Page 100 of Dear John
I doubted that was the case, but I was willing to go along with it if it gave her hope. We felt our way along the wall until we reached the pallet. My fingers skimmed over the plastic she’d been tearing. It was wrapped tightly around whatever it was holding. It took forever to get all of it off and reach the contents inside.
Of course, fumbling around in the dark didn’t make matters any easier. “A box,” I murmured, feeling along the tape. I found the end and dug under the tape, then tore it off the box. “Got it. Do you want to do the honors?”
“Do I want to stick my hands in an unknown box in the dark with no way to see before a tarantula bites my hand off? No, I think I’ll leave that to you.”
I smirked at the sarcasm in her voice. “Alright, but then I get first dibs on whatever I find.”
“I hope you find tampons,” she muttered under her breath.
I chuckled and slid my hand into the box, a lot less worried about this than she was. Grasping around in the dark made the process a lot longer than it would if I had even a dim light. But just to have some fun…
I screamed loudly, which made her scream. I started laughing when she grabbed my arm, trying to tug it out of the box.
“What are you doing?” she screamed.
“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”
I felt a sharp slap against my arm, but it didn’t hit with the full effect she intended. “You’re such an ass! We’re trapped in the dark and you think now is the time for jokes?”
“Like you wouldn’t have done the same thing if Riley was with you?”
I could practically feel her rolling her eyes at me. “Maybe, but the difference is, I’m with you, not Riley. You should be trying to make me feel better.”
“I’m sorry. Isla, I’m going to reach into this box and everything will be perfectly normal. I’ll protect you from whatever is inside—like tape or books.”
“Thank you. Is that really too much to ask?”
I slid my hand back into the box and groped around, feeling papers and maybe a pen or two. “Nothing.” I picked up the box and set it on the ground, pushing it against the wall so I didn’t trip over it trying to walk around in the dark.
After another three boxes, I finally hit pay dirt. “Here, hold this.”
“You know, the last time a guy told me that, I was not happy with what I was being handed.”
I smirked at the laughter in her voice. “Was it a tarantula?”
“You know, I never realized you had a funny side.”
“Oh, I’m hilarious,” I muttered, handing over a small box. I heard clanking around in the box. Small plastic objects that felt like tea lights. I flipped them over, finding the switch at the back, praying they still worked. The tiniest glimmer of light appeared before me and I held it up, smiling when I saw Isla’s face for the first time. “Look at that.”
“Well, it’s not a flashlight, but it’s something.”
“There are more in here. Let’s spread them out so we can see around this place.”
Over the next twenty minutes, I dug through the box and grabbed every tea light I could find, which was a hell of a lot. Whoever this stuff belonged to must have been obsessed with this shit.
“That’s all in this box.”
“Maybe the next box will have a crowbar,” she said excitedly, tearing into the next box with little hesitation. Her lips quirked up when she pulled garland from the next box. “I have a feeling this is the remnants of someone’s Christmas stuff.”
“Well, when we get bored, we can bring a little cheer to this place.”
Together, we opened every single box on the pallet, but there was nothing but Christmas decorations in them. And by the time we were done tearing the pallet apart, we had nothing to show for it but Christmas lights, a tree, and box after box of decorations.
“That’s it,” I sighed. “The last box.”
“We could use the tree stand to beat the door down.”
“Maybe it would alert someone we’re here, but I doubt we’d break the door down with it.”