Page 46 of Signed With Love

Finn reaches up and squeezes my hand tight.

It takes only a few more moments for Finn to circle around the front of the plane and for Dad to put on a headset that matches the one Finn wears.

He peers over his shoulder and signs. Are you sure you’re ready to fly for the first time?

Yes. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. I’ll risk everything to have more time with Jamison. A part of myself is lost in the Alaskan wilderness, and I’m damned well going to find him and bring him home.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jamison

Our pack survived. It’s severely damaged from the fire, but we have food and water. It brings hope that I’ll get Rylee home.

I pull out some protein bars and pass one to Rylee. It’s been two hours, and we haven’t seen a plane fly by. The concern is our ELT could have failed, so it’s taking them longer to find where we went down. We also know it can take search and rescue more time than we have light, so we are considering moving from the crash site. Even if they find us, they can’t land here, so we decide together to start hiking down the mountain. We know we would span out the search across the base of the mountain and think that’s what our friends would do too.

Rylee is recouping her energy, and she likely doesn’t have internal bleeding. Thank fucking God for that. She just bit the inside of her mouth hard when we crashed.

“It’s the best idea, right?” Rylee asks again. “I mean, I know they always say to stay with the crash, but we need to find shelter and our way home too.”

“There’s a village about ten miles to the south of the bottom of the mountain.” I strap the backpack on my back and help Rylee rise, ignoring the pain in my ribs. “We have about two hours of daylight. It’s going to get cold as the sun sets. Let’s get moving.”

She follows me as we take the trail down the mountain. The air is brisk as the sun lowers in the sky. The forest is thick, which makes the climb down difficult. Despite Rylee’s injuries, she keeps pace with me.

Rylee’s foot slips on the loose rock and she yelps. “Fuck! I’m sorry, Jamison.”

With the strain in her voice, I pause our progress. It’s not been much. Perhaps an hour, but we are making progress, at least. I have her take a seat on a nearby fallen log.

I make sure she’s looking into my eyes before I speak. “I’m not going to tell you this again. I’m not upset with you. I’ll get us home. Got it?”

“Yes.” She agrees, and we start back down our trail after a water break.

The forest is overgrown, nature at its finest. Wild and untamed. I want to love it because it’s beautiful regardless of the circumstances.

“Claire is going to kill me,” Rylee says after a few more moments of hiking.

I glance over my shoulder at her statement. “Why do you say that?” Claire hasn’t left my thoughts for long, but it drives me crazy to think about her. I definitely don’t deserve her, that much is certain. So, I pushed her away, but I miss her so fucking much. These last two weeks with no contact have been rough.

“I lost her damn boyfriend in the mountains.” Rylee lets out a dismissive laugh. I’m not sure what she’s thinking, and I don’t pry. I also don’t add that I’m probably not Claire’s boyfriend anymore. I fucked that shit up just like everything else in life.

“We should set up camp for the night. Get a fire going and get some rest. We’ve got a lot of walking ahead of us tomorrow.” I find us an alcove on the side of the mountain. This spot will make sure nothing sneaks up behind us while giving us a large wall to block the wind.

She gets to work gathering wood while I work on securing a shelter. It doesn’t take long for her to get a fire going and for me to have us a shelter from the elements during the night. We take a spot by the fire and dig into one of the MREs. Thankfully, our kits have a few ready-to-eat meals in them.

“You knew exactly what to do with setting up camp.” I’m curious. She hasn’t been on any rescues, yet she worked this evening without guidance from me. I had started to direct, but when she didn’t need me, I backed off.

Rylee takes a bite of her food. “My dad is a SAR. I grew up with his training surrounding me. When I was younger, the Rocky Mountains were home. Oftentimes, I’d be out in nature, surviving just like this.” She points around at our makeshift campsite.

“Really? I thought you moved to Alaska from Dallas and that you were a city girl. No offense, you just surprised me again.” I only knew bits and pieces of Rylee’s life, enough to know I’d always help keep her safe. But she hasn’t opened up much about her family yet.

The sun has fully set, so I can only make her features out through the firelight as she speaks. “I was so ready to escape the seclusion of Colorado, I rushed off to the city with my ex. Obviously a bad decision. But when you’re nineteen, you don’t always make the best.”

“Don’t hold it against yourself. I’m still making bad decisions even now.”

“Oh, come on, you aren’t giving yourself a hard time about punching that guy at the wedding? We all heard what he said about your mom. No one blames you for losing your cool.”

I don’t respond, returning to eating the last bite of my dinner. My jaw is tight. The decision to punch Lizzy’s brother is what finally pushed me away from Claire. I’m going to regret the fact I lost control forever. I feel Rylee’s gaze boring into me, so I glance up. “What?”

“What did you do?” Her voice is sharp.

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