Searching For Treasure - By L.C. Davenport Page 0,23

busy for girlfriends but had plenty of time for her. And why Jack couldn't see that Dana continued to pick boyfriends that just didn't get her the way he always had, making them destined to fail.

Noah had had plans in mind when he agreed to take this trip with them. He had intended to try his hand at a little matchmaking, to try and get them to open their eyes and realize that they were perfect for each other. But it didn't turn out quite the way he had expected. For one thing, Josie had distracted him. Now it appeared that they were opening their eyes all on their own, with little help from him. Except things between them had become tense and intense, and now they were mad at each other.

Noah left Dana's room and headed down the hall to stop and knock softly on a different door. "Hey. Can I come in? I need your help."

*****

Dana spent the rest of the afternoon in her room, feeling the after-effects of her time on the roof. She allowed herself a long, hot shower, letting the water run over the soreness in her arms, in her neck and across her shoulders. Her back felt like one long bruise where it had been yanked and pulled.

Dana basked in the sensuous warmth of the water flowing over her, letting it ease the stiffness already forming. Normally, she would have asked Jack to give her a back-rub, but she doubted that at the moment he would be receptive to the request. Often, one of their little adventures had resulted in tired and achy muscles and they would take turns working out the kinks with ointment and gentle fingers.

One Christmas, Noah had surprised them with a joint gift, a book of therapeutic massage techniques. They had attempted to try them out only to end up laughing and tickling each other breathless. Dana smiled at the memory then felt tears spring to her eyes. This was the first time she'd felt unable to ask Jack for anything.

Dana decided to put off thinking about it. Everything in her body and in her heart hurt too much right now. She took a couple of pills and slept until dinner.

The few hours rest did wonders and Dana's mood was much improved by the time Noah knocked on the door to announce dinner. Surely, Jack had calmed down by now. This hope was dashed when she walked into the dining room to find him still sullen and sulky. Already seated at the table, he glanced up at her briefly then without a word went back to pushing his food around his plate.

Dana felt an unfamiliar pain pierce her heart. She jumped slightly when Rose walked up from behind and touched her sleeve. "Hey, kiddo, how you doing?" The look she gave her was full of understanding and Dana felt that Rose wasn't asking after her health. Apparently, Noah had not been the only one who had heard her and Jack shouting at each other.

She shrugged and gave her a smile. "I'm fine."

Grace walked up and patted her shoulder kindly. "You hang in there." She clapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes appalled. "That didn't come out right."

Dana laughed and then kissed them both gratefully on the cheek. "Thanks, I needed that."

The Cook, or rather Mrs. Babineaux, Dana corrected herself, had laid out another stunning spread, but was once again nowhere to be seen. The theme of the meal this evening was fried: fried oysters, fried frog legs in cream sauce, fried catfish filets, fried crawfish tails, deep-fried hush puppies, pan-fried hominy, fried dill pickles and French-fried sweet potato chips. The only relief from all this greasy goodness was a sweet and tangy tartar sauce and bowls of green tomato pickles and pickled okra. Tall glasses of ice-cold milk accompanied the meal. A golden-brown pecan pie awaited them for dessert.

Henry was already deep into a story. "Here he was only a freshman and already leading his division in blocked passes. But that game he actually caught one." He slapped Mark on the back. Breaking open a hush puppy, the boy seemed embarrassed yet proud of his grandfather's praise. "Ha! For a second he seemed shocked, like he couldn't figure out what the ball was doing in his hands. Then he took off down the field running heel over elbow, with two other kids hanging on him like he was playing flag football and they were the flags. It took three