“I’ll put the box in my Airstream and lock it up,” Hope says. “Is that still cool with everyone?”
“It feels scary, to be honest,” Caro says, threading another marshmallow onto her skewer. “But I know I need this. I’ve been tethered to phones and pagers since medical school.” A shower of sparks spits up from the fire. “But what about pictures? I do want to be able to take some photos of all of this. Of us.”
“I’ve got you.” Hope reaches into the duffel bag at her feet and pulls out three disposable cameras. “We can put these in our dry bags when we go through the water.”
Ash grins. “Oh my gosh,thistakes me back. I think we had those cameras at my wedding.”
“For the guests to take their own pictures, right?” Caro asks. “Dan and I did that, too. Were most of the photos totally unusable?”
“Yes,” Ash says, cracking up. “Wade’s little cousin got hold of one and she was short so we ended up with a whole roll of shots of people’s crotches.”
“That’s fantastic,” Hope says. “Did you sit around identifying who was who?”
“We threw them out,” Ash says. “It was too much information.” Shetucks the camera into her hoodie pocket. “And I brought my fancy camera for any super-high-quality photos that we might want.”
“Perfect,” Caro says. “Dan’s hoping we’ll get some great shots. He loves this hike, but we haven’t done it in years.”
“Do you really think you can go without talking to Dan during this trip?” Ash asks.
“Yeah,” Caro says, but she has that starry-eyed look in her eyes that often happens when she mentions her husband. Hope thinks it’s sweet. Dan is an emergency room nurse, and he’s tall and lanky, like Caro, with wavy brown hair. They seem perfectly matched, always taking Howie on walks or kayaking or hiking or working on remodeling their cute old house in Salt Lake City piece by piece.
“Okay.” Ash puts the phone in the lockbox and hands it to Hope, who closes the lid and turns the key before Ash can change her mind.
“There we go,” Hope says. “I don’t know any of your passcodes. And I promise not to open this again until we’re ready to go home.”
“Did you get the burner phone?” Ash asks.
Hope nods, pulling it from her pocket.
“This is so hardcore.” Ash looks thrilled.
“It’s a good thing we trust you, Hope,” Caro says drily.
“Too Draconian?” Hope asks. “I’m sorry. I really wanted to have an excuse to buy a burner phone.”
“No, it’s great,” Caro says. “It makes sense.” They’ve talked about all of this already, trying to figure out the best way to get away for a few days without beingtotallyunreachable.
“I’ve added the emergency contacts you each gave me.” Hope holds out the burner phone to Caro. “I’ve already texted them to let them know the number. This is what I said.”
Caro sets down her skewer for a moment and wipes the stickiness from the marshmallow on her shorts before taking the phone to read what Hope sent.
Got here safe! Heading off the grid now. Back in contact on Sunday. Text this number if there’s an emergency. Thanks for letting us disappear for a few days. xx
“We’ll check it once a day to see if anything comes in,” Hope says as Caro passes the burner phone to Ash so she can double-check her contact’s number. “Except for when we’re on the hike. There’s no coverage in the Underground, so I’ll leave the burner in the lockbox while we’re there.”
“This feels so weird.” Ash is jiggling her leg up and down. “My girls still can’t believe I’m doing this.”
“It’s probably good for them,” Hope says with mock severity. “Let them miss you.”
“Can I say,” Ash says, glancing down at the burner phone and then back up at Hope, “that it’s a privilege to be on a vacation where someone else is taking care of all the details? I feel so parented. Sopampered. Thank you.”
Hope feels pleased. Shehasput a lot of thought and work into this. “Of course.”
“It’s my pleasure,” Caro says. “I can’t wait to get you guys out there into the Underground. You’re going to love it.”
“I’m worried that I haven’t trained enough for this,” Ash says. “I don’t want to be the weak link.”
“Please,”Hope says. “You’re in great shape. You’re always outside working. You’re going to be fine.”
