I hated to admit I was a little jealous, but quickly pushed those thoughts into the back of my mind. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“No problem. Take your time getting back down there. I don’t want to stumble upon you with a broken leg because you were rushing.”
I threw her a chastised look. “I’m insulted you think I’d be so reckless when I was the one that taughtyouhow to hike properly.”
She smiled. “Guess my memory’s a little fuzzy considering it’s been so long.’
Point taken.
After next week, I’dactuallyfollow her and Talos’s advice and get out for once. It couldn’t hurt to bake myself in the sun for a while, especially with the dig about my tan.
I just needed to get through next week. And then I’d be home free.
CHAPTER 4
Marlow
“I can’t believemy walking buddy ditched me,” I said on our descent back to the campgrounds.
Actually, I could, but I was trying not to hurt my own feelings over seeing Blake disappear down the trailhead at a quick jog, not even bothering to come over to me to tell me something had come up and he was needed elsewhere.
I was choosing to believe at this point in time that a giant fire had broken out down at base camp and Blake was running to rescue the poor cooks trapped inside of the locked freezer. Only he knew the code to get in and people were on their hands and knees, frantically praying for an act from God to rescue their poor coworkers and would soon be crying out of joy once Blake showed up.
“Don’t take it personally,” mynewwalking buddy, Lydia, said. “He gets pulled in a hundred different directions all day.”
I had half a mind to ask herwhatexactly had caused Blake to skip out on me like that. I highly doubted she’d get intoit, though. Something about blah, blah, professional conduct or whatever.
Instead, I sighed and shook my head. “Don’t tell me, that’s just the excuse he gave you. It was because I smelled, wasn’t it?”
Lydia’s brows shot up, her face pinching into a confused and bewildered look. “No... he didn’t mention anything about that. Don’t worry.”
Man, tough crowd.
“Phew! What a relief.”
“There are toiletries down at Guest Services if you forgot to bring something with you. They’ve got deodorant, toothpaste, mouthwash, floss, extra socks, and whatnot.”
Oh, sweet, sweet Lydia.
This was the time where I was supposed to be cooling down from my constant need to put my jester hat on and dance around the court until I was able to draw a laugh out of my audience. In any normal circumstance, I’d reel it back, read the crowd and find a better balance between continuing the bit like I wanted to and dumbing it down just enough so the other person could join in on the joke.
The unfortunate problem was that I was still riding that high of Blakegetting itwithout me having to taper myself to a morerelaxedkind of company.
And so therefore, my mouth was running way faster than my brain to be able to stop myself from saying, “No toothbrushes, though? Cheapskates.”
Her eyes widened. “No, no. We have toothbrushes. Seriously, anything you need, we probably have. If we don’t, we can send one of our councilors out to the Stop-and-Shop in town to grab something. It’s no problem.”
Regret hit instantly.
Aw, fuck. Now I was giving this poor girl something to worry about.
Coming from her perspective, I was some wealthy shithead whining about not having something that wasmost definitelyoutlined in Blake’s trusty welcome packet to bring, along with probably a plethora of other things mentioned. And now I was making ittheirproblem to make up for my fuckup.
See, this was the problem with having a personality that centered around irony being the butt ofeveryjoke. Too many people took me seriously.
“Well, good thing I’ve got one of those fancy spin brushes back at my cabin.” I plastered on a smile to, hopefully, make sure I came across as sincere.
The last thing I wanted was for this poor girl to force one of her coworkers to take a trip into town just to buy me a bunch of bathroom essentials because I was coming across as too good to use what would’ve been provided for me.
