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“Jeri’s right,” Lazarus agreed. “Making out you have more experience than you have in these conditions is sheer stupidity. You can only go by what you’ve been told.”
“What’s your main worry where this guy’s concerned?” Dante asked from his position in the kitchen area. “He may have gotten back just fine.”
Shyla looked over and continued to worry her lip with her teeth and Jeri had to talk himself out of stopping her from abusing that plump flesh.
She shook her head. “He had plenty of time to get down the hill. He had a brand new, top of the range Garmin and I don’t doubt for one minute that he knew how to use it.”
“Then what’s the problem? You think the weather got the better of him? When did he set off?” Lazarus asked.
“That’s the problem,” Shyla whispered. “He set off yesterday and should easily have had time to get down the mountain and send a rescue team back up to get me, the same day.”
Everyone was quiet as she delivered this latest information. The fact that no one had returned for Shyla meant only one thing. Something must have happened to Antony before he raised the alarm.
Jeri mulled things over in his head then broke the silence. “I’m confused. If Antony left you yesterday then how come we found you out in the snow today?”
Lazarus nodded. “I was wondering the same thing.”
Shyla sighed, and it was obvious she was uncomfortable with events. “Despite Antony’s insistence that he’d send help to bring me down before nightfall, I decided to put up the tent…”
“Wait, he left you without settling you in the tent before he left?” Jeri interrupted, incensed at the thought.
Shyla nodded silently, clearly embarrassed, even though it wasn’t her fault.
“I mean, it was a pop-up tent, and although it was a bit awkward, with my ankle and all, I managed okay.”
Jeri growled his displeasure and knew from the grim looks on his brothers’ faces that they felt the same disgust as him.
Shyla continued. “And because he had plenty of time and I really did think someone would come for me, I didn’t knock all the tent pegs in. Just the four corners. That was my own stupidity. My ankle hurt, so I was too eager to rest it. And because I knew the weather was closing in, I didn’t want to hold up the rescue team when they arrived, by taking too long to get the tent packed up again. I should have known better.”
Jeri didn’t like that she blamed herself and said so. “No, everything you did was logical. I’d have done the same,” he reassured.
“It’s sweet of you to try and make me feel better, but obviously it was the wrong choice, or things wouldn’t have happened the way they did.”
“You were injured, Shyla,” Lazarus said grimly. “This Antony should not only have helped you put up the tent, but he should also have stayed with you. Don’t excuse the choices he made.”
“Oh, believe me, I’m not. Everything I suggested, it was like he was hell bent on doing the opposite. But I should have known better than to take short cuts. It was my decision that almost got me killed.”
Jeri didn’t agree, but he did know when to maneuver a conversation in a different direction. “So, if you don’t mind me asking, you seem very competent. You obviously have a good grasp on safety and best practice. So how did you get injured in the first place?”
Shyla pursed her lips, and he could tell she’d tensed up again.
“We were walking adjacent to the turnpike.” She named a particularly hazardous set of switchback paths where it was tempting, but very dangerous, to attempt a short-cut straight across, rather than take the circuitous zig-zag route. “Antony wanted to cut across…”
Fucker! Jeri knew what was coming next, before she even said it.
“I tried to stop him, but he just thought I was being stupid. I took one step after him. Just one step and only so I could bring him back. But he took that as assent, and because I’d argued about going that way, he thought I must need help. Pfft!”
The noise she made might have been small, but it certainly betrayed her derision.
“Anyway, he grabbed my arm and pulled me. The next thing I know, my foot is buried in one of the crevices that make that area so unsafe, and I’ve managed to get a bad sprain. Me!”
She was obviously incensed. Jeri might have smiled at her mettle if the whole thing wasn’t so serious.
“And of course, Antony is absolutely bloody fine!” The way she said it dripped with contempt, and he didn’t blame her. The asshole hadn’t listened, he’d gone off where he shouldn’t have, and injured Shyla into the bargain. Then he’d up and left her. The guy sounded like an arrogant arse. And those kinds of people usually thought they knew best and were too stupid to admit anyone else knew better. They were a danger to themselves and others.
Shyla was proof of that.
With an attitude like that he didn’t blame Shyla for being concerned. Not that the guy deserved it. But none of them were the type to leave someone in trouble. Even those who were idiots and brought it on themselves.
