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I took a step back as he climbed up and tried again.
“Fuck.”
“What happened?”
He turned and to me, his shoulders slumped and his eyes dull. The look I had witnessed a few times after I’d first returned to Lovewell but hadn’t seen in weeks. It was a look of failure.
“Out of gas. I’ve been driving around for hours, but I didn’t think to bring a gas can.”
He raked his fingers through his hair and gripped so tightly I thought he would tear the roots right out of his scalp. “God dammit. I’m such a fuck-up.”
“Stop,” I said, putting a hand to his chest, trying to deescalate his anger.
“I left you in the woods alone. Vulnerable. With bad guys with guns driving around. And despite the tens of thousands of square miles of forest, I find you only to run out of gas?”
“We can hike it. Plus,” I gave him a playful wink, “I got photos of the bad guys.”
“When we get home, we’re going to have a long conversation about unnecessary risk taking.”
“And I’m going to roll my eyes because I do not need you to mansplain danger to me.”
“Let me find you a walking stick first. There’s a whole trail network up here. It’s all connected to the streams that feed into the Penobscot River. Once we get in an open area, I can use the sat phone to call Henri.”
We headed through the woods, me with one arm slung around his shoulders and the other clutching the tree branch he insisted I use. If not for the ankle sprain and the life-threatening danger of a few hours ago, this would actually be a pretty romantic moment. Hiking through the forest with my lumberjack husband. The two of us alone in nature. We stopped every several minutes to consult an old map he’d found in his backpack. Not that it made much difference. The trails we were following weren’t even on the maps.
“I still can’t believe you found me,” I said as he lifted me off a boulder and set me on the ground.
His gaze was serious. “I wasn’t going to stop looking. I would have wandered these woods for the rest of my life.”
My face heated at his admission. “You can’t stay that stuff to me when we’re lost in the woods. Now I wanna jump your sexy, romantic bones. Not hobble to freedom.”
He laughed. “There will be plenty of time for sex when we get back to Lovewell. Especially since I’m not letting you out of my sight for the next twenty or so years.”
We made it down the hill, falling into companionable silence and watching the stream widen. When we found a well-cut trail, we consulted the compass and decided to take it farther south, hoping to find the river.
Our silence was interrupted by the sound of engines. Remy froze, then whipped his head one way and then the other as the noise got louder. He picked me up and left the trail, then dropped low behind a felled tree.
“Do you think that’s Henri and the police?” I asked optimistically. “Or—”
He put his hand over my mouth, silencing me as three ATVs drove slowly by. The men driving them scanned the woods as they went, wearing helmets and black clothing and bearing a distinct resemblance to the fuckers who’d chased me through the forest earlier.
I closed my eyes and held my breath, all the fear and terror coming back to me, immobilizing me. The sound of the engines faded, but not before we heard them speak to one another in French.
“They’re looking for you,” Remy said, pushing me farther down. “We gotta get out of here.”
Now that we’d stopped moving, I started to shiver, likely due to shock. The realization only made me panic more. What if they came back for us? I couldn’t run, and I couldn’t risk Remy getting hurt, or worse. My breath was short, and my heart was racing. Beads of sweat broke out along my hairline and rolled down my spine. I needed to think, to formulate a plan and move, but I was frozen.
Remy crouched down, taking my face in his hands. “I will not let anything happen to you. Once they get a little farther, we’re gonna run for it.”
I shook my head, but I couldn’t form words.
“I’ll carry you.” He put his backpack on his chest and snapped it in place.
When the engines faded to a light rumble and their voices could no longer be heard, Remy stood.
“Get on my back. They’re not looking.”
His voice pulled me out of my panic, but my adrenaline was wearing off, and all I could do was stare.
