Page 101

He was a hero. He had been trying to think that a hero was somebody who didn’t react when things were complicated and painful. She thought a hero was exactly who he was. Somebody who saw all the difficulties, who felt them, who recognized that there was a cost to everything. Someone who mourned those who had been in his charge.

Why would anyone want that simple kind of hero they had fashioned him into? She looked at him now, at the strength in his body as he started to unpack and assemble the tent they’d brought, folded up tightly in his pack.

She was fascinated by this man.

Yeah, she’d had a crush on the one she’d known all those years ago, but she hadn’t known him. Not more than anyone else. She had fashioned him into what she needed him to be. She had talked at him, making him the object of her fantasy as a middle school girl.

She had seen him as being handsome and nice, and a great listener, because it suited her for him to be those things. She was happier now that he had poured some of his real self out to her.

Happier now that she had been able to walk with him holding his hand.

“Once I get this set up, I’ll make a fire.”

“Shouldn’t I do that?”

“Are you trying to earn a Girl Scout badge?”

“No,” she said. “I’m not. But it seems like you shouldn’t do all the work yourself.”

“I’m gearing up to be a trail guide,” he said.

“What makes you want to do that?”

“It’s something that I have the skills for. I don’t have much of the know-how to be a cattle rancher, and anyway, competing with Four Corners is a dead end. You can’t do it. Some people have innovative ideas and ways of doing it, but you have to be passionate about ranching for that to work out. I’m passionate about the land my family has always had, but I don’t think I’m passionate enough about cows to try and compete with the massive operation you all have.”

“My sister’s fiancé is a rancher. Right next door to Four Corners. It’s not easy. He kind of introduced us to the concept that people outside our compound don’t think all that highly of us.”

“Jealousy,” he said. “Which again, I don’t have, because I don’t especially want to be a rancher. But I learned wilderness survival, and this is a good way to keep me in shape. A good way to keep me busy. Moving.” He set up the tent quickly and then moved on to making a fire. This early in the season it was still allowed, but once it got overly dry, there would be no open flame out in the woods. The threat of wildfires was too real.

He looked up at her, his blue eyes clashing with hers, and she felt a spark ignite in her stomach. She had no doubt between the two of them there was enough tinder to start a whole wildfire. Something was happening. Something outside of her experience. She knew about attraction. She never experienced it like this.

He hadn’t said anything or indicated that he felt the same, not really. Except...If I said I would kiss you...

She swallowed hard.

He got a fire going, and then reached into his backpack and took out... Sticks. And hot dogs.

“These are the survival rations?”

“Yeah. They’re basic. Perfect. Hot dogs.”

“I don’t know about that,” she said.

“Trust me. It’s going to be great.”

He had a package of hot dog buns that were only mildly squished, and she was surprised to find a small plastic container that had sauerkraut and ketchup packets and mustard.

She speared the hot dog on the stick and quickly put it up over the fire.

“Don’t look like you enjoy that too much,” he said. “I’m liable to take it personally.”

It took her a second. And then she laughed. Because suddenly she realized that he was thinking of...

She blinked. “Oh, I have no desire to... That is, I’m not angling to spear... I don’t...”

“Settle down there.”

His voice was just so soothing that she did settle.