Page 50 of Love Among Vines

Jade rushed into the woods and paused for a deep breath. Seconds ticked by. Silence. They weren’t coming after her.

She and Penny made it to the road and hurried past the house. Jade’s heart rate slowed as they headed towards town. She pulled out her phone and searched for the nearest campsite. It was a three-mile walk from town, but sort of doable with a price tag of fifty dollars a day.

Her experience budget would be completely slashed for next month, but hopefully she wouldn’t need it anyway.

Shit, what would she do with Penny while she was at the café? She couldn’t leave her at the campsite. She could be stolen or eaten by bears or get loose and find another family to love.

Before she could think better of it, she fired off a text to Rett asking if she could leave Penny in the winery while she was working. He sent a thumbs-up emoji and reported that he would drop her paint supplies off at the café in the morning and pick up Penny.

Relief flooded her. All she had to do was assemble a tent and survive the night. How hard could that be?

Caw.

Jade sat bolt upright in the tent, sleeping bag clinging to her like a weird, squishy exoskeleton. She clutched a flashlight she had found in the hiking backpack and listened. Was that a twig cracking?

It was so quiet here in the country that every sound was like a gunshot. She had slept for maybe ten minutes, and that was after fighting with the tent for two straight hours. It sagged a bit in the middle, but so far it had protected them from the light drizzle that was coming down.

Her stomach growled, and Penny’s head perked up. There hadn’t been time to scrounge up food for herself. The nearest gas station was another mile away, and frankly she was exhausted after being in a car for almost ten hours. Penny was fed, and that was what mattered most.

She peeked through a gap in the zipper but couldn’t spot anything beyond the dark row of trees. There could have been thirty bears with chainsaws back there and she’d be none the wiser.

Penny nosed her arm, looking thoroughly unconcerned, and Jade drew her close. They would be fine. They just had to make it through the night. And then thirteen more nights. It had better be worth it.

Three hours later, Jade woke to a rustling sound. Something draped heavily across her, and she screamed and hurled her flashlight. Penny panicked and charged toward what used to be the exit only to crash into floppy canvas.

Jade thrashed her way to the zippered compartment, and the two of them crawled out onto the wet ground. She rested on herhands and knees for a moment and groaned. Drizzle pelted her back and neck.

This had to be rock bottom. Eight-year-old girls could assemble tents and survive a night outdoors. Entire organizations were founded on it. So why couldn’t she last five minutes? Had city life made her soft?

A dog tongue on her cheek startled her out of introspection. There was no use in feeling sorry for herself. She glanced at her watch. It was almost five a.m. As good a time as any to make her way back to town.

The collapsed tent stared back at her. She would have to deal with it after the café closed. No one was going to steal a tent, right? But what about her bag? Everything she needed for the next two weeks was in there.

She looked around, taking in the dark shapes of trees. She couldn’t risk the bag going missing. She’d have to hide it somehow.

The tree nearest her—an oak, maybe?—had low branches. Maybe she could scramble up there and tuck it someplace out of sight.

With the bag secure in a disposable poncho from the hiking backpack, she slung it over her shoulder and tested her weight on the lowest branch before beginning to climb. Hopefully no one else at the campsite was up yet. The bag would be her secret.

This wasn’t so bad. It was almost invigorating. Maybe when she got back to the city she would take up tree-climbing. As she hit the midpoint of the tree, two thick branches appeared that looked like they could support some weight. She clung to the wet base of the tree with one arm while removing her bag. She situated it on the branches and jiggled them. They didn’t budge.

Perfect. No one would spot her bag up here behind the thick curtain of leaves. It was totally sustainable and not at all insaneto do this every morning for the next two weeks. All she needed was?—

Fuck.

Her foot slipped off the branch, and her stomach lurched. Her skin scraped against the rough bark of the tree, and there was a brief feeling of weightlessness. A scream tore from her throat, and she threw out her arm to break her fall.

Thump.She lay on a carpet of leaves, shoulder stinging and wrist throbbing. The wind was knocked out of her. Penny came over and frantically licked her face.

Oh, hell. Had she broken something? Her shirt was torn where it had scratched against the trunk, and her cheek stung. But at least her bag had stayed up.

She flexed her fingers, and pain shot through her wrist. Fuck. This was her painting hand. Now what?

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

JADE

A gasp rousedJade from sleep.

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