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“You can never be too sure out in the middle of these woods,” he said calmly as he started walking down the lane. “We might just come upon a bear.”
Soundlessly, they made their way to the campfire and saw Lane’s bike sitting there. Kim pointed to the bushes where their clothes were tossed as if they were just thrown in the air and landed at will. There was no way they would dry like that, she thought as she went over to straighten them. She bent over to grab a pair of jeans when out of nowhere there was a loud shrill scream coming from the tent.
She whipped around to see Lane poking his head out of the built-in skylight brandishing a flashlight.
“What the shit are you doing?! Did you scream like that? Where the hell is Desi?” Kim shouted, as Mark and Tim joined her.
The tent started rocking back and forth and then they heard, “I’m here.” Desi stood and joined Lane in looking out of the skylight.
“Sorry Aunt Kim... I thought you were a bear,” Lane said, lowering the flashlight.
“A bear? How the hell can you mistake me for a bear?”
“Your shadow... it doesn’t matter. What are you guys doing here?”
“Forget that...” Seeing their bare skin, Kim took a step back. Hopeful, she said, “Did we interrupt something?”
“No. God no! We got caught up in a flash flood and Desi was close to being hypothermic. That’s why our clothes are by the fire.”
Desi frowned at the ‘God no’ comment Lane made. It made her think he was ashamed of her.
“Smart thinking Lane.” Tim nodded, “The quickest way to warm up is skin to skin contact.”
“I have a bag of clothes in the truck that I was going to drop off at the clinic,” Mark turned towards the road. “I’ll go grab it so you two don’t have to put your wet things back on.”
While Mark went to his truck and Lane told Kim and Tim what had happened, Desi sat down in the tent, humiliated. It was one thing to get caught by them, it was another to even think for a second that Lane might be interested in her.
Chapter 18
After Lane and Desigot some clothes on, they all piled into Mark’s truck and headed down the road to the emu farm. It was decided that they would act as a distraction, claiming they were lost and needed directions.
Everyone held their breath as Mark pulled into the winding driveway up to the main house. Tim, being the only person trained for this sort of thing and the only person that Jasmine hadn’t met yet, volunteered to go to the door and act as the lost tourist.
“What if you don’t come back?” Kim asked, wide eyed.
“I’ll come back. They aren’t going to do anything... yet,” Tim answered, with his hand on the door handle. “If I don’t come back in ten minutes, call 911.”
