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Tucker watched whileWynona spent more than an hour putting every tracking harness she had on a toad’s butt. By then Martin had arrived with his set of toad underwear, and they worked to get those toads dressed as well. By the time they were done, the sky was lightening with the promise of sunrise. Holden was visibly tired of taking pictures, but Wynona ordered him to take more now that he had better light.
As the project was winding down, Tucker was winding up. He was getting more and more nervous. Sundance, still in his stay, stared at him with concern in his eyes.
Gunner and one of the Bannon ranch hands returned from an errand that Wynona had sent them on. “Where did all the toads go?” The ranch hand asked. “Are they hibernating?”
Most of them had disappeared, leaving only stragglers still out wandering around. “I don’t think they’re hibernating yet,” Wynona said. They hadn’t seen any of them digging burrows. “I think they’re just hiding for right now, but I bet they start hibernating soon.” She looked up at the sky and the light hit her skin in a way that made it glow, made it look ethereal. “It’s supposed to dip below freezing tonight, and I think that they know that. They’re getting ready.” She went back to scribbling notes on a small pad.
“Have you sent all of this to your boss yet?” One of the ranch hands asked. They all knew what he was really asking.
“Don’t expect an answer yet,” Tucker said. “That boss isn’t even awake yet, and there will be a lot of people involved in any decision.”
Wynona cast him a grateful look, which he did not deserve.
“I’m hungry,” Martin said matter-of-factly.
Wynona chuckled. “I think we can get moving. Let’s go pack up what is left of the sites.” She looked at the trail they had forged through the wilderness.
“I’ll lead,” Holden said, “so we can take the straightest line back possible. He looked at Wynona. “Do you want to bring up the rear? You can go more slowly, make sure we didn’t miss anything?”
She looked confused, but Tucker knew what he was doing and was grateful.
“I’ll get them back to their vehicles with all of the gear,” Holden said. “You spend your energy observing. This might be your last night in the woods.”
“Okay,” Wynona said, still not sounding sure.
Holden led the charge back toward the trail. It felt like forever ago that Tucker had set off into the wild to try to find a flower.
He had found far more than one flower. Wynona started walking and then looked back at him as if to ask why he wasn’t following.
He took a deep breath. “I have something for you.” He headed toward a patch of brush where he had stashed his flowers. “Or at least, I had something for you.” He held it up, suddenly feeling very foolish.
Her expression was difficult to read, partly surprised, partly confused, partly nervous. “I thought I saw you holding those, but I didn’t understand.”
“I can’t blame you. It’s very confusing, but I was going to try to explain some stuff, so I picked you some flowers because I thought maybe they could help persuade you to listen to me.” He chuckled uncomfortably. Man, he was mangling this. “But I found some toads and then the yogurt hit the fan.”
“You went to pick me flowers?”
“I did.” He slowly strode toward her, half expecting her to back up, but she didn’t.
She reached out and took the flowers into her hand, and her face relaxed into a sincere smile. “Goldenrod, wild bergamot, and what’s this one?”
“We call it rubber rabbitbrush.”
She laughed. “Right. I’ve heard that. Not sure I’ve ever been gifted one, though.”
That made sense. It wasn’t a very pretty flower. Especially not next to her.
She gasped. “Are those Flame Shields?” She giggled, which meant that she knew that’s exactly what they were.
“I couldn’t believe it when I found them. I was so excited. It’s the first time I’ve seen them since we started this crazy mission. I thought it was going to be the high point of my evening, but then I found the toads, which makes the mushrooms far less exciting.”
She looked at him, and he didn’t want to get his hopes up, but it looked like affection in her eyes. “I think you’re the first man I’ve met who would put fungi in a bouquet.”
He nodded. “There’s a good chance, yeah.”
“Well, thank you, I guess? But I’m not sure I understand what you need to persuade me of.”
“Well...” He released Sundance with the verbal command, partly to stall, and partly because he thought Sundance dancing around in the sun might make her more merciful toward his confession. Sundance sprang in the air and went right to her as if she were the best friend he hadn’t seen in years. She patted him, but she didn’t take her eyes off Tucker. She was waiting for a response.
