She didn’t say anything, and he braced for the possibility that she might scold him for not thinking about his feet. Instead, she just stared at him. “Thanks again,” she said solemnly.
“After you.”
Coming out of the trees, they encountered the other campers, who waited in a semicircle.
“Oh, whew,” Grayson said. “Thought Logan had gone postal. The way he ran into the woods with a gun.”
“He was coming tosaveme,” Tess said. “And where the hell were you three?”
They all had the good sense to look ashamed.
“Seemed like Logan had it handled,” Ashton murmured.
Tess gave them each a death stare, then turned to Logan and made a point of thanking him again for all to hear.
“My pleasure,” he said, passing her the gun, stock first. “Let’s not do it again though.”
He was playing it cool, but the whole incident had rattled him. Mainly the part where he had to shoot so close to Tess. Yes, he’d spent a lot of time shooting cans in the backyard as a kid, but it had been months since he’d been to the range as an adult. And even though he’d sounded confident explaining to Tess that he wouldn’t have hit her, he sent up a prayer thanking God he really hadn’t.
Everyone returned to their tents, eager to get back to their warm sleeping bags. It took a minute for Logan’s heart to quit pounding. But once it did, he fell asleep quickly.
The next morning, after a meager breakfast, Tess walked them to the cliff where she would teach them how to rappel.
Since Logan had already proved himself competent at this task, Tess used him to help the others.
Grayson cautiously peered over the side.
“You scared, bro?” Carter said.
“Of course I’m scared,” Grayson said. “I’m not an idiot.”
“I’m not afraid of anything,” Ashton said, puffing out his chest.
“Everyone’s scared ofsomething,” Logan said, enjoying the opportunity to contradict Ashton.
“I’m only scared of one thing,” Grayson said.
“Hope it’s not heights,” Tess said, handing him a harness.
“Unfortunately, it is heights,” Grayson admitted. “But I’m here to conquer fears, so let’s get to it.”
“Just don’t look down,” Tess suggested.
“I guess there is one thing that terrifies me,” Ashton said, running a hand through his hair. “Going bald. Oh, and getting fat. That’s frightening.”
Logan saw Tess roll her eyes. God, this guy was insufferable.
“How ’bout you, Tess?” Carter said. “Anything scare you?”
“Drowning. Dying in a fire. Shark attack,” she listed without hesitation. “Those inflatable tube men. Bidets. Dividing fractions. The usual stuff.”
Logan chuckled. She was tough but honest. He liked that.
“Dang,” Grayson said. “Now that you mention all that, maybe I am afraid of more than heights.”
Tess gave a brief lesson on rappelling, after which they each took a turn. Miraculously, they made it through the exercise unscathed and moved on to navigation class.
They learned how to read the sun and a compass, how to use tree bark to tell direction in the woods, and how to orient by listening to the sounds of running water. There was only one big river near them, and it conveniently ran south.
