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What was it about this man that made her behave so differently from her usual self?
Gina was not a smiler or even much of a laugher. But ever since Teo Jones had shown up—had that been only yesterday?—she’d discovered herself doing quite a bit of both.
Was it because of the way he looked at her, as if she knew things he wanted to and he would be happy to spend hours, days, a lifetime, uncovering them?
Or maybe the way he spoke to her, as if everything she said was brilliant. He’d been to college; he was a teacher. She’d barely gotten out of high school.
Not because she couldn’t handle the classes. What she hadn’t been able to handle was the physical work of the ranch combined with the mental work of school and the emotional drain of dealing with customers. Something had to give and it had been her grades. Oh, she’d finished. But she’d always been a little embarrassed by how poorly she’d done.
Her parents would have been disappointed. Of course if her parents had been alive to disappoint, she wouldn’t have had the issue in the first place.
Someone cleared their throat, and Gina realized she’d been staring into Teo’s eyes—darkened by the night, as well as lit by the fire now reflected in his glasses, causing them to glow a lovely shade of sienna—and he’d been staring into hers while the rest of the world kept spinning on without them.
She didn’t understand what was wrong with her. She never got dopey over men. Probably because men never got dopey over her.
“Everyone should get to bed.” Gina turned and addressed the others. “The sun will be shining in your tent before you know it.”
No one argued. They all had to be tired enough to fall asleep on their feet. The first day on the trail was always exhausting, but they needed to make it to the lake, as there was no water for the horses between the ranch and here.
The group began to drift away, but not before Mel and Melda cast Gina and Teo identical smirks. Comb
ined with a scorching glare from Ashleigh, or maybe Amberleigh, Gina concluded everyone in the group—except maybe Derek, who was still shoveling food—thought she was sending them to bed so she could jump Teo’s bones.
Right before everyone disappeared into the darkness, she caught a flash of the firelight off something sparkly tucked beneath Derek’s arm.
“Whoa, kid!” Gina hurried after him. “You can’t take that with you.” She held out her hand for the last foil packet of food.
“But I get hungry in the night.”
“So do bears.” She curled her fingers inward. “Gimme.”
“Bears!” shrieked one of the As. “There are bears out here?”
Gina put her finger into her ear and jiggled. “Not anymore.”
Teo snorted, though bears were no laughing matter.
“Didn’t everyone read the ‘Safety Tips’ we left on your beds last night?” Gina asked.
Usually she went over them at the campfire, because she’d learned the hard way that no one read anything you gave them, but tonight she’d been distracted by the singing, King Kong, and Teo.
She motioned for them all to come back. They stood in a semi-circle around the fading flames. “Black bears are common in the area. Most of the time they’ll run off as soon as they hear us.”
“And they’re gonna hear us real good.” Derek glowered at the As. The kid obviously had his heart set on seeing a bear. Who knows what his dad had promised just to get him out here?
“Their noses are even better than their ears,” Gina continued, “and if you leave any food out for them to smell, they’re gonna come searching. We like to avoid that.”
“What do you do with the food?” Melda asked.
“Wrap it up, then—” Gina pointed at a nearby tree. “Hang it up.”
Mel leaned back so far to see into the tree he nearly toppled over and had to be rebalanced by his wife. “Can’t bears climb trees?”
“Sure. But they can’t fly.” Gina indicated the pulley system rigged to the end of a long branch—too flimsy to support a bear but stout enough to protect their food.
“What if we see one?” Tim asked.
“Most of the time, bears really are more scared of us than we are of them. They’ll hear you and head the other way. You won’t even know they were anywhere close. But if you do see one, clap, talk, sing. You don’t want to startle it.”
