Manny motioned for me to follow him. “We found this earlier this morning.”
I stopped at the table where four people sat, including Lori. They were to document anything we found. Sitting on the table were two old beer mugs, three teacups, and what looked to be a smoking pipe. A perfectly intact smoking pipe. Up until thismorning, we had found only pieces of pottery, two teacups, and some kitchen items.
I reached down and picked up the mug. “Holy shit.”
Manny laughed. “Can you imagine what we’re going to find, Lucas?”
I shook my head. “I need to go and change.”
Another roar of laughter from my work colleague and friend. “It’s time to dig in the dirt, my friend. We finally found the pot of gold. It has to be a tavern, with those types of items.”
Hitting him on the back, I smiled. “Good job, Manny. Good job.”
“Go do what you need to do because I know you, Lucas. You’re gonna want to be here when we dig up more stuff.”
I nodded and turned to head back to my car.
That had been what I needed to turn my day around. What started out as a bad day looked now to be turning out to be a great day.
At least, that was what I thought.
The door to my hospital room flew open, and I jerked my head up to see Hollie Craft standing there, a look of horror on her face.
“What happened?” she asked as she made her way over to the side of the bed.
“Ahh…I was getting out of my car and started across the parking lot, and some idiot hit me.”
Her hand went to her mouth, and she gasped.
“It’s okay, Hollie. I’m fine. Nothing is broken, but I do have some bruised ribs. The doctor wants me to go home and rest for a few days. The problem is, we think we found a possible tavern at the dig site. I need to get back to it. I can’t go home and rest.”
She swallowed hard. “So, it was an accident?”
I felt my brows pull down. “Yes. Unless you paid someone to try and run me over, and you’re here to see why he failed.”
Her face drained of color. “What!? Oh, my God, I would never do that. I would never try and hurt you!”
I reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Hollie, I was kidding. I thought it would be funny, you know, because of our past and everything.”
There was a knock at the door, and Wendy poked her head in. Shit. Greg must have told Janet, and she told Wendy.
“Lucas!” she cried out, rushing to the other side of the bed. She leaned down and went to kiss me. Thank God my reflexes were good because I turned my head, and she got the side of my face, damn near my ear, instead of the full-on mouth kiss she had wanted.
“Wendy, what are you doing here?” I asked.
“Janet told me what happened! Greg said you’ve had a terrible day altogether.”
“What?” Hollie asked, concern in her voice. It was then Wendy looked at her, and by the expression on her face, she wasn’t pleased to see another woman standing in my hospital room, especially Hollie. I wasn’t sure what it was about Hollie that Wendy didn’t like, but she never made it a secret that she didn’t care for her.
“Hollie, what are you doing here? You hate Lucas.”
Hollie’s eyes went wide with shock. “I don’t hate him.”
“Really?” Wendy asked with a laugh. “You certainly don’t like him.”
“That is not true, Wendy,” Hollie said as she put her hands on her hips. “Why would you even say that?”
Wendy tilted her head and stared at Hollie. “Oh, I don’t know… All the times you’ve fought with him. Said mean things to him. I’m surprised it wasn’t you behind the wheel of that car!”