Page 55 of Freedom Mine
She leaned her head over his, to give him something other than the low ceiling to focus on. “Hey, big guy,” she said, staring down at him. “I’ve been thinking about my next cooking lesson.”
After a moment, his eyes relaxed and he smiled. “You like to cook?”
“With the right teacher, I might learn to. That last lesson was ratherintriguing. Maybe next time we could bake something. When I was a kid I used to lick the bowl when my mom baked. I have a feeling you could find something for me to lick.”
There was a slight quirk to his smile. She had hoped to draw his attention from the ceiling. Sure enough, his gaze followed her. His right hand rested on her knee. He seemed tired and weak, but fully alert.
“I think I could find something for you to wrap your tongue around.”
“Is that a date?” she asked, not masking her enthusiasm. The truth was, she liked the idea, even though she had meant to tease him to keep his mind off the tight space.
“You’d date me?”
He sounded shocked. Was he teasing her now? She hadn’t been very good at reading him lately.
“You told me I’m free and could date whomever I want. I mean, assuming they’d want to date me too.”
“Yes, but. . .” He set his head back down and closed his eyes in pain. “You need to go, Alli.”
Blood soaked the bottom of his pant leg, but she tried to keep her voice steady for him. “Once we figure how to get that rock off of you, then we can go.”
“There’s no ‘we’,” he said, his voice low, but certain.
Somehow she had the feeling he wasn’t talking about the mine collapse.
“Why did you come down here Alli?”
“What type of question is that?”
He swallowed, hard, and his body started shaking. He stared at the cursed ceiling again, all playfulness washed from his face.
“It’s a death trap down here.”
“I’m not a quitter, Kayo.”
“I know.” He gave her knee a gentle squeeze. It was really the only part of her he could reach given how he was pinned. “Alli, go, while you can.”
“I said I’m not a quitter. So let’s see if we can come up with a solution together.”
“Even if we could get that boulder off of my leg, I’d never fit through that small opening you came through. See the ceiling there?” he pointed his lightstick at the mass of rock and broken beams.
“That pile of rock is the only thing holding the ceiling up. Shift even one rock wrong, and the entire ceiling collapses. The ceiling needs to be braced before I can be pulled out. Unless you’re going to tell me you have a few guys behind you, to brace that section and dig me out, I’m not going to make it out of here.”
“Then I guess I have a problem, Kayo, because I’m not leaving without you.”
