He laughed.
She liked his laugh. It was warm and deep and reminded her of hot chocolate. She could see herself liking him—in fact, she’d been starting to, before this. It was nice that he wasn’t trying to take charge, even though he clearly knew more about the woods thanthey did. It was nice that he was helping out, volunteering to help them set up the net even though he hadn’t been here long enough to feel as hungry as they were. She appreciated that he’d only fallen apart for a little while after being shot at and then had rallied even in the face of everything they’d told him in very short order. But she didnotlike that she was half certain that he was lying to her.
She could, of course, just be feeling paranoid. He might very well have been talking to himself, in which case she was being terribly unfair to someone who was in as much of a precarious situation as she was and who was only trying to help. She should remember innocent until proven guilty. She had no proof that he’d been talking to anyone.
They carried the sapling to the shore and threaded it through the top of the net. Claire tied rocks to the bottom of the net so it wouldn’t just float. Then all four of them helped lay it on the dock and push it into position. Once enough of the net dangled into the water, Reyva and Mariana used the rocks to weigh down the opposite end of the tree.
Catching her eye, Jack said, “Don’t worry. It’ll work.”
She smiled back but kept watching him.
After the net was secured, they refilled the toolbox with lake water and built a fire. It was trickier to find dry wood, but at least there wasn’t the wind from the other day. Once they had the tinder bundle and enough sticks in place, Jack asked, “Uh, you aren’t expecting me to have a lighter, are you?”
“Nope,” Reyva said. “Mariana, would you do the honors, please?”
Mariana unwrapped a fresh stick of gum, sliced the wrapper into the correct shape, and then lit it with her battery.
“Whoa, that’s awesome,” Jack said.
She flashed her thousand-watt smile at him. “We might not have been able to recognize blueberry bushes, but we aren’t useless.”
Claire thought that was a massive understatement. Mariana and Reyva were two of the most competent, resilient, and amazing people she’d ever met. She thought of everything that Mariana had been through, with her father’s screwup and all the upheaval it had caused. She was so fierce, even though she was grieving her home, missing her faraway friends and family, and coping with all the anger she had to be feeling about what her dad had done that turned her life upside down.
“I never thought you were,” Jack said, with a lopsided grin that reminded Claire of a wink. His eyes glued to Mariana, he sat down next to her. “You knew how to keep the boat from porpoising. You’re full of surprises.”
“I am,” she agreed.
Their heads close together, Mariana and Jack nurtured the tinder bundle. He handed her twigs, and she fed them to the fire. The flames leapt from stick to stick, chasing along the bark. Smoke curled skyward. Claire wondered whether she’d tell Jack where she was from. She didn’t think Mariana would trust him too quickly with the full truth, but she didn’t know.
Claire scooted closer to Reyva and murmured, “Do you think she’s seriously into him?”
“I think she’s under stress, and he’s a safe outlet,” Reyva said in just as soft a voice. “What do you think? Are we rooting for them to get together?”
“I think survival trumps romance right now, with anyone.”
Mariana laughed as Jack whispered something to her. It was a light, airy laugh, not one that Claire had heard her make. “Fake laugh,” Claire murmured to Reyva. “Might mean she’s not that into him?”
“Mm,” Reyva agreed, still speaking under her breath so only Claire could hear. “He thinks he’s funny, and she doesn’t. Relationship probably doomed.”
Claire thought she sounded hopeful, but maybe that was her imagination. She wondered whether Reyva had doubts about Jack too, or if Claire was the only one who wasn’t 100 percent thrilled he’d joined them and even less thrilled that Mariana was acting so friendly with someone Claire didn’t trust.
As they watched, Mariana laid her hand butterfly-light on his knee, then pointed out at the water. She’d asked him a question. He whispered his answer.Maybe I just don’t like the way Jack is changing the dynamic of the three of us, Claire thought. She’d just gotten used to being part of a trio with Reyva and Mariana.
“Any interest in checking the net?” Reyva asked Claire.
“Lots,” Claire agreed.
They headed out to the dock, leaving Mariana and Jack to flirt by the fire. Claire wondered if she felt jealous—after all, he had lake-blue eyes and a nice laugh and had paid attention to her before in the woods—but no, all she felt was a spiral ofworry. Glancing back at them, Claire asked Reyva, “What do you think of him?”
“I don’t, really,” Reyva said.
“Mariana seems to like him well enough.”
By the fire, Mariana was gazing into his eyes as if she thought his every word was fascinating. Her hands, though, were busy unspooling the wire from one of the coils she’d liberated from the old doorbell.She’s good at multitasking, Claire thought.Flirtingandelectrical work, simultaneously.
If she’d met Mariana in any other context, Claire thought she would have been jealous of her. As Reyva had pointed out, she was smart, beautiful, and confident. Here, though, Claire was grateful for her. And impressed. And a little anxious—what if Jack wasn’t who he seemed to be? Or what if he was, and Claire ruined everything with her paranoia? Maybe all he wanted was to be friends with them. And she was about to sabotage that.
“She likes that she understands him,” Reyva said. “I think it’s like he’s a car engine to her. She knows what makes him work, and given how much has been out of our control here... Anyway, what doyouthink of him? You two seemed friendly coming back from the woods.”
