Searching For Treasure - By L.C. Davenport Page 0,24

more to bring him down. Boy, I did some whooping and hollering that night. I was happier than a jackass eating bumble bees."

Caught by an uncontrollable burst of laughter, Noah, who had been chewing at the time, shot food halfway across the table. Red-faced and mortified, he quickly cleaned up the mess. Rose poked Henry with her elbow and announced to the table at large, "I do love the way this man talks." Henry surprised everyone by turning a bright pink.

Without bothering with dessert, Brett and Austin finished their meal and left the table without as much as a word to anyone. By this time the others were used to the idea that these gentlemen weren't here to socialize. As soon as they were out of earshot, Josie looked across the table. "Dana, is Noah lying to me?"

Not having heard what Noah had said, she wasn't sure how Josie expected her to answer the question. But seeing the glint in her brother's eyes, her own narrowed in suspicion. "Probably," she said, "Why, what did he say?"

"All I was telling her was that this past spring they put up a bungee jumping tower at the Holiday in Dixie festival and you and Jack were one of the first ones to jump off."

Grace squealed with delight. "Did you really? I've always wanted to do that."

"Not only that," Noah continued dramatically, "but they went off the tower together. They had them trussed up like a package and they both jumped at the same time."

A little bell of warning rang in Dana's head and she began to have some inkling of what her brother was up to. "Noah," she began warningly.

Ignoring his sister, he looked around the table gratified to see that he had everyone's interest. "They are always doing crazy stuff like that. Boy, I could tell you stories."

"Why don't you not,”said Jack in the first words he'd spoken since dinner began. The tone was curt, but Dana could see a thawing in the look he quickly cast her way.

But with an appreciative audience, Noah continued undeterred. "For example, last year they watched this documentary about the guy who made the first cross-country road trip. Next thing I know, Jack and Dana have loaded themselves down with maps and are flying off to San Francisco, planning to rent a car and recreate the route he took."

Rose looked at Dana with admiration. "You go, girl."

"Now they're saving up to someday walk the Camino de Santiago." Noah turned to Josie to explain, "That's a famous road in Spain. People come from all over the world just to walk it."

Henry nodded his head, clearly impressed. "I knew you two were my kind of people."

"And you wouldn't believe some of the stuff they put each other through. Jack works for our local paper and part of his job is restaurant and movie critic. If you only knew how many lousy meals and rotten movies he has dragged Dana to throughout the years. But she never complains, does she, Jack?"

"Actually she complains about it all the time," Jack said.

This comment gave Noah pause for only a second. "Well, maybe, but you know she doesn't mean it, because she still goes." Noah cut a quick look at his sister, trying to gauge her mood. Whatever he saw must have reassured him because he went on. "And trust me, she's just as bad. Dana has never met a recipe she didn't feel the need to tinker with. Some of them turn out really great, like a pie she made once that was both apple and cherry. In the same pie! But some stuff I wouldn't eat even on a dare. Not Jack, he has tried every one of her experiments. Hasn't he, Dana?"

Knowing that nothing short of murder would stop Noah now, Dana looked down the table to where Jack was sitting. Jack, his eyes warm with memories, looked back at her and smiled. "Yes," she agreed softy, "He has."

Noah and Josie traded expressions of relief. They had spent the afternoon with their heads together trying to figure out how to get them talking again. Once one idea after another had been looked at and discarded, Josie had suggested reminding them what great friends they had always been to each other. To Noah that had sounded too simple, too basic. But it seemed to be working. Still, Noah hadn't brought out the big guns yet.

"Yeah, for nearly my entire life, Jack has been there for her. Dana, remember that night