He nods, jaw jutting to the side as he folds his arms. “And how do you see that happening, exactly?”
He’s setting me up for something, but I humor him, letting him think he’s going to come out of this on top. “I’m not saying it was a good one, but it was a plan, and we could’ve workshopped it. You know, if you’d have stoppedHulking outand let me have any input back there.”
My arms cross too. For added sass.
He stifles a huff. “Please, share this master plan of yours with me.”
I grin. “Well…there’s always the classic decoy tactic. I could distract them while you take a peek into their bags.”
He nods, lips pursed, pretending to consider it like he doesn’t think this is a dumb plan. “Distract them how?” The added frown is a nice touch.
“With my feminine wiles, of course.”
He clicks his tongue, grimacing with feigned regret. “I don’t think that would work.”
“You don’t think my wiles would have any effect?” I ask, batting my lashes. Then I step closer, and he clears his throat, straightening as I approach.
“It’s too risky,” he says, his voice too even.
“You’re right.” My shoulders slump, and I drop my eyes, tucking my arms around myself. “It’s stupid. But I wanna feel helpful, you know? Like I’m not justbaggage.”
Jack exhales, glancing to the side before his eyes dart back tome, his jaw tense. “You’re not baggage, Lo. But I need to keep you safe. This whole thing feels volatile.”
No one has ever given me that nickname before, and it steals my breath every time he says it. We’re so close now, Jack having closed the remaining space between us. I raise my hand, lightly touching my cheek while the other one slips into the side pouch of his pack, stealthily slipping his spare utility knife between my fingers.
“How’s your cheek feeling?” He questions, nudging my hand away from my face and replacing it with the pad of his thumb. “Does it still hurt?”
“It’s a bit tender and a little itchy.” I lift my lashes, meeting his steely gaze. “I have a question for you, though.”
He nods, eyes locked on mine, like I could ask anything of him and he’d be powerless to deny me.
“Do you think my feminine wiles are working now?” I lift my hand, displaying his knife in my palm. A smile spreads across my face while Jack frowns.
His lips roll in over his teeth as he looks away, nodding. “You’re good.”
“Why, thank you.” I bounce excitedly on my toes, tossing his knife to him before lowering myself to the biggest rock I can find. “I understand you feel this need to keep everyone safe, Jack. I won’t deny you that. But I had to prove a point, you know.”
Jack grunts in reply as he steps in to slide Marigold off my back, and I let a groan slip out as I stretch. He looks frozen in panic when I turn to him.
“What?”
“Nothing.” He swallows and blinks before seemingly thinking better of it and busies himself with digging snacks out of my bag. We sit in silence while dragonflies buzz nearby, adding their humming to the midday soundtrack.There’s a collective hissing and singing of bugs that sounds like a sizzling frying pan. I feel like I’m in that pan, unable to escape the oppressive heat and looming sense of danger. I will overcome this test, though. The canyon might be trying to push me to my limits, but I’m determined to prove myself.
I’m not a quitter.
“Do you have a place in mind to camp?” I ask, using precious trickles of water from my bottle to wet a bandana and tie it around my neck. Why did I not do this earlier?
“We’ll take it slower the next two miles till we get to Cottonwood Campground, and we can freshen up before finding somewhere out of the way to set up for the night. I wanna see what Thing One and Thing Two are doing when we get there, if they’re setting up camp or waiting around to see what we do. I have a feeling they’ll try to get close again.” He pins me with a stern look. “But no feminine wiles.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” I smile sweetly.
“There’s also no toilet where we’ll be camping, so we’ll be roughing it if you need togoonce we’ve set up. I don’t wanna be too close to Cottonwood campground.”
“I’m sorry, what?” I flinch, and my smile straightens.
“You’ll be fine. I have a small shovel to dig a hole. You just gotta bag whatever T.P you use.”
“And carry itwithme?” I gasp. I’m beginning to think Sue had the right idea with her pee-cloth. However that works.
