Quickly, he scooped up the phone and turned it off.
In the pitch blackness, she pulled up her jeans and straightened her tank. “So now what?”
He moved next to her. “I suggest we sit down and re-evaluate our plan.”
She was all for that. Her knees felt like rubber at the moment. Sitting down right where she stood, she leaned her back against the wall. “Copper. Come here boy.”
The sound of the dog’s feet stepping on the gravel relieved her, but when he tried to climb in her lap and lick her, she was back on guard again. “Really, Copper?”
Garrett took a seat next to her. Very close, in fact. Told you he’d forgive you.”
“True, but it doesn’t really matter if I can’t keep him alive long enough to return him to Whisper.”
He chuckled. “That’s if he wants to go back to Whisper.”
She finally wrestled Copper onto her lap with his head facing away from her. “He won’t have a choice. I can’t keep him.”
“Why not?”
At the surprise in Garrett’s voice, she turned her head to face him. “Because I move around too much. It would limit the ranches I can work at. I’m sure some have their own dogs.”
“Then don’t move around. Stay here at Last Chance.”
That sounded far more tempting than it should, but it wouldn’t be good for her or anyone else. Hadn’t he noticed what a mess she was? He’d certainly seen and learned more about her overseas adventures than anyone else. Even more than her Army shrink before her discharge.
Sure, she received an “honorable” discharge, but the shrink had basically said she wasn’t fit to return to service. What the hell did he know? She was lucky she had ranch hand experience to fall back on. She’d heard of other service people being completely lost when returning to civilian life and blowing their brains out. She didn’t mentionthatto Garrett. One member of her unit from her first tour had gone back three more times, surviving intact until he came home. His funeral was the last time she’d seen anyone from the Army.
“I know Cole would appreciate you staying here. If I were you, I’d ask for hazard pay after all this.” Garrett’s voice brought her back to the present.
It was better to focus on the present, not the past or the future. “Do you really think the wet dirt will hold up better? Because if it will, we should try digging a smaller tunnel through it. It would get us out of here faster. Plus, we would wouldn’t want it to dry or it might cave in on us again.”
He took her change of topic in stride. “I do. We can go back to a two foot by two foot and see how far we can get. How are your hands holding up?”
She touched the tops of her fingers. Her nails were sharp enough to cut something, but her fingertips were just a little sore. “They’re fine.” She checked the wrap on her arm. “But your sleeve on my arm is a little loose.” She wasn’t about to tell him that it stung quite a bit. There wasn’t anything he could do about it, and he’d try to keep her from working.
“I’ll fix it when we start working again.”
That worked for her. “No time like the present.”
“No, let’s wait a bit. I think Copper needs some attention. We’ve ignored him for most of the day.”
Was he recovering from the sex they had? Hmm, that could be it. She could wait. She just hoped it wouldn’t be too long. She’d already proven that the longer she was in the mine, the more she slipped into craziness.
Chapter Eleven
“Coming out.” Garrett backed out of the narrow tunnel he’d been digging. Riley’s removal of the dirt behind him made it easy to do. It was a bit tight, but they didn’t need a highway to get out of there.
“Calling it quits for the night?” Riley’s voice sounded relieved.
He should have quit earlier. She never complained, so it was easy to forget she was wounded. She may not say anything, but he could tell her injuries were sapping her strength. It didn’t help that they had no food. “Yes. I’m ready for roasted rabbit. Do you think we could get Copper to run for take-out?”
“Only if you tip him with a nice juicy steak.” He could almost see her smirking.
After a day of talking, he could tell exactly what mood she was in and even more importantly when she was slipping into the past again. He’d been told that people who’d experienced trauma should talk about it to “process” it. They made him do that while he was in the hospital.
But with Riley, every time her last cave-in came up, she started to go back to that time. It might be because this was far too similar. She’d slipped back only twice all day.
She turned the light on, and he slid down from the moist pile of dirt.
