“Sure thing, Emily Gilmore.”
Betsy patted her hair one more time. “Please. I’m much nicer to my maids.”
EIGHTEEN
“I don’t know about you two, but I’m blown away.”
She was flanked by Leo and William as they left the informational meeting about Dig Greener, and each of the men had his arms full.
“Way more interest than I was expecting,” William agreed, turning sideways so the stand-up display case would fit through the exit of the Beaucoeur Public Library. He was carrying that and the table banner while Leo had the laptop and the box of pamphlets—printed on recycled paper of course. She’d hauled that equipment in and out of so many schools on her own over the years that she didn’t even feel bad about letting them do the heavy lifting this time.
“Not me. I figured this would be a big draw.” Leo was smiling as he said it, about as thrilled as she’d ever seen him. “This is great.”
It was only two months until December and the end of Dig Greener’s probationary period. She was guessing the fifty people who’d shown up today would be a strong argument in favor of full-funding approval.
“Good thing Saturday’s our practice hike. Sounds like we need to get things moving sooner rather than later.” William stashed the supplies in his car and turned to her. “You have everything you need, boss?”
She winced. “Um. I’ve still got some shopping to do.”
“What kind of shopping?” Leo’s body language shifted from pleased to wary so fast it almost gave her whiplash.
“Well,” she hedged, “you said moisture-wicking?”
“If you want some help, I can—” William started to offer, but Leo beat him to it.
“I got this,” Leo barked. “You and me, Dutch. Let’s go.”
With zero discussion, he steered her away from William’s Toyota and loaded her into his own passenger seat.
“Let me guess,” she said once he was settled into the driver’s seat. “This is a rental from a Big Dig employee stationed on the moon for the month?”
She tried not to scour the interior for any details about his life, but her resolve broke immediately, although nothing about his disappointingly generic Subaru Outback revealed anything of interest.
“Funny.” His voice was flat, but she saw crinkles around his eyes and took it as a win. “I do own a couple of personal items.”
“So it’s this and the tiny tent?”
“Yep. The sum total of my possessions.”
Given what he and William had described about their lives with POR, he might not actually be kidding.
As they headed toward the biggest outdoor outfitter in town, she risked a question that had been bothering her for two weeks. “Since you’re taking me, does that mean you’re finally okay with me coming?”
She was aiming for breezy, but in truth she wanted to know why he had a bug up his butt about her going camping. She thought they were getting along fine—better than fine, sometimes—but he seemed determined to keep her away from his precious woods.
His gaze flicked over to her while they waited at a stoplight near the outdoor mall. “What Faith Fox wants, Faith Fox gets. I learned that a long time ago.”
The eye crinkles again. His words might say one thing, but his body language said another. He was teasing her, like he used to. She wanted more of it.
“Apparently what I want is wool socks and moisture-wicking pants.”
He smiled, as she hoped he would, and then they were parked and walking up to Hiking HQ. Although she’d lived in Beaucoeur her whole life and liked to shop local, she’d never set foot on the premises until today. Its massive exterior was covered in redwood planks arranged at sharp angles, and an oversized fiberglass moose stood next to the entrance, a pumpkin at its huge feet, marking the fact that Halloween was a week away.
“Hey, we should get a shot with the moose.” Then, in case that sounded like a naked attempt to take a selfie with him, she quickly added, “For the BUILD socials.”
“Sure.” He stood next to her while she held her camera at arm’s length. The end result had her grinning and him frowning and the moose looming over them, its nostrils bigger than either of their heads.
“Perfect.” She tapped out a quick caption for the BUILD Instagram account and posted it, her heart giving a tiny squeeze. They still looked good together.
