Page 99 of Charlie and Her Sweet Escape
My breathing was ragged and hitched as the elevation increased, but I didn’t stop moving as I chased each small length of paracord tied to a tree.
Finally, I crested a hill and rested my hands on my knees to catch my breath. When I stood up straight, panting, I spotted a cave. “Charlie!”
I looked for her in every shadow and nook on my way there. Finally, I reached the cave and went inside. It was pitch black until my eyes adjusted.
I glanced around the dark, musty space for Charlie, but I was alone in here.
Near the wall, I spotted what looked like a bed of moss, and I went over to it. She’d been here at some point. A cold fire pit was set beside the makeshift bed. But nothing else marked her presence. No clothing, no backpack. Nothing.
She was gone. My chest constricted. I didn’t want to believe it. Hadn’t wanted to accept she’d leave?—
“Ben?” A breathless voice sounded behind me.
My heart stopped.
I turned just in time to catch Charlie as she flung herself her arms around my neck. “You came.”
“You didn’t leave,” I whispered back in awe, my hand against her head.
Charlie was here. She washere.
45
CHARLIE
I am glad I have Bennett Forrester as my friend. And I’m even glad that all we’ll ever be is friends. Because I wouldn’t want to lose this… this easiness between us, the way he makes me smile, the way he fell off his chair when chocolate milk went shooting out of my nose because I was laughing too hard, how we can talk about anything and everything and never run out of things to say, how I know he’s got my back and would never talk bad about me, how I feel like I belong with him. I don’t have that with my boyfriend, and I never have. Just with Bennett.
—from the journal of 18-year-old Charlie Savage
Idrank in the beautiful sight of Bennett. I placed my hands on his cheeks as his tears fell across my fingers. “How did you find me?”
“The paracord,” he said, his raspy voice filled with emotion. “Did you do that?”
I nodded, laughing through my own tears. “I had nothing else to do, so I tied a path down every possible trail leading to the cave like breadcrumbs.”
“Brilliant. You are so brilliant!” He kissed me then, his lips desperate against mine. I kissed him just as eagerly—maybe too eagerly, because he lost his balance and had to catch himself on the cave wall. Still, he didn’t break the kiss but pulled me closer as he adjusted his weight against the side of the cave.
“I knew you’d come,” I said breathlessly between kisses. “I hoped it so much, Ben.”
He pulled back from my lips, and I groaned in disappointment. “Kissing in a minute,” he said reluctantly. “We should talk first.”
“First? That ship has sailed.”
He laughed and I wanted to wrap the sound around me like a blanket. Since I couldn’t, I buried myself deeper in his arms, warm for the first time in days. He was wet, he smelled like mud and sweat, and his beard was threaded with leaves and debris, but I would never, ever get enough of him.
“Fair, but better late than never,” he said.
“Fine.” I hugged him tighter. “But I’m not letting you go.”
“I can talk like this.” He cupped his hand on the back of my head, where I’d rested it on his chest.
I sighed, happiness bubbling through me like fizzy soda. Bennett was here. He’d come. He’d found me.
“I know about Greg,” he said, ruining the moment.
Greg was the last person I wanted to talk about right now. Or ever again. When he’d called with his salesman pitch, telling meBennett had chosen to come back to base camp, I’d almost let my old insecurities win. I’d almost believed him.
But not quite.
