The younger crew are all in doubles, not that Ripley would make their guest share with anyone. Which means somebody here has to give Dr. Wong their cabin.
“Mindy can have my cabin. I can sleep in a tent,” James volunteers.
“Have you ever slept in a tent, Higgins?” Cara asks doubtfully. “Doesn’t seem like a veryyouthing to do, old chap.”
James’s eye twitches. “I haven’t, but—”
“We don’t have a tent. Or a ground pad, or a sleeping bag,” Ripley points out. “Those would take fifteen hundred bucks out of our budget, easy.”
“I’ll use my own funds,” he insists. “I’ll survive a night or two on the ground.”
“Just because we haven’t seen bears yet this season doesn’t mean we won’t,” Ripley says flatly.
“Sometimes smart bears make bad choices,” Griff adds.
“And there was a skinny-looking mountain lion prowling south of Hercules last week. I’m not putting a greenhorn outside alone. End of discussion.”
“James could bunk with Griff and I could move in with Ripley.” Cara grimaces. “I mean, it’s pretty tight in Griff’s single, but…”
Griff nods. “With the beds pushed right together, there’s still not much kneecap room.”
There’s a moment of silence as all of them try to imagine two large men who are not romantically involved attempting to share a structure built for one regular-size human.
“Griff and James could share my double. Cara and I could squeeze into the single,” Ripley says.
Griff frowns. “So we’dallend up moving?”
“Except me,” Cara says. “I’d get to stay in the Love Shack.”
“TheLove Shack?” Ripley’s a little skeeved.
“Whoops. Didn’t mean to call it that in public,” Cara says.
“What about the big house? One of us could surely stay there.” James sounds downright desperate.
“Kaasii’s having guests this weekend.”
Ripley takes off her ball cap and scrubs at her flattened hair. The longer they dance around the only reasonable solution, the more awkward it’s going to be.
“James, would you be comfortable moving in with me? I’m sure we can make it work for a night or two.”
“Of course. I’ll move my belongings first thing tomorrow,” James says dispassionately and also like he’s starving. He picks up his chair, folds it with near-military precision, and nods at the group. “Excuse me.”
“Hey, wait up, bro.” Griff drops a quick kiss on Cara’s cheekbone before following James. “We were going to try that new Scotch and watch the lunar-Mars conjunction.”
Cara waits until both men are past the trees. “Uh, did I miss something there, Rip? Actually, let me rephrase: Griffin and I have been somewhat preoccupied lately and I’m sensing I’ve overlooked something between you and Mr. Bond. Something that smells very sexy, from where I’m standing.”
“That phrasing issounfortunate.”
“Ah, so I’m right.” Cara looks gratified. “Not that it was hard to guess. I’m pretty sure the crew has a betting pool on you two, although they have respectfully not invited me to join. Conflict of interest, et cetera.”
Ripley wrinkles her nose atconflict of interest.“We were supposed to keep things professional.”
“Life finds a way, Rip. As do penises.”
Ripley half laughs, half snorts. Cara widens her eyes like,Where’s the lie?
“You know what, let’s grab a couple of chairs and steal some of that Scotch. You can tell me how Griff finally convinced you he’d do anything for you, and I’ll tell you all about how I don’t know what the hell happened with the professor.”
