“Leo?” Then, louder, she called, “Leo?”
Almost immediately, his voice floated back. “Coming!” Twenty seconds later, he jogged into view, his boots splashing through the puddles covering the canyon floor. “So there’s—”
She launched herself at him, and he caught her immediately, wrapping his strong, not-devoured-by-wild-animals arms around her.
“I thought you left me.” Her words were muffled as she pressed her face into his chest.
“Hey, shhh.” He stroked down her back. “Shhh. I would never.”
She clung to him while her heart settled back to a normal rate, and when she finally pulled away, she felt like an idiot.
“Sorry.” She swiped at her nose with the sleeve of her jacket. “It’s just that if I was alone out here, I would die. Like literally some poor hiker would find my bones come the spring thaw.”
He guided her back to their discarded packs. “I’m sorry. I wanted to see how the main trail looked after the rain. It’s just at the mouth of the canyon, so I figured I didn’t need to wake you.”
“And?” She leaned against the rock, her knees still a little shaky.
“And there’s good news and bad news,” he said. “The bad news is, the trail’s washed out, so you’re not going to get that twist cone quite yet.”
“Damn. What’s the good news?”
“The good news is, we won’t have to sleep on the ground tonight because we have a tent.”
Her eyes widened. “No.”
“Afraid so,” he said cheerfully. “Let’s go make camp.”
TWENTY-ONE
Leo stood next to Faith, looking at the tiny red dome in front of them. There was really only one thing to be done.
“I’ll just sleep outside.”
“You will not,” she replied immediately.
He glanced at the ground adjacent to the tent, then back at the entrance. “I think I have to.”
She didn’t answer right away, presumably too busy calculating the space inside the canvas structure he’d set up.
“In my defense,” he said, “it would’ve been fine for just you.”
“Barely.” She cocked her head. “This can seriously fit two people?”
She wasn’t going to like this next part. “Yeah, when it’s, ah, a couple.”
Again, she paused before speaking.
“Like you and Reggie?”
Before he could respond, she walked to the tent and knelt to crawl inside. As far as shutting down any possible reply went, it was pretty effective.
“Shoes!” he called.
“Sorry!” She froze half in and half out of the entrance before wriggling around so she was sitting in the opening facing him, her muddy boots resting on the flap of canvas he’d pegged down at the entrance like a doormat. She crossed her ankles and pulled her legs into her chest. “I had no idea how nice sitting down was until right now.”
“You were a champ today.”
She snorted, but he crouched so they were eye level. “I mean it. Good job.”
