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He ignored the warning. “If I haven’t checked back in within the next sixty minutes, send out a rescue team.”
“You know, you’re as stubborn as your mother was. And that’s saying something.”
“Sorry, Mary Lou. Can’t hear you.”
“Yes, you can.”
Aroostine, who’d drifted over to the doorway, listened intently.
When it was clear the transmission had ended, she nodded to herself and jutted out her chin.“There are two sets of snowshoes in the tool shed. I’m going to head out on foot to meet them.”
“No, you’re not,” Hank objected.
“Yes, I am. Look, you’re monitoring the emergency channel. Bodhi did his thing. Sasha and Leo are doing their thing. Maisy’s doing her thing.” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder where Maisy held the rapt attention of the other party as she regaled them with her story of the time her flight was canceled and she ended up renting a car for a cross-country road trip with a Moroccan prince, a professional dog sledder, and a well-known comedian. “Finding people in the woods is my thing. I’m going to do it.”
“I don’t like it,” Hank told her with clear reluctance.
Sasha and Leo exchanged a look. Aroostine was right, and they all knew it. Not only was she an experienced tracker, but she also had the skill set to survive a blizzard.
“Take somebody with you,” Sasha said, “please.”
“Well, I’m not sure who to take. Chris has to be beat from our earlier trek and his eighteen-mile run this morning. I don’t want to take Daniel because having a second person trained in Krav Maga will be handy if something goes awry here.”
“So your choices are Naya or Carl,” Leo noted.
“Who’s the better bet?”
“Carl,” the three of them said simultaneously.
Sasha hurried to clarify, “Not that Naya couldn’t do it. She definitely could. But she’s not a fan of the great outdoors. So unless you want to listen to a litany of things Naya hates about the cold, the snow, and the woods, you should take Carl.”
“Come to think of it,” Aroostine mused, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard Carl complain about anything. Have you?”
“That time Naya tried to kick her sugar habit, he was slightly grumpy, but I don’t think he complained,” Leo mused.
“I think he was too scared to complain,” Sasha added.
“You know I can hear you, right?” Naya called from across the room.
“Actually, I didn’t,” Sasha said with a grimace.
Naya shook her head. “Carl, go get your coat on. You’re going snowshoeing.”
“Yes, love.”
He dropped a kiss on her brow.
She wrinkled her nose. Then she grabbed him by the shoulders and stared into his eyes. “You do exactly what Aroostine tells you. She’s the expert. Your only job is to stick with her and get back here safely.” Her voice was fierce.
“Yes, ma’am.”
They shared a brief hug and a long kiss, and then Carl strolled over to the doorway.
“Well, Roo, let’s do it.”
She clapped him on the shoulder. “Off we go.”
CHAPTER24
