember what I did,” Marisa said. Symbols skirted on the edges of her mind. She had the sense again that time was running out, but she couldn’t grasp facts to articulate.
“It will come in time,” Sherry said. “A good night’s sleep and a country breakfast and you will be good to go.”
“I hope it’s that easy.”
