Page 28 of Wild Child
He grinned. “Here’s the part youwillfight me on.”
The growing excitement slowly started to deflate again. Although I didn’t know what the dark premonition inside of me meant, it couldn’t be good.
“Who?” I asked.
He paused for annoying, dramatic effect, then said, “The only twenty-something I know that isn’t an idiot: Devin Blaine.”
Dev’s name rippled through me like a shockwave. Daniel watched without apology while I grappled with his revelation. The Blaine family and Daniel went back farther than me and Daniel. Daniel and Mac fished together all the time. When Devin enlisted in the Marines, Daniel had given him $500 and had tears in his eyes when he thanked him.
Daniel knew I’d balk at Devin coming, just as I knew he wouldn’t back down. He’d given me what I wanted: a professional, overnight guide. I’d seen that look in Daniel before. Those wise eyesaskedme to rebuff him because, if I did, I’d have to forfeit the guide.
“What?” was all I managed.
“He’s here, available, and willing. Most importantly, he has survival skills beyond even yours and a vested interest in keeping you safe. Besides, have you seen him yet? The man could be a tank himself.” He grinned. “Seemed pretty great to me.”
“He’s almost as much a stranger to me as Kimball!”
Daniel snorted. “You’ll never convince me of that.”
For a moment, I regretted my comment. Devin wasn’t a stranger. Was he? I didn’t know yet, but itfelttrue. The Devin that revealed his secrets was not the same boy I knew for years. He’d turned into a man without me. He’d experienced so many things we could never have together.
But underneath it all, hewasstill Devin.
Regardless, this wasn’t a complication that I could afford. No, I’d just barely wrapped my mind around being an acquaintance-friend to Devin. I’d let him have a sliver of space back into my life so that I could easily nudge him back out. Just telling him that we could spend time together had been throat-closing terrifying.
Five nights in the mountains with him?
No. Way.
Daniel turned and started to walk away. I ran along the counter and followed before he hid in the back office behind a locked door. Knowing him, he’d stay there until midnight just to avoid me.
We could both be persistent.
“You’ve already talked to him?” I asked.
“Yep.”
Fury bubbled under my skin, but I schooled it back as I jogged to keep up with his long gait. “And he said yes?”
“Yep.”
“When does the guide start?”
Daniel smiled over at me as he reached for the doorknob to his office. “You leave the day after tomorrow at 5:00 am. Get ready, girl. This is your chance to prove to me that you’re ready to do it, twenty years old notwithstanding.”
* * *
Dawn cracked early a day and a half later. At 4:45 am, I stood in the parking lot of Pineville Outfitters under a star-studded sky, my hands shoved into a zippered fleece jacket. Ebony mountains rippled in the sky like dark ribbons, the trees a looming presence even from far away. The temperature was in the low 60’s, but it felt cold.
Or maybe that was dread.
No matter what came of these five days in the mountains with Devin there—the way it always used to be—nothing will have changed in our circumstances. We would part afterward as acquaintance-friends and nothing more. Devin and I wouldn’t ease back into what we used to be because that ship had sailed.
Nor would the box in my head open up with a thunderous roar.
No.
We’d hike. He’d provide further security and insight. We’d walk away from each other feeling exactly the same as this very moment. Daniel would book more guides for me. I would live my best life.
