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Jodie nearly stopped in her tracks, except she wasn’t about to let Dale get ahead of her again. “I didn’t realize this was a competition.”

“What did you think it was?” He sped up slightly.

“I thought it was going to be a friendly hike, but that would require a friendly hiking partner. Which I don’t have at the moment.”

“Wow. You should really learn your place,” he said.

“Excuse me, what?”

“Which is behind a desk watching your ass expand,” he added under his breath.

Jodie stopped responding entirely and just walked, determined to get through this day as quickly as possible.

“I’ve never been on a grudge hike before,” Dale finally said, somewhere around mile six.

“Glad I could introduce you to the experience. How many more miles are we going?”

“Well,” Dale said pleasantly, “I was going to suggest the four-mile loop, but we passed that turnoff two miles ago. So now we’re committed to sixteen.”

“Oh, is that all? I was hoping for twenty-five.”

She would remember the sour look on his face for a long time with great satisfaction.

She would remember less fondly the root she didn’t see a mile later. Her ankle turned, she went down hard on the trail, and she knew immediately from the white-hot stabbing pain shooting up her leg that she was not walking out of here without help.

She looked up and watched Dale continue on without breaking stride.

“Dale. Hey, Dale? Dale!”

He stopped, turned, and looked down at her. She waited for him to come back, crouch down, ask if she was all right, and offer a hand.

Dale looked at her ankle. Then he looked up the trail. Then he looked back at her with an expression that said he was doing complicated math.

“I’m going to go get help,” he said.

“Okay,” she said carefully. “You could also just call⁠—”

“I’ll send someone for you when I’m done with my hike.”

And then Dale, Dr. Boyfriend’s sister’s husband’s cousin’s nephew, turned around and walked away up the trail without her.

“Hey! Hey, wait. You have my pack.”

“So you don’t have to carry it. You’re welcome.” He disappeared around a bend.

“But it has my phone. And my wallet, and my water, and everything else I need…and you’re gone.”

Jodie tried to get up but the second she put any weight on her ankle, she buckled in pain and fell.

“Shit! Shit-shit-shit!”

She had no way to call anyone, no water, no food, and she was miles from civilization. They hadn’t seen anyone else on the trail all day.

Jodie sat on the ground with her sprained ankle and the afternoon light shifting through the aspens and the very clear understanding that she was going to need to be stronger than this if she ever wanted to get down off this mountain.

“Okay, self-rescuing princess it is.”

She was trying to decide between attempting to hop downhill for seven-ish miles or just scooting on her butt when she heard footsteps on the trail below her.