Page 12 of Lost With You
“Grab plates and forks. I’ll get started on these.” He slid the patties by the grill and the salad on the picnic table close by. “Except for an occasional grilled fish, we’ll be eating rehydrated food for the next three weeks.”
“Oh, joy.”
He slapped the burgers onto the hot grill. She shouldered her way out the back door a while later, carrying plates, forks, ketchup, and salt. “Strange selection you have in that kitchen,” she said as he flipped the burgers. “Canned beans and artichoke hearts and sundried tomatoes—”
“I didn’t buy any of that.” Full disclosure, right? “It’s probably from Renee.”
A plate clattered onto the wooden picnic table. Satisfying to think he’d surprised her.
“My ex-wife went through phases.” He tossed open rolls on the grill to toast them. “Gourmet cooking was one of them. I suppose I should check the expiration dates before I use anything. Or just throw them all out. It’s been four years.”
The old picnic bench creaked as she swung her legs over and sat. “I should warn you that as a journalist, I’ll use whatever I need to give the story I write maximum impact. So be careful what personal information you confess to me.”
“It’s no secret that I have an ex-wife.” He checked under the burgers to see if they’d charred enough. “A failed marriage is nothing to be proud of, but it is what it is.”
“Is the wife an exbecauseof this trip? Or did the divorce have something to do with your choice to arrange the expedition?”
None of the above.And she’d missed why he’d mentioned his previous marriage—he’d been warning her he was no good at relationships.
“Have you ever been married, Casey?”
He glanced over his shoulder in time to see her face spasm. She took her time aligning the silverware on each side of the plate in front of her. She didn’t like being interviewed, but with this question he could practically hear the keys to many locks turning in her mind. Shehadbeen married before, perhaps. Not now, though, because she hadn’t made a single call before agreeing to be his partner for three long weeks.
“I was engaged,” she said. “But not anymore.”
He took the toasted rolls off the grill. “That’s cryptic.”
“Because I’m not the story, MacCabe. Youare.”
Boy, this woman had a history. Did she forget that he was a historian? Nothing intrigued him more than stories untold.
He wasn’t going to tease this story out now. “This expedition has nothing to do with Renee.” Although Garrick and Logan might have something to say about that. “Except that I committed to my work after she left.”
Something flickered in her eyes. Message received, he thought, slipping the platter of burgers on the table as he swung a leg over the opposite bench.
“So,” she said, leaning back as he sat down across from her. “What did prompt you to take up this challenge?”
He glanced at her phone lying on the table between them. “Am I being interviewed?”
“That is why I drove six hours, remember?” She swiped her phone and tapped the record button. “I need background information.”
“You know you won’t be able to use your phone on the trip. There’s no power source in the woods.”
“I have portable chargers.”
“Not enough to keep a phone going for weeks.”
She frowned. “It’s coming with me.”
“Wrapped in multiple watertight plastic bags,” he said, “and only unpacked in an emergency situation.”
She stabbed the salad with a fork. “This expedition has odd rules.”
“It’s a historic journey on ancient trading and bootlegging routes. We’re unplugging from our cell phones because the original travelers didn’t have satellite GPS to navigate, either.”
Her eyes narrowed. “And my laptop?”
“Same problem. Bring it at your own risk. We’ll be lashing all the packs down, but there’s no guarantee the canoe won’t capsize, the packs won’t come loose. You’re likely to lose both phone and laptop at the bottom of a lake or find them shattered against a rock in whitewater.”
