One pressed a tiny idol with a womanly figure into Dree’s hand, and they all touched Dree’s feet before they left.
Dree thanked them but still seemed subdued.
Batsa identified the various dishes they’d brought and seemed excited. The steel plates that they’d carried contained a lentil stew, a different chicken one, rice, a pickle made of greens, various side dishes, the usual flatbreads, and some steamed dumplings that were fantastic.
Dree stayed quiet as she ate, no matter how much Alfonso tried to cheer her up with quips and banter.
Maxence knew better. He’d worked on this type of mission for nearly a decade. Sometimes, you just had to sit with the disquiet it causes. He made sure she had plenty to eat and that her tent had been pitched on the flattest spot of ground, though he wasn’t sure whether he was sleeping there tonight or not.
Isaak sat beside Dree at dinner that night, and he offered her a silver flask from his saddlebags. “My family’s finest. It looks like you could use some.”
Dree took a long gulp, her throat working as she swallowed. She passed it back to him. “Thanks.”
Father Booker passed around some candied nuts he had brought along as dessert, and in the flickering light of the campfire, Maxence watched as Dree ate exactly one and then passed the pouch to Isaak.
She stared into the fire during most of the conversation and finally stood. “I need to turn in, guys. Max, I need a few minutes. Did you guys put his sleeping bag in my tent?”
Isaak pointed to a bedroll over by one of the other tents. “We didn’t want to presume. We figured we would ask where his sleeping bag should go.”
Her voice was flat. “These pup tents aren’t big enough for three grown men to sleep in, especially you three. Max, you can sleep in my tent, but I just need a few minutes to change clothes and have a sponge bath.”
Alfonso leaped to his feet when she said that. “I will warm some water over the fire for you. Give me five minutes. I will do this for you.”
Dree sat down while Alfonso warmed her water and wrapped a towel around the pot for her to carry it.
He said, “Just put the pot outside the tent when you are done. I will clean it. You should go to sleep immediately afterward, so you don’t get chilled.”
Maxence considered that Alfonso might be cockblocking him by suggesting Dree go immediately to sleep before Maxence got there, but then Max remembered that he could not be cockblocked because he was a harmless deacon who had already taken vows and wanted to be a priest.
Heshouldwait until she was asleep before he crawled into the tent.
Dree said, “It’ll take just ten or fifteen minutes, and then you can come in.”
“Take your time,” Max said. “I’ll be there after a bit.”
He waited by the campfire, talking quietly with the other guys about the technical requirements for solar panels and catchment cisterns.
Isaak looked up from the fire. “Oh, wow.”
Maxence glanced at Dree’s tent.
In the dark night, she’d left a flashlight on so she could see while she washed herself with the pot of warm water. A perfect silhouette of her curvy form graced the side of the tent as she lifted her arm like a ballet dancer and pressed a small cloth to her shoulder and smoothed it down and over the round, generous peak of her—
Maxence turned back around and stared at the campfire. “Isaak and Alfonso,quit looking at the tent.”
Isaak and Alfonso slowly turned back and trained their eyes on the campfire.
Batsa frowned at them until he looked over and saw her shadow. His gaze instantly zoomed back to the fire, and his eyes were wide as he purposefully stared directly into the flames.
Father Booker was leaning back against a rock with his eyes closed, half-dozing, his face turned up to the stars.
Maxence focused his eyes on the coals and dancing flames of the campfire, watching the glowing embers and the gases burning brightly in the darkness. A drop of sap popped, and sparks rocketed upward into the night.
Batsa removed a small book and a tiny clip-on light from his backpack and began to read. His focus sharpened on the book almost instantly.
Father Booker remained reclined with his head tipped back.
That left Isaak, Alfonso, and Maxence, himself.
