“Hey, I’m not exactly thrilled about this arrangementeither,” I snapped. “I didn’t sign up to be dragged through the wilderness by Mr. Mountain Man Grumpy Face.”
“Mr. Mountain Man Grumpy Face?”
“You heard me.”
Maya shrugged. “She’s got a point.”
“See, that face right there.” I pointed at his scowl.
For a moment, Noah and I stared each other down. Then, unexpectedly, the corner of his mouth twitched. His smile formed slowly, a twinkle in his eye. “You really want to do this?”
“Do I want to do this? No. But it seems that neither one of us has a choice.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?” Maya and I shared a hopeful look. Had our plan actually worked?
“But we start tomorrow, first thing.”
“So what, like ten, eleven?”
“Well, the trip’s called Dawn Patrol, so …” Noah’s smile stretched wider still.
Chapter Thirteen
The next morning, Noah met me in the resort lobby at 4:00am. Although the term “morning” is debatable. Technically, since the sun hadn’t even come up, as far as I was concerned, it was still the middle of the night.
Noah grimaced like he was looking at a giant pile of moose dung as soon as he saw me. “What are you wearing?”
“Clothes?” I stared down at my outfit, the outfit Maya let me pick out from the boutique where I got my beanie and my boots.
“We’re going for a hike, not a photo shoot.” Noah scanned me again, then shook his head.
I’d chosen a heathered gray Patagonia fleece pullover, some stretchy black Lululemon yoga pants that made my butt look a-maz-ing, and a pair of baby-blue merino wool socks that embraced my feet in a hug. I was going for an “I’m an outdoorsy person who definitely knows what she’s doing and wants to look good doing it” vibe, even if it wasn’t remotely true.
“Follow me.” Noah’s tone suggested he was going to escortme to the principal’s office where he would bend me over his knee and spank me for being naughty. Which I guess I must have been okay with because I fell in line behind him without fussing, an extra spring in my step.
We made our way outside to the main driveway. Even in the darkness, Noah’s Jeep looked like a pile of something Bigfoot left in the woods.
“So let me guess, we’re taking that … thing.”
“Smart girl.”
“Smart ass,” I said back.
“Yeti, move.” Noah snapped his fingers, and the wolf-dog moved from the passenger seat to the back.
“Great, you brought your wolf-dog, too.”
“Might want to brush the seat off first. Wouldn’t want to get dog hair all over your fancy yoga pants.” Noah still wore a scowl on his lips, but I was pretty sure his eyes were smiling.
“Hey, look, you have doors now.” Sure enough, the piece of Bigfoot dung Jeep did indeed have doors, even though it didn’t have them at the airport.
“Put ‘em on this morning,” said Noah. “These roads can get pretty rough. Can’t have you bouncing down the mountain.”
“Aww, so sweet.”
“My survival depends on your survival now, so I figured I better keep you alive.”
