Raiders of the Lost Heart(84)

To finding love?

He shook away the thought. How could he expect anyone to love him when this was the kind of person he’d become?

“Hey, Ford,” Ethan called out as he, Sunny, and Corrie emerged from the jungle. Dirty. Wet. And laughing and smiling.

Well, at least Corrie had been smiling. Her mouth quickly turned down at the sight of Ford.

“Hey, guys,” he responded, straightening up on the porch as they approached. “How are things going out there?”

No matter how hard he tried, his gaze kept wandering to Corrie’s, though she never made eye contact. A shell of Corrie stood in front of him. Empty and mentally absent.

“Good, good,” Ethan said. “We’re making great time. We’ll definitely be able to hit your goal, maybe even a day or two early.”

Ford tilted his head. “My goal?”

“Yeah, Corrie told us how you wanted to surprise everyone and wrap up by the end of the week so we could all finally get home. Everyone’s going to be stoked when you tell them. Thanks, Ford,” Ethan said, completely oblivious to reality.

Ford shot a glance at Corrie, catching her eye for an instant before she looked away. She’d lied. Lied to protect them. Protect them like he’d tried to do. At least she’d been successful. Ford had failed miserably at protecting anyone.

“That’s great,” Ford said, forcing his voice to keep up the facade.

“You should see it, Dr. Matthews. The bones are in excellent condition because they were protected by the cave. And we found some clothing fragments,” Sunny said, hardly able to contain her excitement.

It did sound exciting. Despite what Corrie had accused him of, he did actually care about archaeology and not just the money. But there was no way he could work in such close proximity to Corrie. Meaning there was no way she’d allow it.

“Awesome,” Ford responded, trying his best to feign his composure.

“It also appears that Mendoza may have been the one who got Yaretzi and their child sick,” Ethan added.

Ford cocked his head. “Mendoza? But didn’t Mendoza write about them settling in another village?”

“Well, according to the wall drawings, they caught something from Mendoza. Look,” Ethan said, pulling a camera out of his bag and handing it to Ford to scroll through the digital photos. Close-ups of the murals. The paintings unmistakably depicted a sick man—a Spaniard. Chimalli’s family nursing the man back to health. And becoming sick themselves. “He must have lied about it to cover his guilt. I mean, clearly they didn’t live out their days in another village.”

“Yeah, like his later accountings were his atonement. Let them live forever through his words,” Sunny chimed in.

Atonement. What would Ford’s atonement be? A lifetime of unhappiness without someone to share it with as punishment for the devastation he’d caused others?

“I know you probably want to be down there, too,” Sunny continued, pulling Ford out of his thoughts. “But I really appreciate you encouraging Dr. Mejía to bring me for the learning experience.”

Another lie. And another glance from Corrie. Lies, lies everywhere. Mendoza. Ford. Corrie. At least Mendoza’s and Corrie’s lies had been used for good.

“Of course,” Ford said, handing the camera back to Ethan.

“Oh, hey, before I forget,” Sunny said, pulling the sat phone out of her backpack. “You got a call today from Lakeview Rehab Center. They said something about a credit card getting declined.”

This time Corrie didn’t simply glance. She looked straight at Ford with worry in her eyes.

“Oh . . .” was all Ford could muster.

“Yeah, they said they’d sent several notices and need payment by tomorrow, but I didn’t catch the rest. The connection in the cave wasn’t good. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take the phone.”

“It’s okay.”

It wasn’t okay. How the hell was he supposed to find the money by tomorrow? All his money was riding on this dig, and he wouldn’t get paid until he delivered.

And he still wouldn’t be able to deliver for a few more days.

“Is everything all right, Ford?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah, totally,” he said, his voice straining to choke out the words. Did he actually think that sounded convincing?

“Ford, how much?” Corrie asked, all eyes shooting to her.

He stared at her. They were the first words she’d spoken to him since leaving his tent the other night. Under normal circumstances he’d be pissed at someone bringing up his finances in front of others. But Ford had no pride left. And if he was being perfectly honest with himself, a tiny sense of hope formed in his heart at the fact that she was speaking to him at all.

“Thirty thousand.”

“Thirty thousand dollars?” Ethan asked. “For what?”

“For my mom’s treatments.”

“Do you have it?” Corrie asked.

He searched her face again before responding. “No.”

“Can you get an advance on the dig?” Ethan asked.

An advance? Ha. He wanted to laugh out loud. Seeing as he was being blackmailed, Ford wasn’t exactly in the position to be asking for advances.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll figure it out. Anyway,” he said, clapping his hands and trying to change the subject, “you guys should get cleaned up. Agnes has been slaving away on some red beans and rice, and it smells amazing.”