“I hit a rock.” I tried to sound nonchalant despite my chattering teeth. “Or maybe the rock hit me. The details are fuzzy.”
“And then Noah fished her out,” Diego added, exchanging the same look with Jenn they’d had when I told them Noah baked muffins. Maybe the Adventure Center staff developed their own secret language of significant glances.
“Don’t sweat it, Sam,” said Jenn, patting my shoulder.
“Water was way too cold for any sweating,” I reassured her.
“Sometimes the river’s got to humble you before it canteach you anything worth knowing.” She turned to Diego. “Come on, let’s get the trailer. These boats won’t load themselves.”
They climbed into the truck, leaving me alone with Noah. The silence stretched between us, broken only by another Yeti shake that sprayed cold droplets in a twenty-foot radius.
“Thank you,” I said. “For pulling me out.”
“I’m trying to save the Adventure Center, not kill it. Drownings are bad for business.”
“Yeah. Those rarely make the brochure.”
“You might want to delete all that.” Noah handed me back my phone, still dripping from its waterproof plastic bag.
“Oh, trust me, I’m deleting every second.” I swiped the screen open, ready to erase any evidence of my river humiliation. The camera app showed the latest recordings, and my stomach dropped. “Oh no. No, no, no.”
Noah raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“You left it live streaming.” My voice came out as a gasp.
“Live streaming? What’s live streaming? All I did was press that red button and point.”
“The whole time. Everything.” I scrolled through my notifications, watching the numbers climb higher than any of my previous posts in weeks. “Two hundred thousand views. And climbing.”
“That’s ... good?” Noah’s brow furrowed, creating little lines between his eyebrows.
“No, that’s terrible. Thousands of people just watched me fail spectacularly at the exact thing I’m trying to promote!”
“Itwaspretty spectacular.”
“This isn’t funny.”
“Kinda funny.”
“NOT. FUNNY.”
“Then you need to watch it again.”
“I can’t believe this.” I buried my face in the towel. “LuxeLife hired me to make their resort look luxurious, not recreate America’s Funniest Home Videos, Wilderness Edition.”
Meanwhile, the comments kept rolling in.
@MountainMomma84: “OMG I’m dying!! Most authentic travel content I’ve seen in YEARS! That tour guide can rescue me from ANY DAY ”
@AdventureJunkie: “You totally face-planted and GOT BACK UP! Real influencers show the messy parts too. Who is Mountain Man and does he have Instagram? Asking for a friend ”
@TravelBloggerBecca: “Girl your SCREAM when you hit that rapid I just woke up my boyfriend laughing so hard! But that rescue was super impressive. More REAL content like this please! ”
Noah pointed at my screen. “They seem to like it.”
“They seem to like you.”
“What’s not to like?” A smug grin crossed his face.
