Chapter 8
Tegan: So I’m kind of scared to ask, but…is there any update about Rear Admiral DeMarco? Is he having an okay time?
Grace: Morning, baby. I think Frank is adjusting to camp just fine. No need to worry.
Tegan: Oh, phew. Love you!
Grace: Love you, too. What are you doing up so early?
Tegan: Last minute to-do list madness. See you soon!
For the thirdmorning in a row, Grace had breakfast with Frank. This time neither of them approached the other. He was waiting for her on the step when she stepped out of her room, a big, broad form stretching the hell out of a worn t-shirt. Her heart skipped a beat as she took in the size of him, and it swelled in a total crush-worthy way when he stood up and held out his hand.
Nice wasn’t the right description for their walk to the dining hall. It was more than that, but she didn’t poke at it for adjectives.
While they ate, he told her a bit more about the trail he’d gone up the day before, and the one he wanted to take today. Then they collected the picnic lunch he’d ordered the day before.
“Convenient that you ordered food for two yesterday,” she teased him.
His cheeks turned pink. “I was planning on eating all of this myself. But I’ve got snacks we can add to the pack back in my room.”
And so he did. After he tucked the picnic food into the bottom of a high-tech looking pack that stood all on its own in the middle of his cabin, he grabbed another bag and started unloading food. A couple of squeeze tubes, a few protein bars, and three zip-lock bags of trail mix.
He tossed one at her. “Do you like gorp?”
“GORP?” She laughed as she caught it. “Man, I haven’t thought of that forever. Not since Tegan’s short-lived Girl Scout days. What does it stand for again? Good Old Raisins and Peanuts?”
He snagged two protein bars and shoved the rest of the food away again. “Ah, in fact it does not.”
“What do you mean?”
“That’s a backronym.”
“Awhat?”
He put their snacks in the bag, then pulled her close. “A back-ronym. An acronym applied backwards. Likefuckmeaning ‘for unlawful carnal knowledge.’”
She touched her fingers to her temples and then exploded them outwards. “Mind blown. That’s not true either?”
“Nope.”
“I’m the most gullible person on the planet, clearly.”
He kissed her lightly. Their first kiss of the day, and she found herself leaning into it. She wanted more, but she didn’t want to push him, either. His lips caressed hers and made her heart flutter in the most delicious way. “Hardly,” he murmured before deepening the kiss. The barest of licks, and then a final peck. “You’re fun. Don’t ever change.”
“Deal.”
Once they ran through his checklist of things she needed to have—hat, sunscreen, good shoes, extra pair of socks—he put his bag on his back and off they went.
At first the trail was wide and easy to walk along side-by-side, but after a bit it narrowed, and they needed to move to single-file. Frank led at first, going at a slow but steady pace until they reached a plateau spot, where a few trees had fallen, creating a break in the overhead canopy. Sunlight flooded a small clearing and in this space, flowers were growing. Wild, untamed beautiful tangles of color. The Berkshires had some stunning hidden corners.
“These are gorgeous,” she said, picking a few and twirling them between her fingers as Frank dug out their water bottles. She held out her hand as he handed over one of them. “Thank you.”
“I saw some of those on the ridge on the other side yesterday. They’re all over the place here.”
“I love them.” She took another long drink of water, then handed the bottle back.
As he got everything squared away, she picked a few more blooms to carry as they continued along the path.
