Alexei, finally, dropped his arm and stepped away, sucking in a deep, dusty breath.
“Shit, Faraj,” the original stranger said, rubbing at his forehead. “There was this huge rattler right across the trail—” He shook his head, looking up from the ground to meet Alexei’s eyes. A slow smile grew on his lips, eyes dazed with relief. “This guy saved my life.”
“Damn,” Faraj said. “Sounds exciting.”
That was, Alexei supposed, one word for it. He had to look away from the original stranger’s smile, because now that Alexei could fully see his face, and the way that smile transformed it—those eyes, deep brown and warm, the skin crinkling around them—
It was simply sensory overload for Alexei, right then.
Faraj clapped a hand on Alexei’s shoulder again. “Thanks, man.”
Alexei opened his mouth before snapping it shut, unable to figure out what to say.
“Hey!” Faraj shouted over his shoulder. “Watch out for rattlers!”
And with a friendly smile to Alexei, Faraj kept walking down the trail. He was followed a moment later by three other men, each of whom gave Alexei a nod, a smile, and a “Hey,” on their way.
Alexei blinked back at each of them, still struggling to cool his adrenaline. He rubbed absently at his chest after they’d passed.
“Thanks again.”
Alexei nearly jumped. He hadn’t realized the original stranger, with the brown eyes and the long hair and the smile, was still there.
“I’m Ben.”
Ben held out his hand. After a second, Alexei shook it.
“Alexei.”
“You can hike with us if you want.” Ben tilted his head toward the trail, where the others had gone.
“Oh.” Alexei shook his head. “No, that’s okay.” After an awkward pause, he added, “You probably shouldn’t hike with earbuds in.”
He bit his tongue, immediately recognizing how chiding it had sounded. This was possibly one of the reasons why Alexei didn’t have very many friends. But, well. The desert was a frightening place. Ben needed to look out for himself.
To Alexei’s relief, Ben laughed, hands on his hips.
“My mother would thank you for the reminder.”
They stared at each other for another long moment, until Ben adjusted the trekking poles wrapped around his wrists and nodded toward the trail.
“All right,” he said. “See you out there.”
With one last disarmingly attractive smile, he, too, was gone.
Alexei bent over his own trekking poles, taking a moment.
He was officially one mile into his 2,500-mile hike. This huge thing he had planned for months suddenly taking form in the dust already collecting on his trail runners, the wind battering his face, the sun beating on his neck. He had been prepared for this solitary journey, had looked forward to months spent walking along the rocky spines of California, Oregon, and Washington, alone. A chance to say good-bye to his old life. To this wonderful, wild coast. To find a bit of peace before he started over.
In a way, Alexei had been preparing for this moment for years, ever since his father had started taking him on serious trails when he was seven years old. Thinking of his dad pinched at Alexei’s chest, but it was a pinch he had expected, one he was familiar with now. A pinch he had felt, too, when Ben had said,My mother would thank you for the reminder.Alexei hoped, eventually, by the time he reached the end of the trail in Canada, that he’d have perfected feeling that pinch. That he would have gotten so used to it, this pinch of his mother and father, that he’d barely even notice it anymore.
It was hard to imagine, truthfully. But he was hopeful anyway. Hope was why he was here.
Either way, something about stepping onto the trail this morning with nothing but his pack and his thoughts had felt…anticlimactic, even once his senses had adjusted. There had been no welcoming party, no spreadsheet for him to consult—he had made so many spreadsheets, in his preparations—no boxes to check in satisfaction. Nothing to announce that this was actually happening.
Until the rattlesnake.
The rattlesnake knew Alexei was here.
