Page 14 of Close Your Eyes and Count to 10

How could she not remember Wild Cody? She and Blake had watched every episode of his nature show when Blake was small. But for Blake a few years was a lifetime. For Adele it was about five minutes ago that she and her kids used to curl up on the couch and watch documentaries about every place,animal, and planet in the solar system.

“He’s an extreme survivalist now,” Blake went on. “He’s lived off the grid for like five years.”

Wild Cody. Hadn’t he been canceled for some messed-up thing he did on WeWatch? Didn’t they call him Killer Cody now? Adele dug through the recesses of her pop-culture memory, but she couldn’t access it. There was too much other life debris over the last few years for anything trivial to be stored there.

“Then there’s Malinka Nicqui,” Blake continued.

“O.M.G.loveher,” Violet chimed in. “Her Yes I Can clothing line is epic. A little overpriced, though.”

If Adele won, she was going to get that Yes I Can hoodie (Two hundred and fifty dollars? Seriously?) for Violet, the one Adele knew Violet wanted but hadn’t even asked for. Ads for it kept popping up on Adele’s computer when she was working, just like the Ghost longboard that Blake coveted. Her kids were so good, so mature, that they didn’t even hint at their material desires, knowing that they were barely making ends meet. But the internet wasn’t so kind. Every time she saw one of those algorithmically generated ads, it broke her heart a little.

“She’s twenty-five, and she’s already climbed the Seven Summits,” Blake put in. “She was the youngest woman to do that at eighteen.”

“Well,” said Adele, “good for her.”

“Anyway, so what,Blake?” Violet again. “It’shide and seek. Not mountain-climbing.”

He was trying to conceal it, but doubt had etched itself all over her son’s sweet face. “They’re all adventure influencers.”

“Blake!” snapped Violet. “Wasn’t thisyourstupid idea?”

“I’m an influencer, too,” Adele said. “Remember?”

Just barely.

“Yeah,” answered Blake. “Of course. But they’ve—done lots of stuff.”

And you’re—just a mom, he didn’t say but was obviously thinking.

“Ha,” said Adele, summoning a bravado she did not feel. “They’ve got nothing on a single, working mother of two. A mountain summit would be like a vacation. Extreme survival? That’s just Tuesday.”

Blake cracked a rare grin.

“You got this,” said Violet, shoving Blake aside. “You’re going to slay, Mom. There’s no one tougher than you are.”

“You know it,” said Adele, and part of her even meant it.

“Anyway,” Violet said, “I heard that Malinka’s dad practically dragged her up some of those mountains. She didn’t do it alone. And Wild Cody? He’s likefor-realold.”

She was about to say that she thought she and Wild Cody were probably about the same age, when the SUV pulled to a stop in front of her. A lean but muscular man with long, inky curls and a stylishly stubbled jaw climbed out, offered a big wave.

“Adele?” he called. “I’m Gustavo. Sorry I’m late.”

He had an easy kind of affability. And wow—he was superhot in his tight black T-shirt, distressed hiking pants, tattered boots, like he just fell out of an REI ad. Rugged, capable,ripped.

“My ride’s here.” She turned the phone around so the kids could see.

Gustavo waved again, smiling. “Hey, that must be Violet and Blake.”

“Oh, my god,” she heard Blake say. “That’sGustavo.”

She knew from Blake constantly talking about Extreme that Gustavo was the sidekick, one of the main pals in an entourage of guys who performed their crazy stunts and challenges all over the world—BASE jumping from buildings, parkour courses in abandoned prisons, mountaineering, survival challenges. Gustavo was Blake’s favorite.He’d be Mav if Mav wasn’t Mav.

“Hi, Gustavo,” called Violet. Her voice was high and flirty in a way that Adele rarely heard, then she started to giggle—the same bubbling sound she’d made since she was a baby.

“Don’t worry, kids,” said Gustavo, cracking a heartthrob grin. “We’ll take good care of your mom.”

How oldwashe? she wondered. At least ten years younger than Adele, right? Not that she was interested in distractions like Gustavo. She was here for one reason only.

---