Inside, there was scarcely enough room for her to rise up on her knees. When she stretched her arms out, she could almost touch the sides. “Is this going to be big enough?” she asked.
“We’ll need to huddle together with the dogs for warmth,” he said.
She recognized the logic of what he was saying, but her stomach fluttered nervously. She wasn’t worried Scott would try anything…improper. But the thought of being that close to him unnerved her.
“Here. Take this branch.”
She took the pine boughs he passed her and spread them on top of the snow floor of their shelter. When she was done, he handed her a second orange tarp. “Lay this over the branches. Do you have an emergency blanket in your pack?”
“Yes.” The Mylar blankets were standard first aid supplies.
“Good. We can wrap up in those. Now come out and let’s see what we have to eat.”
She joined him by the fire as he fed in larger twigs from which he had shaved the bark, revealing mostly dry wood beneath. The blaze wasn’t large, but it burned bright and hot. “How did you get the fire going so fast?” she asked.
“Cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly.”
“Huh. I bet you were a Boy Scout.”
“Eagle Scout.”
“I guess that’s where you learned to be so prepared.”
“That and the army.”
“When were you in the army?”
“Eight year ago.” He turned his attention from the fire to his pack. “What have you got in the way of food?”
She opened her pack and pulled out everything she had shoved in there before she left her apartment this morning:protein bars, peanut butter pouches, cheese sticks, nuts, four candy bars, two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, energy gels, two water bottles, instant hot cocoa mix, and two tiny bottles of peppermint schnapps.
Scott cradled the schnapps in his hand. “What made you bring these?”
“For medicinal purposes.”
He laughed—one of the few times she had heard him laugh. It was a nice laugh, deep and rumbling, and it set up a flutter in her chest.
He surveyed the items she had laid out. “You must have been hungry when you packed all this,” he said.
“I thought we would be searching again, and when we found Jackson he would be hungry.”
He nodded, all mirth gone. “Yeah, he probably is. Though maybe whoever is with him has food.”
“We found that candy wrapper,” she said. “I hope that means Jackson is eating something.”
His own contribution to their stores included chicken bouillon cubes, more protein bars, beef jerky, instant coffee, energy gels, and two ham and cheese sandwiches. “We won’t go hungry,” she said.
He took out a metal mug, filled it with snow, and set it on a rock beside the fire. “I only have the one cup, but we can share.”
He made cocoa and added a slug of the schnapps, then offered the mug to her. The hot, sweet liquid was heavenly, sending a jolt of warmth through her. She refrained from gulping it all and passed it back to him.
They shared the sandwiches and a candy bar each, and a second cup of fortified hot chocolate. By the end of the meal she was drowsy and mostly warm.
The dogs ate jerky and one of the ham sandwiches, and some of the bottled water.
“I feel almost human again,” she said as she passed over the empty cup.
“I’m sorry I got you into this situation,” Scott said.
