Page 12 of Paging Doctor Grump

Jessie looks up at me, her eyes wide. “There’s no river to the left of us.”

“What do you mean?”

She takes a look at her smartwatch, groaning and shaking her head. “We turned away from the river twenty minutes ago. I have no clue where we are right now.”

“We haven’t gone very far.”

Her hands shake slightly as she pulls out her phone. “No signal.”

“Nope. None. GPS isn’t going to work out here.” I sigh, my chest constricting at her worried expression. “Everything is going to be alright though. We’re going to find our way out of here and back to the Barn. We just have to follow the map.”

Jessie looks like she’s on the verge of tears as she looks over my shoulder at the map before shaking her head. “I have no clue what I’m doing when it comes to this kind of thing. I have no business working with a wilderness team.”

“Then why bother in the first place?”

She sighs and runs her hands down her face. “I want a fellowship. Emergency wilderness medicine is a weak point of mine and I need to strengthen it to win the fellowship. It’s a lot of pressure, and it feels like everything is coming down around me. And then I’ve been horrible to you.”

“Well, you had a reason to be horrible to me.” I smile, trying to reassure her. She looks like she’s on the verge of panicking as she paces back and forth between two trees.

“Yeah. I know.” She crosses her arms like she’s trying to hold herself together. “I have no business being out in the woods. This is the worst idea I’ve ever had. Maybe there’s another fellowship I can get. It won’t be as good, but I wouldn’t have to risk being bear food while I do it.”

“We’re not going to be bear food, Jessie. You just need to calm down a minute so I can figure out the map. We can’t be that far from the path.”

“Did you just tell me to calm down?”

“Yes, I did. You’re starting to lose your cool and I don’t have time to figure out where we are and deal with your panic at the same time. We’re going to get through this together, but you need to give me a little space to think. Go sit on that stump over there while I think.”

She flips me the middle finger but stomps over to the stump and takes a seat. I smother a smile as I watch her drape one leg over the other. She picks up a handful of dead leaves, ripping them to tiny pieces.

I glance away before she notices me watching her. As I look around, all I can see are pine trees and other trees stripped of their leaves. The air is getting colder, and the sun is sinking a little lower in the sky. We’ve still got hours before we lose the light, but I don’t want to be out here that long.

Even though I try to focus on the map, the sight of Jessie is enough to make me lose all common sense. She drops her backpack to the ground and slides out of her puffy vest, revealing a cropped shirt with long sleeves the same color as her pants. She is stunning as she looks out at the little cliff near her. While I try to drag my attention from her, she gets up and walks over to the cliff.

I stare at the map for a little while longer, glancing between it and my compass. It’s been a long time since I went on a hike that didn’t follow a trail already carved through the woods. I want to make sure I’m not going to lead us in the wrong direction.

And I want to impress Jessie. Just a little bit.

“I think I have it figured out,” I say as I walk over to her.

As I join her at the cliff, she swirls around with her phone held out in front of her. I raise an eyebrow, but I know better than to say a word as she tries to get a map to load. Her face is red and blotchy, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

I want to get us out of the woods as fast as possible, just so I don’t have to see that look on her face ever again.

“Jessie, you’re not going to be able to get a map to load. I have the way back down to the Barn figured out though.”

She spins fast and I shoot out a hand to grab her before she can stumble over roots sticking out of the ground. The hand I have the map in smacks against her wrist, sending her phone flying.

“Fuck!” Jessie watches as her phone tumbles over the edge of the cliff, gasping as it shatters against a jagged rock about halfway down to the small valley below.

All I can think as I watch the pieces scatter is that I’m so screwed.

5

JESSIE

It feels like the world is closing in around me and I can’t breathe. I never should have been out in the woods to begin with. I should have found another way to get a fellowship. One that didn’t involve emergency wilderness medicine.

I stare over the edge of the cliff at my broken phone, trying to keep it together. Wisely, Brookes keeps his mouth shut. I don’t know what I would say to him right now if he were to open his mouth.

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