Page 13 of Stuck With the Smokejumper

When we pull into the crew-house drive, Nolan is outside. He spots the truck and waves both arms. “Finally!”

Within seconds, the front door opens and people start coming toward us.

Reid heads straight for the groceries. “Did you get my toothpaste?”

Beck hands him a bag.

Reid looks inside. “Protein powder too?”

“You owe me.”

“I always knew you cared.”

Nolan pulls a bag of chips from another sack.

Cassidy comes outside carrying a stack of beach towels. “We're leaving for the lake in twenty.”

The yard immediately gets busier. Coolers open. Grocery bags get sorted. Dani starts looking for the ice. Reid disappears inside with his toothpaste.

I look at Beck.

This morning established two things. Beck Hale is still every bit as attractive as I remember. And being alone with him is more fun than I expected.

Now I'm about to spend the afternoon with him at Alder Lake. Where, presumably, the man will be wearing only swim trunks.

Fantastic.

four

Beck

By the time we get to Alder Lake, I’ve learned two things. The Blackpine crew has done this before. And nobody needs to be told what to do.

Three vehicles pull into a dirt turnout above the lake, and everyone starts moving before the engines are off. Reid grabs one end of the biggest cooler. Trevor gets the other. Dani and Cassidy collect towels and bags. Tessa points Nolan toward a second cooler before he can make it to the trail empty-handed.

I reach into the back of Ivy’s truck and grab the drinks.

The trail drops through the trees before opening onto a stretch of rocky shoreline. Alder Lake spreads out beyond it, blue-green water surrounded by pine-covered slopes.

Everyone walks toward a shaded spot beneath the trees.

I follow Reid. “You always set up here?”

“Pretty much.”

Tessa drops her bag beside a fallen log. “Closest good spot to the rope swing.”

Nolan stops. “There's a rope swing?”

Reid points farther down the shoreline. A thick rope hangs from the branch of a pine growing above a steep bank.

Nolan grins.

We unload the coolers and spread towels across the ground.

I’m digging through one of the bags for sunscreen when Nolan pulls something out. He holds up the Bigfoot caller. “What’s this?”

Ivy looks over. Her finger points at me. “Entirely his. He paid actual money for it.”