She bent to clip into her sled harness and adjusted the fit across her hips, and he adjusted his backpack and then moved his sled from his truck.
“You going to wear the pack?” she asked, motioning toward him.
“Uh, yeah? You think I shouldn’t?”
“You can. Or you could put it on your sled. I always take a pack in case I need to dump the sled, but it usually rides.” She pointed to her sled and an obvious bulge. “Thatpack will get heavier the farther you go. Especially if you’re doing, say...a hundred miles.”
Jack swallowed. The implication was clear. She’d done her own research on him and knew he was doing The Frozen Divide. “Thanks. Give me a minute?”
She shrugged. “Might want to put the trekking poles on the sled too.” She pointed to where she tucked hers. “Free your hands up. Do they fold?”
“Um...no? I usually use them for snowshoeing. Should I bring my snowshoes?” He motioned to the back of the truck.
“I don’t use them, but I do have running crampons that hook onto my trail shoes.”
“Got those.” He motioned to his backpack. He glanced at Steph’s feet. She was wearing running shoes with a wide toe box and obvious traction. Jack glanced at his own feet. He’d chosen a cross between a shoe and a boot that he hadn’t properly broken in yet.
Jack fumbled with the tarp around his gear. He’d packed the sled with things he thought he would need for several hours in the cold, plus what he had of the required gear for the race. He understood mimicking race conditions could be helpful. Steph had said that more than once in the videos he watched of her.
It took him only a couple of minutes before he determined he was ready to go. Both of them attached their sleds. She wore a harness and he a waist belt. Jack made a mental note that the harness was probably a better idea.
They moved toward the barricade without further discussion, their breath steaming in the cold air, their footsteps crunching in the snow.
Jack kept pace with her and didn’t say a word. He tried not to think about the fact that he’d driven over an hour and staged a coincidence and was currently walking into a winter wilderness with a woman who didn’t entirely believe his story and had agreed to his company anyway.
Liam was never going to hear about this.
Chapter 11
Steph
The road beyond the barricade was smooth and wide, packed down by a volunteer group and their grooming machine that maintained the area for cross-country skiers and snowshoers. The slight incline was runnable, but with the sled and just starting out, she preferred to power walk this section.
Steph settled into her pace within the first quarter mile, feeling the sled pull behind her, testing the connection between her body and the load. The new sled moved well, better than she’d expected when she bought it at the gear swap.
She didn’t look at Jack.
The temperature was holding in the upper twenties. No real wind beyond a gentle breeze, which made it almost comfortable, the kind of cold that settled around you rather than cutting into you. The sky had gone pink and orange at the edges where the sun was finishing its business for the day.
“What did you bring for food?” Jack nodded toward her sled. “I wasn’t sure what all to pack, so I brought a mishmash of stuff. Probably too much. I’m the kind of guy who likes to know where my next meal is coming from.”
She considered ignoring him, but what good would that do? Knowing Jack, he wouldn’t take the hint. He’d just keep yapping and wouldn’t understand that while she wasletting him come with her, they weren’t friends. Not by a long shot.
“I always bring more than I think I’m going to need,” she said. “It seems smart.”
“Exactly what I was thinking. Although I do think I need to back off on my food a bit.” He patted his stomach. “I’m not training like I used to, and it’s catching up with me.”
His tone carried a hint of humor, and Steph found herself stifling a laugh. Not that she agreed with his assessment. At the ski swap, without extra layers to cover him, she had noticed his trim build. She had noticed plenty.
She took a moment to compose herself as she thought about a response. She finally settled on, “Food is fuel, but I can see how you might need to make changes now that you aren’t competing professionally.”
She didn’t add that if he trained properly for The Frozen Divide, which was coming up in March, and the Elkridge Endurance race later in the year, he’d have no trouble keeping weight off.
The truth was, she didn’t want to encourage him, especially as far as The Frozen Divide was concerned. He had no business even doing an event like that. She knew it, and if he had any brains at all, he knew it too.
Of course, he had zero brains. He was here, interrupting her training time so he could...what? Tag along? There was no way it was a mere coincidence he happened to be at the exact same place she was at the exact same time to start her overnight.
“Have you ever done a training like this?” she asked.
