Steph snickered and silently agreed. She definitely hadn’t hated it either. Especially the kiss. It was wonderful and perfect and exactly how it should’ve been.
“I have a map in my pack that covers this area. If we keep it under the blanket, and you cover the flashlight with your hands, it should be safe to check it.”
“Too risky.”
“I want to show you the route,” she insisted. “In case we get separated.”
“We won’t get separated.” He said it without any hesitation at all. “I’m sticking to you like glue.”
Her heart did something she chose not to examine. “Okay. Stick as close to the rocks as we can so we don’t leave tracks. From this crevice, we’ll go right. Then angle around the edge of the stone. Once we reach the edge of it, we’ll be in an open area. If it was light, we’d see the next formation. I doubt we’ll see much with the dark and snow.”
“If they’re still out there, lack of visibility is good.”
“True. Good to keep them from seeing us, but might make it hard for us to find exactly where we need to go and the best route to get there.” She hesitated. “I might be wrong.”
“Wrong? I doubt it.”
He leaned toward her. The kiss was quick and soft. Nothing like the first one, and still something she felt all the way down to her cold, tingling feet.
“Ready?” Jack asked as he pulled away.
“As I’ll ever be.” Steph recognized there was a quiver to her tone. What if Jack was right and the best choice wasto stay put? Maybe they should wait until the area was secure, even if it was still several hours from now, and even if they couldn’t know what was happening in closer to real time.
She carefully folded up the blanket and tucked it in the outside pocket of her pack before handing him his pack and grabbing hers. The crevice left no room to put them on properly. “Your legs are going to be a mess when you stand up,” she told him.
“Oh, I know,” he agreed.
Jack eased himself out first, moving carefully, keeping his back against the rock face.
“All clear,” he said, poking his head back in and offering his hand. She took it, and he pulled her clear of the crevice. For a moment, they both stood against the rock, moving their legs up and down.
Steph grimaced. Her feet were full of pins and needles from the ankles down. Her knees were slow and reluctant, and her right hip flexor made itself loudly known. She took a few careful steps, and the feeling started coming back, unpleasant and necessary in equal measure.
Jack was doing the same beside her, taking short experimental steps along the rock face, working circulation back into his legs.
“Wow,” he whispered. “I’m a mess.”
“Same,” she agreed as she scanned the area.
Even in the limited light, it was easy to see several inches of new snow had fallen while they hid. More than she expected. It lay unmarked and deep across the open ground. Beautiful under any other circumstances. Right now, it was just an obstacle.
“Deep snow works a little in our favor,” she said quietly. “Hard to tell human tracks from animals at first glance.”
“Stick to the rocks where we can.”
“As long as they last.”
They settled their packs and moved out, staying close to the rock face and using it for cover when they were able.
The tree line along the gulley was visible in the distance but only just. The open snow between the outcropping and the second rock formation could be a problem. She smiled, realizing she’d been right about where they were.
The problem was that once they left the rocks they were using for cover, they needed to cross a hundred yards of open ground. Maybe a little more.
“How are your feet?” she asked as they huddled next to a rock.
“Not great,” Jack admitted. “Better, but . . . yeah. Not great. You?”
“About the same. I would suggest we wait here until we get more feeling, but—”
