Page 20 of Love in the Time of Wildfires

He gave her a sly smile. “You didn’t ask.”

River covered her face with a hand because she had giggles wanting to burst through. She was embarrassed at this reaction, unable to subdue it as the sound filtered between her fingertips. She wanted to die, feeling out of control, her skin growing hot all over.

“What?” There was a definite smile from Logan, and that made the situation worse because he was even better looking with it. Oh no. River would never survive this, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to.

“You need to warn a person before you unleash all that!” She fanned a hand in front of her face, hoping this might help and she could snatch her self-respect back. The funny thing was, it seemed like Logan was enjoying having this kind of effect on her. The more she covered her face and giggled, the softer his expression grew.

“Are you going to take a picture or not?” he asked, his eyes twinkling.

“I’m going to! Why are you rushing this? Just give me a second.” She wasn’t sure she could hold the camera steady long enough.

“What if I pick up this log? Do you think that’ll help?” He bent, lugging a short log and lifting it to rest on one shoulder, which made his already big arm muscles bulge.

“Okay, now you’re just showing off.” She took a steadying breath, using her free hand to make the sign of the cross, as if that would help at all. “Okay, ready? One, two, three.” She said the numbers quickly and pressed her phone to take a picture. With that, Logan dropped the log with a heavy thump on the soft forest floor. She walked over, focusing on her phone screen, using her fingers to zoom in because—goodness gracious. River begged the universe he wouldn’t make her delete it because this image might live on her phone forever. He reached to grab his T-shirt, slipping it on by the time she reached him.

“Did you see that fox that just ran over there?” he asked.

“What?! Where?” She swiveled her head to scan the area, but there was nothing.

When she turned back, he was actually smirking. He knew there could have been a whole skulk of foxes and she wouldn’t have noticed. “Butt,” she replied playfully exasperated. “Why would you tease me like that?”

“Wildlife behaviorist,” he replied in a high tone, circling his face with a finger.

River guffawed with a tiny snort. “Oh my goodness. Stop.” Maybe it was being out in the woods, but it felt like she was seeing a side of Logan not many people got to see. This side was softer, more approachable, like she could easily slip into his arms like she’d done at Lucky Duck. She imagined he’d engulf her in his warmth, and it made her curious—too curious, which is why she shifted her focus to her phone.

“Can you put your number in so I can text it to you?” She handed him her device after hitting the message app.

“He’s kind of hot in an angry sort of way,” he read from her screen.

“What? Give that to me! That was my sister. From before—you know, before we left. We weren’t even talking about you!” She snatched the phone, her cheeks blazing red hot. Sure enough, when she hit the app, it retrieved the recent conversation with Mimi. She fumbled with the device, dropping it, and considered sprinting away to live in the forest forever. Trying to recover, River picked up the phone and smoothed her hair behind her ears. “Okay, what’s your number? I’ll put it in.”

He recited it, and she sent the image. When River dared to look him again, she noticed a small leaf stuck in his hair, probably from the log that had been on his shoulder earlier. “Here, let me get . . . You have a leaf in your hair.”

River reached to remove it but, in doing so, she became trapped under his gaze again. His hand took hold of her wrist, the air around them stilling. “River.”

“Yeah?” She searched his eyes, wondering where this could go.

“You’re not really going to come back here by yourself at night, are you?”

The genuine concern in her voice made her smile. “Well, not tonight anyway. I’m sure I’ll eventually make a friend who enjoys camping. Or maybe I’ll bring Goldie so I have someone to talk to.”

“I’m probably leaving in the next day or so.”

“I know. I’m not expecting you to be my camping friend. You’ve already done more than enough to help me, and I’m sure you’d hate it.”

“Being out in the field means I’m not great at communication. It’s usually really long work shifts. But . . .” He paused, licking his lips. “If you ever need to talk to someone who will talk back more than a squirrel, you can message me.”

She blinked in surprise. “Really?” Could she believe he wanted to continue talking to her?

“Like I said, I don’t know how often I’m going to be able to respond, and I’m not sure I’m exactly the type of . . . What you’re looking for in a . . .” He appeared flustered before clearing his throat, his expression shifting. “Well, you already have my number in your phone, and I just want to make sure you’re not doing something unsafe like hiking around at night.”

Now she was confused. His speech started sweet, and then, somewhere in his mind, it switched directions where he seemed annoyed with her again. She didn’t know if he was looking for something more, wanted to be her friend, or wanted to be her dad again. She pulled away, having gotten the leaf, and tossed it aside. “Sure. We should probably start hiking back.”

While River wasn’t looking for one more person to tell her what she should be doing, she also was unsure if she was looking for a friend in him or something else entirely. Either way, she was a little mixed up herself. His job forcing distance might be better for both of them.

Chapter Seven

Logan didn’t know what to expect when he gave River permission to text him while he was away. She, at the very least, seemed to be the of type person who enjoyed texting just for the hell of it. In fact, part of him was counting on this. Since his marriage imploded, he didn’t have much to text about or people to text with, outside of his mom.