she doesn't. Instead she takes a few steps away from us in her linen suit and lights a cigarette.
Anger starts to rise up within me, but I refuse to succumb to it without first figuring out if the money is actually here.
I know that Tyler deserves a lot better than this, but beggars can't be choosers. Isn’t that how the phrase goes?
I point the shovel down and step on it to drive it into the ground. The earth is as hard as a rock. It's not like the soft dark soil that I have back in Pennsylvania.
It feels like it's even harder than the ground would be under a layer of ice. Perhaps, that's an exaggeration, but I start to sweat profusely after only a few forceful scoops.
I glance at Tyler and see that he is doing a lot better than I am. He is strong and powerful and continues to work without taking a break.
The only time he pauses is to take down some water and to take off his shirt. His six pack glistens in the desert sun and instead of chopping away at my section, I just want to grab him, press him against the car, and have him do bad things to me.
After almost an hour, Tyler’s shovel finally hits something hard. He points at it and I kneel down and move some of the rocks and gravel away with my hands, revealing the top of the barrel.
“It's here!” I say excitedly. “It's here!”
Tessa walks over slowly and looks down into the hole.
“I told you.”
I wait for her to get a little bit more enthused, but instead she turns her attention to her phone and finds some shade.
I don't care. It's finally going to happen, I say to myself. We're going to have the money and we can get as far away from here as possible.
About an hour more of back-breaking work, we finally pull the barrel out of the ground. Tessa walks over and opens the top. I look down to see what’s inside; it’s full of money.
Some of the bills are tied up with rubber bands, but most are just in stacked in piles. Ones and fives definitely do take up a lot of room.
When we put the lid back on and roll it over behind the car, Tessa points to another smooth black rock and tells us that the other barrel is here. Drenched in sweat and exhausted from the effort that I had already put in, I want to take a break.
Tyler refuses.
Instead, he gets straight back to work.
Just as we are about to pull the other barrel out of the ground, a car turns onto the dirt road that leads to our parking spot.
As it approaches, my heart starts to beat faster. It’s driving too fast and kicks up too much dust to make out the make or model.
Tyler points to the car and asks, “Who is that?”
It takes a moment to realize what's happening, but then he furrows his brow and glares at Tessa.
“Who did you call?” he hisses at her.
She shakes her head and she looks as surprised as we are.
Before anyone can do anything, the car comes to a sudden stop and three people get out.
“Hey there!” a familiar voice yells out and I realize that it belongs to Mac.
When he takes a few steps closer to me, I recognize the girl by his side.
It's Maggie.
The other man, tall and handsome, stands a little bit behind them and I don't know who he is.
“What are you doing here?” Tyler asks.
“Well, I came to collect my debt,” Mac says.
“What are you talking about?” Tyler asks.
I glance over at Tessa who looks as confused as I do. I wonder if it's an act, but then the more that they talk, the more that I realize that this is something between Tyler and Mac.
“You owe me,” Mac says. “For saving your life in prison and you owe me for what you and your girlfriend were about to do to us before we split.”
“What are we going to do?” Tyler asks. “Who is he?”
“This is Nicholas Crawford. My partner. He helped me out of a jam, more than a few times, which isn’t exactly what I can say about you.”
“What are you talking about?” Tyler asks. “I was there for you in Hannibal. I picked you up when the whole world was looking for you.”
“Yes, I'll give you that. You did, but I saved your life in prison and you still owe