“Alright, Clarabelle,” I muttered. “Talk to me.”
“Unless you speak rust and regret, she’s not going to be very helpful,” Fifi said, peering over my shoulder.
I looked back at her. “Did you plan this?”
Her brows lifted. “Plan what?”
I smirked. “Stranding us out here in the woods. No cell service. One blanket. Suspicious sleeping bags. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”
She gasped, hand to heart. “Are you accusing me of seduction by sabotage?”
“Just asking the tough questions.”
She grinned. “If Iweregoing to seduce a man, I’d pick someone with fewer emotional walls and more survival skills.”
I laughed and shook my head. “You just called me sexy and emotionally unavailable in one sentence.”
“I multitask.”
I straightened, wiped my hands on my jeans, and looked at the engine again. “It’s not the battery. Could be the starter. Or something with the ignition coil. I don’t have the tools to pull anything apart. It sounds more like the starter to me thananything, but that’s not exactly helpful since the wire is where it should be.”
“So we’re stuck?”
“For now.”
She looked around, hands on her hips. “I mean… it’s not the worst place to be stranded.”
I raised a brow. “Middle of the woods. No bathroom. No service. One sandwich crust left between us.”
“Andme,” she added, grinning.
“And you.”
That did make it better.
That made itdangerous.
“Okay,” she said, clapping her hands. “Plan B. We set up camp. We’ve got the sleeping bags. We’ve got snacks. We’ve got a thermos of lemon water and one emergency brownie.”
“I forgot about the brownie,” I said.
She smirked. “Everyone always does. Until they need it most.”
I eyed the truck again, then the sky, then her. “You’re actually serious.”
She shrugged. “Unless you want to hike five miles in damp boots just to find out there’s no service up the road either. We’re in it now, lumberjack.”
I exhaled, letting go of the last sliver of resistance I’d been clinging to.
She was right.
And truth be told, part of me,a big part of me, wasn’t mad about it.
Fifi dug into the truck bed, pulling out one of the sleeping bags and flinging it dramatically across the flattest patch of earth near the trees. “Welcome to the Fifi Inn: wilderness edition. No plumbing, but the company’s decent.”
I dropped my bag beside hers, still watching her as she bustled around like she’d done this a dozen times before.
“You really planned this,” I said again, only half teasing now.
