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Right there, soaking wet and muddy and totally wrung out from the roller coaster of emotions the day has been, I luxuriate in the feel of him, wrapping his warmth around me. A cocoon of warmth and love that is quickly accelerating straight to heat.
"Damn, I missed you." He pulls away long enough to speak before diving back in to kiss me again.
He slides up my wet shirt and presses his warm palms to my bare back.
Nothing in my life has ever felt so good.
So caught up am I in the moment, I barely register the sound of twigs snapping and brush rustling. The panting and swearing though, that breaks through my lust daze.
"Thank God," Sunny pants out. "I figured you were all dead, and I'd be stuck on this side of the river until I starve to death."
Grant and I untangle our limbs and sit up. Grant gets to his feet first and offers me a hand up, which I take. My legs are wobbly, my breathing still shallow, my mind still in the gutter.
Sunny has already caught her breath, but she's pale and shifting from foot to foot. "The bridge is completely submerged, Grant. Do you know of another way across that's on higher ground?"
"Only the route fifteen bridge. We'll have to walk about two miles East of here." Grant doesn't seem disturbed by this news. He bends and picks up Arty like he's ready to walk all night if he has to.
I, on the other hand, am shaking from the crash of adrenaline after almost watching him get sucked into that roiling river. My inner thighs are on fire from walking in wet shorts for more than an hour and I'm starving. The idea of walking another two miles makes me want to curl up in the fetal position and weep.
Grant pauses, Arty in his arms, and takes us in. He sets Arty back down. "Let's catch our breath first. I've got granola bars and water in my pack."
I sink to the ground and slip his pack off my back, grateful beyond words that he sees what I need and doesn't make me ask for a break. The way Sunny drops to sit next to me with a heavy sigh, it's clear I'm not the only one wrung out and exhausted.
Grant takes his pack from me, fishes out granola bars and water, and passes them around. "We can't stay still too long," he says as he tears open a granola bar. "According to the report I saw before I left, this is likely just a lull in the storm. The longer we sit, the colder and more exhausted we'll become. And if we get caught in more weather, we'll need to be one hundred percent."
"What happens once we get to the bridge?" I ask around a bite of the best granola bar I've ever eaten in my life.
"When we get close, I'll radio for someone to pick us up and take us wherever we need to go."
"What about me?" Sunny asks. "Will there be officers waiting to arrest me?"
Grant glances at me, his jaw tight. "No. Tomorrow, I'm going to report that I found that marijuana field, but I won't tell anyone who it belongs to. I'll tell the corporate guys Bigfoot was likely protecting the grow site and, now that it's found, they should have no more problems with Bigfoot. Will they have more problems, Sunny?"
She swipes at her cheek and glances at the raging river. "Thank you, Grant."
"You have clothes on under that costume?"
She stuffs the last bite of granola bar in her mouth, stands, and strips out of the furry suit. Underneath, she's in shorts and a tank top. While we hiked down, she'd carried the Bigfoot head, but now she takes the suit and the head to the bank of the river and throws them both in. We watch as they're carried downstream, then sucked under the current.
"What will you do for money?" I ask when Sunny rejoins us. I take one last swig of water from the bottle and hand it to Grant before getting to my feet and pulling on his pack.
I'm still exhausted, but the food helped quiet the rumbling of my stomach for the moment.
"I'll have to sell some of my land," Sunny says, as though she's speaking of losing a loved one. "I've got a neighbor who's been after me for a ten acre swath of land next to his."
"Will you have enough land left for your goats?"
She nods. "I won't be able to expand the herd the way I'd hoped or plant an orchard back there, but we'll get by."
I give her a hug and she squeezes me back tight. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."
"Thank you."
She may think I'm just being nice, but Sunny is going to get sick of me showing up on her doorstep with pastries.
"We better get going." Grant picks up Arty and we set off.
It's hard going because there's no clear, straight path along the river and the brush and brambles are overgrown. I just manage not getting smacked in the face by a branch by ducking and twisting my head.
