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There was a pause and then he strode back toward her at a considerably slower pace than he’d walked away. “Let’s be clear about this so there’s no mistake. You’re asking for my help?”
She gritted her teeth. “Yes, I’m asking for your help.”
“You’re admitting that you’re lost and that you can’t do this by yourself?”
The man was maddening. “Yes, I’m admitting that.”
“Wow.” He folded his arms. “I bet this is a first for you.”
There was humor in his voice and normally she would have made a smart retort, but she didn’t have one available. She felt lost and sad and totally unlike herself. She didn’t want to go back to Snowfall Lodge, but she couldn’t keep wandering in the forest. “Point me in the right direction and I’ll walk home by myself.”
“What if you meet another mountain lion?”
“I’ll handle it.”
He reached out and gently removed her sunglasses. “You’ve been crying.”
“I have not. The cold makes my eyes water.”
All traces of humor vanished. He slipped her glasses into his pocket, pulled off his glove and stroked her cheek with his fingers. “You’d rather die than show vulnerability, so it must be something bad. Did something happen? What’s wrong?” He studied her face and then glanced back down the trail. “What are you doing all the way out here?”
“I told you. I was walking.”
“Because you’re upset. You wanted to get away, and you didn’t even care where you were walking.”
It started to snow again, huge fat flakes that settled on her hood and her jacket.
The world obviously hated her.
He frowned. “Did you know a storm was forecast?”
“I wasn’t thinking about the weather. The sky was clear when I left.”
“It’s not clear now. It’s snowing and it’s going to get heavier. We should move.” Instead of walking back down the path he continued upward.
“This isn’t the way to Snowfall Lodge.”
“We’re not going back to Snowfall Lodge.”
“Where are we going?” She stumbled in the deep snow and he paused and held out his hand.
“My home is closer.”
She hesitated and then took his hand. It was that or face plant in the deep snow. “You live here? On the trail? There are houses here?”
“Not houses, no. My cabin is a ten-minute walk from here. We can shelter and wait for the storm to clear.”
His cabin.
She stopped walking.
She was in the middle of nowhere, with a man she didn’t really know. Was this a wise move? Events of the last two months had made her jumpy. Once, she’d moved through life with confidence, but she no longer trusted her judgment. The doubts snaked in from nowhere, making her second-guess every decision. Was this safe? Was she making a mistake? Was she going to look back on this moment and feel like kicking herself for doing something stupid?
She breathed deeply. Sometimes life required you to make a choice between two less than perfect options. A storm was coming in, so trying to find her way back on her own wasn’t going to end well. This man knew where they were, and he knew how to find shelter. And he wasn’t a stranger. She knew him. He and Dan had been friends forever.
He waited, surprisingly patient. “You’re anxious, but you don’t need to be.”
This was embarrassing. “You think I’m stupid.”
