But neither of them made any move to go.
“You might want to think about getting a move on, yourself,” Devin said. “How long have you been up here?”
Cara didn’t know how much to say, or not to. “Just a few hours. My friends are down by the river.”
“We did some fishing in a little lake. Where is there a river?”
“That way, I think,” Cara pointed in what she thought was the right direction.
Sanjay’s eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Look, Karoline—is everything OK?”
“Sure,” she chirped, too brightly. “Why?”
Devin looked like he wanted to comment but fiddled with the chin strap of his wide-brimmed hat instead.
“I mean, Iwasturned around for a little while there,” she continued, rushing on to fill the silence. “This little saddle between hills is a bit confusing, but I know where I am now.”
She really needed to get her story together, not just for these two, but anyone else she might encounter.
“Then what happened to your eye?” Sanjay asked with what seemed like genuine concern.
Cara touched her face. It was even more puffy and swollen than it had been that morning, and she could only imagine how it looked. How she looked. “Oh! I slipped while crossing a river last night and the current dragged me a little ways. I know it looks awful but really, it doesn’t hurt.”
It stung and throbbed.
The two men looked at each other, some kind of silent communication passing between them, before Devin said, “I’m glad you’re OK, but none of this explains why you’re wearing my shirt and sweatpants.”
Shit! Shit! Shit!
“I was looking for them everywhere when we packed up our campsite,” he added.
It had occurred to Cara that she could cross paths with the people whose clothing she’d taken—which was why she’d avoided the first trail. She also knew she needed to be on the lookout for a couple—but hadn’t considered that the couple sharing a sleeping bag might be a same-sex couple.
#Clueless.
“I’m so, so embarrassed,” she stammered, embellishing her story as quickly as she could, knowing it was held together by the thinnest of threads. “My clothes got wet and were basically ruined and I... I didn’t have anything to change into or... I would never have done it if it wasn’t absolutely necessary... The truth is, I got separated from my friends and the clothes I was wearing got wet and covered in cockleburs. I was so uncomfortable that when I spotted your tent, I couldn’t help myself. I’m not a thief, I swear. Which reminds me...”
She reached into her pocket, pulled out the money she’d found, and tried to give it back.
Sanjay put his hand up, refusing. “Sounds like you need it.”
“I really can’t take it,” she said in a small voice.
“You already did,” Devin pointed out.
Sanjay gave his partner a sharp look. “Keep the money, Karoline.”
It was humiliating enough to be caught wearing Devin’s clothes. The fact that they were smelly, stained, and had money in the pockets somehow made it worse.
“I’ll repay you as soon as I can, I promise,” she told them. “If I had my cell, I’d get your contact info right now.”
“Our phones are back at the car, too,” Sanjay said.
“I told you we should have brought a SAT phone for emergencies,” Devin said.
An agree-to-disagree moment passed between them, nonverbal communication that suddenly made her heart ache for Karl and everything she thought she knew about their relationship. What she would have given to grouse at him over gas tank levels, their different definitions of the ideal lazy Sunday, or his pet peeve, heavy appetizers for dinner in lieu of entrées because of the portion-size-to-cost ratio.
If only she could tell him she now knew that any food at all was the best deal ever.
