Cameron

A week had passed and still no word from Sierra. I was angry because I missed her and I didn’t know if she was safe. I tried to send her a text message, but it wouldn’t go through. Either she blocked me or she was somewhere that didn’t have service. Nah. Sierra wouldn’t go anywhere where the connection was bad. She complained too much about it when we went to North Carolina. I guessed that left one option: she blocked me.

After I left Sweetberry’s, I headed to a bar back in Los Angeles before going home. This whole thing with her had my head a mess. As I was sitting there drinking my beer, someone took the seat next to me. When I glanced over, I saw it was Royce.

“Hello, Cameron. Fancy seeing you here.” He smirked.

“Royce? Isn’t it?”

“Yes.” He nodded.

He ordered a scotch on the rocks and ordered me another beer.

“Thanks, but you didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to. Usually when guys are sitting at the bar alone, women problems are present.”

“Is that why you’re here alone?” I asked.

“Yep. And you?”

“Yeah.” I took a sip of my beer.

“What’s going on with you and Sierra?”

“Do you have a few hours?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Apparently, I do if I’m sitting here alone.” He grinned.

I told him everything that happened between me and Sierra. I probably shouldn’t have since he knew her intimately, but he seemed like an easy guy to talk to, plus Sierra thought highly of him.

“And you have no idea where she took off to?” he asked.

“Not a clue. She could be halfway around the world by now.”

“Or maybe closer than you think,” he spoke.

“What do you mean?” I finished off my beer.

“She could have gone to the cabin at Big Bear Lake.”

“What cabin?” I asked in confusion. “And how do you know about it?”

“It was her father’s and when he passed, he left it to her. She was supposed to sell it, but I don’t think she ever did. The only reason I know about it is because I have a cabin not too far from hers.”

“She never mentioned anything about Big Bear Lake to me. In fact, she hates lakes and cabins.”

He chuckled. “I know. But it’s worth a shot, isn’t it?”

“Do you have the address?” I asked.

“I don’t because I’ve never been there. I’ll give you my address; I believe she’s four or five miles up the road.”

“Thanks, Royce. I appreciate it.”

“No problem, Cameron. Go get our girl back.” He winked.

After I left, I stopped by Kirsty’s apartment to talk to her and James.

“Hey, Cameron, come on in.” Kirsty smiled.

“Do you know anything about a cabin that Sierra owns up at Big Bear Lake?”

“Sierra doesn’t own a cabin up there. In fact, Sierra would never own a cabin.” She laughed.

“I saw Royce at the bar I was at tonight. He said that her father left it to her after he died.”

“James,” Kirsty looked at him, “do you know anything about this?”

“No. She never mentioned a cabin to me.”

“How the fuck do I not know about this? She’s my best friend for life and she never mentioned it.”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “But I’m heading up there tomorrow. Any way I can get you to drive me, James? She took her car.”

“Sure, I’d be happy to drive you there.”

“Thanks, bro.” I smiled.

We reached Royce’s cabin and continued about four miles up the road. We passed a couple of cabins and the one thing I noticed was each of them had their last name on the mailbox. James came across a winding dirt road where a log cabin sat in the distance. Once we were closer to the house, I saw the name “Adams” on the mailbox in black letters. There was also her BMW in the driveway.

“This is it, James.”

“It appears to be. Wow. Look at that house.”

“Keep driving down the road and drop me off there. I don’t want her to see you.”

“Good idea,” he spoke.

As soon as James stopped the car down the road, I grabbed my bag and climbed out.

“Good luck.” He smiled.

“Thanks. I’m going to need it.”

I headed up the road and up the driveway to the house. When I knocked on the door, Sierra opened it and stood there in shock.

“Cameron?”

“Hi.” I smiled.

“What are you doing here?” I saw her looking over my shoulder.

“I came to talk to you.”

“How did you even know I was here or that this place existed?”

“Royce told me, and we’ll talk about that later. May I come in?”

“Yeah.” She stepped to the side.

“How did you get here? I don’t see your truck out there.”

“James dropped me off.”

All I wanted to do was wrap my arms around her and tell her how much I loved her. But I didn’t think she was ready for that. She was still in shock that I was here.

“I just made some iced tea. Would you like some?”

“Sure. That sounds good.” I smiled. “Would you care to explain why you never mentioned this place to me? Or to Kirsty and James?”

“I don’t really like to talk about this place. Let’s go sit on the patio.”

This was a good sign. She didn’t seem angry that I was here.

“This place is gorgeous, Sierra.” I followed her out to the back.

“Thanks. The last time I was here, I was fifteen years old. After my father died and I learned he left it to me, I wanted to put it up for sale, but a piece of me couldn’t let go. Besides the company, this was the only other thing I had left of him. He brought me up here when I was nine to tell me that he and Delia were getting divorced. I remember crying that whole weekend. He told me this was our secret place and not to mention it to Delia that he had it. It was the one thing he kept from her. Then when I was fifteen, we came here for a week and he ended up having a mild heart attack. It was nothing serious and the doctors let him out of the hospital a couple of days later. But here I was, alone and scared. That was the last time I came up here. Out of sight, out of mind, right?” she spoke.

“But you told Royce about this place.”

“Only because he mentioned he bought a place up here.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing you told him because I never would have found you.” I smiled.