Page 52 of The Apparent Trap

When I come out of the changing room, Lee remains standing in front of it, still soaked but seeming to not even care.

He leans over like he’s inspecting me. “What?” I ask. “I still have all ten fingers and toes, Grandpa, don’t worry so much.”

“The last thing in the world I need right now, while my daughter is staying in a room with your dad, is to joke about me being a grandpa.”

I choke out a laugh. “Okay, I take it back.”

He comes closer and pushes a curl behind my ears. I suddenly can’t remember being cold.

“Are you really okay?” he whispers quietly.

“I’m okay,” I say with a nod.

He scans my face, checking my veracity, and then steps into the changing room so he can finally get warm and I can go back to the crew.

“Well that was a fucking disaster,” Simon chimes in, and Amir cringes. He doesn’t have to say anything.

“Can you use any of the footage?” I ask Amir, nervous that I’ve ruined it all.

“Oh for sure,” he waves off, his low voice reassuring. “We got you guys jumping in. I did tight shots on Lee pulling himself out. And now we’re going to get more B-roll of Herman and his team doing it. The footage of Carmen talking to him about it is really nice. It’ll be fine, you can finagle it.”

“Then it’s time to get back to the hotel,” I hear a voice say beside me.

I spin around to see Lee, already changed. “Didn’t you just hear Amir? There’s still more B-roll to get.”

“Amir!” Lee asks. “Do you need Ezzie with you to get your B-roll?”

“No,” he replies, much more nonchalant than I’d like when discussing my obsolescence.

“Traitor,” I mutter to him, and I get a wisp of a smile.

“I’m a professional, I’ve got it,” Amir says. “And I’m happy to never mention again that you just nearly froze to death, but I agree with Lee that maybe that starts with you going back to the hotel.”

“Fine,” I concede, not daring to glance at Lee. Because the thought of getting warm does sound nice.

And maybe, for once, I can let myself do what’s best for me instead of for everyone else.

Chapter 16

When we get back, Lee practically hauls me to our room and demands I take a hot shower. Even though I changed half an hour ago, I’m still bone chilled to the point where it feels like the cold has slipped under my skin, so the idea is heavenly. But even if it wasn’t, I get the sense that there’s no ignoring Lee when he’s being this stern.

I stand under the water and let the heat wrap around me. Slowly, my body starts to rewarm from the inside.

After standing long enough that my fingers are fully pruned, I pull on a robe and wrap a towel around my head. I guess the “looking normal around Lee” ship has sailed.

I pad out to the room, and he’s sitting on the hanging chair, reading a book. He has on reading glasses and is wearing a cozy sweater. As though this man wasn’t tempting enough. He’s gone from hip urban chef to woodsy professor, and it’s hilariously unfair.

He snaps up to attention when I emerge, and immediately directs me up to the loft.

“I brought you some tea and snacks,” he says as I start to climb the ladder. “They make this local blend with pine tips, rosebay willow herb leaves, and dried rowan berries, so I got that, but if you want coffee instead, I can grab that too.”

I pause on the stairs. “Oh I only drink tea blends made with pine tips if they also have dried blueberries, so guess I can’t have this one,” I joke.

He stares at me like my quips are not funny in this oh-so-serious moment.

I want to lighten the mood, but it doesn’t seem like I’m going to win that battle, so I climb the rest of the way up to the loft. There are little tea sandwiches stacked on a tray next to the bed. They look like BLTs. I wonder if he walked the ten minutes down to the lodge and barged into the kitchen himself.

“You didn’t need to do all of this,” I say quietly, peeking down. He shoots me a dubious look and starts to climb the ladder. I guess I’m not trustworthy enough to drink tea on my own.