Adrenaline paints the rocks with rich oxide reds, highlighting its harsh, unpredictable bends and folds. The canyon has claimed another life, showing no remorse. It’s an untrainable force that no one will ever tame, and it demands respect.
Slopes that felt gentler a few days ago are now more jagged, resisting the chafing of the wind. Whether or not the canyon was willing to share some of that fierceness, I feel it. I can take a bit of that strength and immovability, welcoming that undeniable strength in myself.
“I’m sorry for shouting at you,” I say to the canyon with a pout.
“Shouting at me?” Jack purses his lips over his shoulder. A very nice shoulder, I might add.
“Oh, I was talking to the canyon.”
He gives an endearing smile before turning forward. “Of course you were.”
“Where are we going?” Is it concerning that I’ve been following for over ten minutes without questioning? I blame it on fatigue, not the fact that I’d follow this man into an active volcano.
“We’re escorting Jerrica for a stay in the cave she left Chad in.”
“What? You can’t just leave us there!” Jerrica snips.
For the record, I’m on team ‘leave ‘em there’.
Jack snorts. “You had no problem leaving Chad behind.”
“I knew you’d find him. It wasn’t forever.”
“Luckily for you, you’ll both be getting a chartered flight out of here…right into a holding cell.”
Shadows from the late afternoon sun linger, blending rusty tones into magenta by the time we reach the cave. The walk takes much longer than it did before, when Jack sprinted here and back, this time with an invalid and a criminal in tow.
We arrive at the mouth of the cave that I refuse to enter, deeper than the outcrop Jack and I camped under last night. That feels so long ago, before a bullet grazed my arm and ruined what would have been a perfect kiss and a path to happily ever after. Okay, I know we were miles away from that kind of commitment. But for the first time in my life, I could see the possibility of something long-term, if it weren’t for the pretty yellow backpack with the useless, insanely priced dagger hidden inside that may have ruined my chances.
Still, this man has been doing all the things that make my heart flutter. If only he weren’t still holding back.
His physical comfort with me is evident, but it’s not the same as before. I feel like I must be out of my mind, getting so invested after only four days of knowing someone. But we’ve been inseparable for most of that time, so really it’s like going on twenty dates in very close succession, right?
Jerrica grumbles, moaning about her arms being uncomfortable behind her back. Jack ignores her and turns to check on me, and I nod my head for him to lean closer. I love that he doesn’t even stiffen or hesitate one bit before releasing Jerrica and stepping near with a hand on my lower back.
“Arewegetting flights out of here, too?” I whisper.
“Let me get her settled in her cave, then we’ll talk.” He nods his head in the direction of the cave’s entrance. “Wait here,” he instructs before pulling out a set of handcuffs. Goodness, his backpack is more magical than Mary Poppins’s carpet bag.
As soon as he moves, Jerrica burns a hole in my head with her death glare. Jack scowls, cutting off her view of me before nudging herforward.
He emerges from the cave a few minutes later as curses and shouts echo from inside.
“That sounds pleasant,” I muse. “Are we seriously leaving them here?”
“I handcuffed her ankle to his wrist. That’ll make them think twice about trying anything. But they won’t be there long, anyway. The chopper is only twenty minutes out.”
He moves closer, but not as close as I’d like.
“And we’re really not going with them?”
He gazes at me like he thinks I could pick the mountain up and carry it on my back if I wanted to. It’s a heady feeling. No one has ever shown this unrelenting belief in me before, and I can’t help but wonder where or what I’d be if I had just a little of that confidence in myself.
“Look, Willow…I know you’re beat up. And you definitely need to see a doctor,” he pauses to catalogue each of my injuries with a furrowed brow, “But you came here to finish a hike. And if that’s still what you want, I’ll do everything I can to make that possible for you. When we get to the North Rim, a crap storm will unfold. It’ll be intense for a little while, but it’ll feel like an eternity. I’ll try to make it as easy as possible. You’ll be questioned. I’ll be debriefed—extensively, due to our…closeness. But I don’t want that urgency to rob you of something you came here to do. So if you want, we’ll finish this hike first. We only have a couple miles left.”
Is it possible to ache at the loss of a future robbed of getting to know this man better? There’s so much in him that I’m sure I could spend an eternity unraveling.
I’m not certain I’d have put up much of a fight if he’d insisted on carting us both out of here. My body is exhausted on a level I’ve never experienced, and finishing this hike with Jack at my side feels like the easiest and hardest yes of my life.
