Page 90 of Close Quarters

“If you’re horny, you can just say it. You don’t have to bring up sex constantly to try to make your point.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m horny. I’m just…in a good mood. Which means I’m pretty much down for a good time.”

“You’re usually in a good mood.”

“Yeah, so think about how often I’m down for a good time.”

He snorted, shaking his head. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Sometimes,” I admitted with a shrug.

I made another attempt to eat the chicken and dumpling stew, ensuring I wouldn’t scald my mouth this time. We sat there, watching the sun sink lower, setting the sky ablaze. I knew Reno liked to tease me that I was easily impressed by anything, but it was beautiful. The horizon was burning with a deep orange color that turned golden the higher it went. The clouds captured the light, but instead of glowing warm, they were a deep violet color while the sky around turned almost pink.

“Pretty,” I said with a smile, stirring the stew for another bite.

“It is,” he said. “But it’s going to get dark soon, which means it’ll get chilly, so?—”

“Oh shit!” I barked, standing up to look around frantically. “I totally forgot we needed to collect firewood or kindling or…shit, there’s no trees here.”

Reno gave me a doubtful look. “Do you think I would have brought up the fire right before it gets dark if I didn’t think we had it covered?”

I opened my mouth, looked at the packs…the packs I hadn’t investigated too much, and sighed. “They seriously didn’t pack firewood.”

“And a starter log,” he said with a smirk. “And a lighter. So we don’t have to worry about seeing if your memory is good or not.”

I let out a sigh. “You could have mentioned that sooner. I about had a heart attack.”

“Sorry,” he said, even though he was grinning, leaving me to wonder if he wasn’t sorry at all or if he was and still thought it was funny. “I’m sure we can get something going here in a minute.”

We managed to finish the food as the bright colors of the sunset began to darken quickly, leaving behind only the deep twilight hues of darkening blue and deep purple. The stars were already starting to twinkle into view, covering the inky black sky not covered by clouds. Luckily, they had packed a couple of flashlights, and Reno found everything we needed for a fire while I made the small pit we would use.

“Hope these weren’t waterlogged during those storms,” I said as I set up the last rocks in a circle.

“Huh?” he asked, shadows cast over his face, deepening the furrow in his brow.

“Oh. I remember hearing that you shouldn’t take rocks that are like…near rivers or in them because if they get hot from the fire, they can explode like grenades.”

“I…uh…E?”

I looked up, surprised. “What?”

He smiled, shaking his head. “I think that’s just rocks that are literally sitting in water. Not random rocks from the desert that only saw a few weeks of rain…two months ago.”

“Well…yeah,” I agreed a little sheepishly. “I guess you have a point.”

“Now, is there anything special I should know about doing this?” he asked, crouching at the edge of the circle I’d made.

“You gotta set it up so the starter log will catch the other stuff and eventually the bigger side. Teepee style.”

“What style?”

I grinned, dropping onto my butt in the dirt next to him and grabbing everything. “You know, teepee. Like what they always told us Native Americans used?”

“Why do you always sound like you don’t believe things half the time?”

“Always…half the time…which is it?” I asked with a grin as I began setting everything up. I vaguely remembered the setup wasn’t just important because it let the fire spread upward but because it allowed air to flow between the spaces in the logs to feed the flames.

“You just…I don’t know. Sometimes you don’t sound like you believe the shit you remember being taught.”

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