A tiny blaze burst forth.
A laugh spilled out of her.That tiny fire was the nicest thing she’d ever seen, even if she couldn’t feel any heat from it.Slowly, he fed the flames until he had a decent, if small, fire burning on the gravel shore where she sat.Finally, the heat reached her.She held out her hands, warming them in the tiny blaze.“Ah.This is amazing.I owe your mother the biggest hug.”
“You can pay me in her stead.”He blinked, jumped up, and strode into the woods like he was embarrassed.
Hug him instead?Oh my!
Suddenly, she couldn’t get that image out of her mind.Her gaze flew to his underwear.Yikes!Frantic for a distraction, she began wringing out the clothing in her bag, carefully keeping her underthings from sight.They could stay wet.She just needed something to dry out enough to wear.By the time he returned, wet laundry surrounded her, spread as far as she could reach.
“Good idea,” he said, dumping a stack of wood on the ground and feeding a couple of pieces into the blaze.“There are a couple huge pines.I can hang stuff on them to dry faster.“Which things do you want hung?”
“Um, this and this and this.”She handed him a light sweater, a sleeveless T-shirt, and some leggings.An idea hit her.“Hey, does your phone still work?We could call someone and tell them our canoe died.”
He looked startled.“I forgot all about my phone.That’s a first.”He pulled it out; water dripped from it.He stared at it, disappointment all over his face.“I’m not even going to try and power it on.Not until it has time to dry.”
It was her turn to be disappointed.Crap on a cracker.This sucked.She put on a brave face.“They’ll find us.They’ll notice right away…when we don’t come in for dinner.Like when that other couple was late, and they sent a crew back to find them.”
“Can I help somehow?”She asked an hour later.“I must be able to do something.”He’d spent the time gathering wood for their fire and hanging the clothing to dry.
“Can you keep the fire going for a few minutes?I want to walk back upstream and see if anything else, like our cooler or water bottles, washed ashore.”
“I’m good.There are lots of sticks here.”
Chapter Eleven
WhenEricreturned,triumphant,back to their fire, Wanda was gone.The fire burned merrily, as if it had been freshly stoked, but Wanda was nowhere in sight.
“Wanda!”He looked frantically around, repeatedly yelling her name.
“What?”Her voice came from behind him.
“Where were you?”he demanded, even as he saw her coming out of the trees.She leaned heavily on her stick and hobbled back toward the fire.
“Ladies’ room.”Her face turned the most adorable shade of pink.
“Oh.”His face heated.Be cool, man.It’s not like you don’t know women have to pee.“Sorry.I sort of panicked.I was worried.”To distract her from his overreaction, he held up their cooler and a pink metal water bottle.“This was yours, right?”
“It looks like mine.”
“It’s still full, and if we need to, we can heat river water in it to sterilize it.The cooler still has the remains of lunch in it, too, and it didn’t fill with river water.”
“That’s fabulous.”She looked at the ground, then back up at him, not quite meeting his eyes.“I sort of… Never mind.”
“Sort of what?”he asked softly.
She came the rest of the way to the fire and sat beside her backpack.She dug inside and pulled out a plastic food storage container.“I sort of have this.”She thrust it up at him.
He popped the opaque container open.“Chocolate bars?”He counted them.“Five chocolate bars?”He looked up at her.“Why?”
“I told you before.I’m a junk food addict.I didn’t want to do without.Only I haven’t needed to dig into my stash.I always have a stash.Always!”
He laughed until his belly hurt.“You are amazing.”He chuckled some more.“We’ve got food, water, fire.We’re all set until someone shows up to rescue us.”
“Except for bears,” she whispered shakily.
He set down the cooler and water bottle and stepped to her side.Without thinking, he slipped his arms around her in a warm hug.“Wanda, I know you’re hurting and scared, but we’ll be okay.I’ll protect you.”He squeezed, and she leaned into his chest.“Wild animals avoid fires.We’re safe.Okay?”
“Thanks.”Her arms slid around his waist.“Sorry for being a wimp.”
