Page 39 of Love By a Landslide

“I won’t be charging you for the extra days?” It took a lot of might, but he managed to hold a straight face.

After a few seconds of Lucy blinking at him, she rolled her eyes and snorted. “How magnanimous of you.” Jonathan much preferred her sarcasm to the hopelessness she’d radiated moments before.

Good. He got her to relax a little. Their situation was challenging but not dire. It was his job to prepare for the worst, and he had become very good at that. They had enough food for a few days, provided they ate leanly. Unlimited drinking water because of the filter pump and Lucy’s LifeStraws, a well-stocked first aid kit, and shelter. Two shelters, actually.

Jonathan ran his gaze over Lucy, who was silently studying the map. Her glossy ponytail poked out the back of a purple Puget State University hat. Lost in thought, she fiddled with the ends of her wavy hair and ran her straight white teeth over her plump bottom lip. She glanced up and caught him looking. Teeth releasing flesh, she gave him a tentative smile.

Returning the expression—hopefully with a little more reassurance woven in—he stood and held out his hand. “Shall we?”

She allowed him to help her up. “I guess we shall.”

Jonathan hesitated, just standing there. Fingers wrapped around hers, he took in the resilient beauty of the woman who stood before him. Being lost wasn’t ideal. But maybe being lost with her wouldn’t be the worst thing.

Chapter twenty-one

Lucy

“That’s it. I’m done. Feed me or I quit.” She was being melodramatic, but Lucy didn’t give a crap. They had been at it for days, weeks even (ok, fine, a few hours), and she needed a break. Her dutiful guide led the way, zig-zagging around rocks and plowing through bushes when necessary. Bramble scraped at her arms, snagged and tore her pant legs, and once, she even got smacked in the face by a wayward branch.

This bushwhacking thing was bullshit.

She’d been skeptical when Jonathan said it would take two days, but the reality of the situation became abundantly clear after they reached the summit and began their descent into the hellish wilderness. They’d been working so hard to move forward, but the lack of trail made the going painfully slow. Now Lucy wondered if the two-night estimation was really his way of low-balling her, giving her a false sense of security so she wouldn’t go ballistic when she learned the truth.

Having just barged their way through an incredibly aggressive thicket, they were covered in burrs from the waist down.

She dropped her pack on a boulder at the edge of a clearing. This was the second time they’d veered east and came out alongside a ledge. Arguably, the view would have been spectacular. And unlike the day before, the sky was a cloudless blue. The sun was high, but the temperature stayed mild as a gentle windwhispered through the trees. Birds chirped sweetly. Fuzzy critters scuttled about the bushes.

And all of it could go straight to hell.

Plopping cross-legged next to her bag, Lucy grabbed her Nalgene and gulped down the remaining water. With one hand, she began pulling prickly little seed pods off her thighs. She was sweaty, grimy, and starving. Herhangerwas in full force, and she was about to reach a point where she couldn’t be held responsible for her actions.

Jonathan halted and marched over to stand in front of her. “We should keep moving. You got this. Just one more hour.”

His goal was encouragement despite the bleak delivery.You can do it. I believe in you.But if he was an uplifting coach in this scenario, then she was the rag-tag group of little league players getting stomped fourteen to zero. There was—flat out—nothing left to give.

“I get the urgency, Jonathan, really, I do. But things are going to get really brutal when I start gnawing on your calf in about five minutes.” The last of her good-natured humor reserve was depleted. “I’m serious. I need a break.” She stared up at him, trying to convey stubbornness and misery in one look.

It must have worked because Jonathan rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “Ok. Twenty minutes to rest.”

“And eat?”

“And eat.”

Lucy never believed she would feel joy again until she bit into a giant chunk of Korean BBQ pork jerky. The sweetness of the brown sugar mingling with the slight smokiness of the pork was pure nirvana. Swaying with happiness and satisfaction, she took another bite, appreciating the tenderness of the meat. Beef and turkey jerky were just fine, but pork jerky? Boy howdy! It was far superior to any other kind of preserved meat. Her belly rumbledin approval as she dug out another piece.

“Make it last.” A warning with an edge of frustration interrupted her musings. She was fully aware that her fervor probably appeared silly to her travel companion. But she couldn’t make herself care. Energy crept back into her body with every bite.

She looked up and noticed Jonathan sitting on a nearby rock, eyeballing his map and probably trying to triangulate their specific location. But he wasn’t eating. “Hey.”

He looked up. “Hey, what?”

“Why aren’t you eating anything?”

“Not hungry.”

“You sure?”

His reply was an affirmative grunt.

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