Page 109 of Break My Fall

But Meredith nodded and her thumbs flew on her phone.

“I’ll explain later.” She took her phone and tapped the screen a few times. “Ready?”

“Lead on, Sacajawea.”

Her smile was wan. She showed him her compass app, and they took off. He dug in his pocket for the compass that he kept on a key ring along with his Swiss Army knife. Apps were great, but they didn’t always work.

He oriented himself as they walked.

It was slow going.

And it was cold.

The only thing saving them right now was that the rain made it hard to see them and muffled the sound of their passage.

TWENTY-NINE

Meredith had never been as cold as she was in this moment. Never. She’d also never spent so long convinced she was going to die.

And she had thoughts.

Zero stars. Would not recommend. Would give a negative rating if possible.

But they pressed on. SSW. She knew what Mo had been reminding her of, but it had been fifteen years since they’d pulled that stunt. The forest wasn’t like a subdivision. It changed. Trees grew. Trees fell. And the season mattered too. They’d come up here in the fall before the leaves fell.

It was winter now. While there were plenty of evergreens, the forest looked like someone had filled the land with drawings of stick figures. Gray. Slim. Barren.

Lord, help me see.

She kept that prayer on loop as they pushed through the woods.

What felt like hours, but according to her watch was only forty-five minutes later, she heard it.

But she shouldn’t have been able to. She stopped moving.

Gray froze beside her. “Is that a river?” She mostly had to readhis lips, because neither of them wanted to yell but speaking in a normal voice barely carried.

Realization hit her. Oh, God was really, really good. So good. She pressed her lips to his ear. “Not normally. But I think today, yes. Come on.” She followed the sound until they came to the edge of the angry, roiling water. She’d never seen anything more beautiful. “Hello, old friend.”

This was her river. At least, it would become her river as it flowed toward her property. In this area, it wasn’t much more than a creek except for days like today, when it was swollen from the rain. She studied the area. Nothing looked familiar, but it didn’t matter. Now that she’d found the river, she could find her way home.

Unfortunately, home was miles away and she was losing feeling in her fingers.

The good news was that Mo and Cal would know where to look. Wandering around in a forest was never a good idea. Even experienced hikers could get lost. But someone would find them now.

She prayed it would be the good guys who found them first. She had no doubt that Gray would die before he’d let anyone take her, and that was unacceptable.

She pointed downstream and again spoke into Gray’s ear. “Home is that way.”

He twisted his head so he could speak to her. “Please tell me you aren’t planning to hike all the way home.”

She leaned in again, and despite the circumstances, couldn’t quite ignore the little thrill that zinged through her at the contact. Mercy, but she had it bad for this man. “There’s a cabin. Old. Won’t do more than give us a chance to catch our breath. But Mo and Cal will head toward it and then come upstream.”

Gray gave her a look that sent another, darker zing through her.

“What?”

“You are incredible.” Before she could respond to that random remark, he took her hand again. “But we have to keep moving.”

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