Page 91 of Love for a Lifetime

Beau turned back to the battery under the hood and clamped the cables to it. “I won’t say another thing about it.”

Good. Now that the big brother talk was behind them, they could get to work.

Olivia walked around the side of Dawson’s truck and leaned on the frame. “What can I do?”

Dawson tossed her his keys, and she caught them in the air. “Can you start it up?”

She slid into the driver’s seat and started the truck. The engine roared to life as she revved it. She let out a whoop that scared more of the woodland creatures than the roaring of the engine.

“Looks like we’re back in business,” Dawson said. He turned to Beau and slapped a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks, man.”

“No problem.” Beau jerked his thumb at the truck. “Leave that running for a little bit.”

“Thanks for the jump too, but that’s not what I meant,” Dawson said lower.

Beau nodded and scratched his jaw. “I know you’ll be good to her.”

“You better believe it. If she’s giving me a chance, I’m not gonna waste it.”

Olivia stepped out of the truck and pushed her hands into her back pocket. “Listen, Beau. Can you maybe not–”

Beau held up a hand, carefully not meeting his sister’s eyes. “I won’t say a word.”

A grin lit up her face, and she let her hands fall to her sides. “Thanks. I haven’t figured out how to explain it to…everyone yet.”

Dawson would be freaking out a little bit if he didn’t know about Anna’s feelings. But he knew Olivia wasn’t really trying to hide their relationship. It was okay if most people knew, but it would be too easy for word to get back around to Anna if everyone was in on it.

Beau pointed toward the back of his truck. “Grab an end.”

Dawson snagged his gun from the console, turned off the truck, and turned to Olivia. “You have everything you need?”

“Yep.” She pointed to her coat pocket where she’d stashed her medicine.

“Let’s roll.” He pressed another kiss to her head and met Beau at the back of his truck.

“Liv, can you guide us?” Beau asked.

“Sure. I’ll be your eyes for the next half hour.”

Carrying a mattress through the woods was an event, but Olivia was great about letting them know if fallen trees or holes were coming up. Lucas had created a bridge across the creek, so that obstacle was easy.

When they reached the rise leading to the camp, Olivia ran ahead to make sure the cabins were open. Maddie and Lauren darted out of the women’s cabin and ran straight for Olivia.

“We were so worried!” Lauren said as she wrapped Olivia up. “Lucas got a call out on the satellite phone last night, and search and rescue was ready to deploy this morning.”

“We need to let them know we’re okay,” Olivia said. “We made it to the truck, but wolves surrounded us and we couldn’t get back to camp.”

Maddie shuddered. “Lucas has a bad history with wolves. I’m glad he didn’t go out there.”

Olivia rubbed a hand on Maddie’s back. “Me too. We were so worried you’d venture out and run into the pack.”

Dawson repositioned the mattress in his hands to look over his shoulder toward the women. “Which cabin?”

Maddie sprinted toward the first one and propped the door open. Dawson and Beau guided the mattress inside and rested it on the box springs.

Lucas jogged into the cabin as soon as they had the mattress positioned. “I’m sure glad to see you,” he said, slapping a hand on Dawson’s shoulder.

“Glad to be back in one piece. We got cornered by some wolves.”

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