“Aye aye, captain,” he said, not quite daring a salute.
She caught his look and paused, a little flustered. “You always do what you’re told, huh?”
“Not a lot of people have tried, honestly,” he replied. It might have been easier to feel that he was doing what he was supposed to do, he reflected, if anyone else had ever cared enough to lay out their expectations.
Darcy snorted. “That must be nice,” she said, expression darkening as she tucked her chin, mind somewhere else. She shook it off and looked up the hill. “It’s about three-quarters of a mile before this trail intersects the one you tried to die on, but it’ll take you a few days,” she said.
Teagan blinked at her, thrown by the apparent change in subject.
“Wait, what?” he asked as Darcy dusted her hands on her tattered shorts. She was leaving?
She raised her eyebrows at him.
“What do you mean, what? Do you have any other questions?”
“I—no. You’re going?”
“Yeah, I told you I’ve got a lot of stuff to do today,” she said, expression confused. She picked up the stereo. “Look, I’ll leave you with my phone and all my podcasts”—she flipped the power switch, and a static-filled voice began to hiss out of the dusty machine—“so the bears won’t bother you. And if they do”—she picked up her backpack and tapped the bear spray fastened to one of the straps—“you’re prepared this time. I put a bottle of water and a sandwich in the backpack. Anything else?”
Teagan made a wordless noise of disagreement in the back of his throat, feeling abruptly whipsawed. He shook his head.
Darcy took a step toward the lake, then paused. “You don’t have to do it,” she said. “If you’d rather meet the crowd for yoga. This’ll wait. Till next year, even.”
He shook his head again.
Darcy took another step away, face still guarded as she looked over her shoulder in departure. In another couple of steps, she’d be out of earshot.
“Am I being punished for something?” he blurted out before he could stop himself.
Darcy turned halfway around and crossed her arms. “Punished?” she asked incredulously.
“You’re leaving me alone in the woods,” he said.
“Are you worried about bears? I promise, no bear is going to come near while you’re blasting Animal Radio.”
“No, I just—I thought you were staying.”
Darcy’s face was mobile as she processed that.
“Oh. You didn’t actually want to learn about conservation. You just wanted to spend some time hitting on me outdoors,” she concluded, face falling into disappointment.
Teagan looked down at his chest, wondering if a direct verbal shot to the gut could cause him to bleed out. How’d she pick that up fromHi, Darcy?
God, what was wrong with him? She worked here. She probably thought he’d just wasted an hour of her time.
“No, I actually did, but—okay. I’m sorry if I—if I made you feel uncomfortable,” Teagan said, shoulders slumping. “I’ll stop.”
She sighed and shook her head. “You’re not making me uncomfortable. I don’t care if you hit on me. Go ahead and take your best shot, Bear Bait. But just buy me flowers or something, because this isn’t punishment.” She gestured tothe woods around them. “Don’t you dare pout about this. This is the good shit.”
Teagan didn’t understand, but every time he’d opened his mouth, he’d stuck his foot in it, so he remained silent.
Darcy huffed in aggravation. “Look,youget to spend the day in these beautiful woods, listening to podcasts and getting a little light exercise. You understand? That’s what I’d rather be doing. That’s what I wassupposedto be doing.”
“Supposed to?”
“That’s what Dr. Goodhair and Rachel hired me to do,” she said, upper lip curling. “I thought I was going to be teaching everyone ecology and botany and leading daily trail hikes.” She snorted. “I even practiced my lectures. You were going to learn all about rewilding and the aspen population of the Gallatin range.”
“But I’d like to hear the aspen lecture,” Teagan said slowly. It was the most personal thing she’d ever told him, and he was greedy for more details about the woman he only knew for being brave and funny and not interested in him. “I really do. Completely irrespective of any opportunity to, um, make an idiot of myself—”
