Page 55 of He Loves Me Knot
They knew he was going to the Arenal Volcano—which was a large area, according to the guidebooks she’d looked at. Who knew where he would be? Searching for him would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. And Sergiodefinitelywouldn’t have the wedding dresswithhim if he was guiding a tour. So even if they found him, it might still be days before they could get the dress back—if they were lucky.
“How are we going to find him?” she finally asked, her excitement level waning.
“I have no idea.” Callum rubbed his eyes, his face appearing drawn.He’s probably just as tired as I am.“But it’s something.”
Liddy finished the rest of the empanada in silence, her stomach churning. Something. Next to nothing. “So are we going to Arenal?”
Callum frowned at her. “No, I thought we’d go back to the hotel. Figure out our next steps and get some sleep.” He cleared his throat. “If Sergio is taking a tour group to Arenal today, he’s probably going to be there for at least a good portion of tomorrow, if not more. It’s about three hours from here on a winding, mountainous road that takes tour buses forever. Any tour leaving tonight would get there past sunset, so I doubt they’d leave the area again right away.”
“And how many tours do you think go out there daily?”
“Dozens,” he answered soberly.
“Callum, theonlything we have on our side right now is time. How long does it take to get from the beach back to Arenal?”
“Probably three or four hours.”
“Right. So if we leave tomorrow morning, we might come in a day late and a dollar short again. We should go there tonight. In the meantime, if you’ll lend me your phone, I’ll start googling the name Sergio and tour guides and Costa Rica and see what I can find.”
Callum turned his head slowly toward her, then pulled back toward another curb. “Are you mad?”
Oh, I should have expected this.
“What, are you dying to get back to your comfortable floor?”
“No. But I am—” Callum ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m tired, Liddy. It’s been a lot the past couple of days. We don’t have a plan or a place to stay in La Fortuna—that’s the town where Arenal is located. If we drive straight through, we’ll be there by like eight. I don’t have my laptop or my mobile phone charger, and I need to get some work done—which I already told you. We have no clothes or even toothbrushes. We can’t keep going like this without some plan.”
“And we can’t just afford to lose whatever we gained by coming here today—which isn’t really that much.”
Crap. I didn’t mean to sound like such a bitch.
Callum frowned. “Not much is still better than nothing.”
“Look, I’m sorry. You’re right. You’re tired, and so am I. It’s been a long day. I haven’t eaten that much except fruit and empanadas and this cake.” She took a bite, then her eyes widened.God, that’s incredible.“What the hell do they put in these cakes? Crack? That’s insanely good.”
“I told you.” He smirked.
“But seriously, Callum, I’m not trying to be ungrateful. I just . . . don’t want to give up now. I know it’s nuts. And, honestly, I know you don’t do ‘nuts.’ I don’t really do nuts. But somehow, it’s been working for us the last two days. So maybe we should keep going and see where this takes us.”
Strangely, even though she’d been talking about the situation with Sergio and the dress, she couldn’t help but feel an energized subtext to her own words.
Let’s see where this goes between us.
Callum gave her a grudging look. “Fine. But I’m stopping somewhere for a proper meal at some point.” He dug out his phone and unlocked it, then held it out to her. “Don’t use all the battery. We’re already down to one phone between the two of us, and we need my GPS.”
Liddy had already opened the browser.Thank God.
She hadn’t realized how much she missed being plugged in until she’d been forced to go without. “If it’s all right, I’m going to call Elle real quick. Tell her we won’t be back tonight.”
“Sure, but I don’t have Elle’s phone number stored in my contacts.”
Her thumb froze over the touchpad.Dammit.
Callum raised a brow. “You don’t know your own sister’s phone number?”
“Does anyone memorize numbers anymore?” She scowled.
“I know my sister’s.”