“Remember when we—” he began.
“—pushed Deke so hard he fell out of the swing and got a concussion? Yes.”
“Poor guy. Last time he invited us out.”
“Come to think of it, has there ever been a single time someone didn’t get hurt on one of our trips across the bay?”
Padric cocked his head. “Nicks and bruises. Nothing serious.”
“True, but still. Good thing I brought my first-aid kit.”
He gave her a delighted glance as he steered into Glacier Cove, where the Larkspur trailhead began. “The same one?”
“No, I’ve upgraded. That ibuprofen expired years ago.”
Watching the depth finder, he throttled down to an idle. “This is a good place to anchor. Want to do the honors?”
She made her way to the bow and tossed the anchor overboard. The anchor line was so new it showed no weathering at all.
A fresh start all around. Maybe this time no one would get hurt. Maybe this time everything would be perfect.
When the line went slack, she headed back to the cabin, where Padric was unfastening the Zodiac that was stored along the outer wall of the cabin. He slid it over the side with a splash, then gestured for her to get in.
As if they boated together all the time, they worked together in silent harmony. He handed her both of their backpacks, then lowered himself into the boat and took up the oars.
Happy to let him do the work, she sat back and gazed up at the clouds dodging the mountain peaks and casting shadows on the snowy cornices. “What a glorious day for a hike. It’s so peaceful out here, I always forget what quiet sounds like.”
The drone of a small plane interrupted her, and they both laughed.
“It’s probably headed for Glacier Lake,” she said. “Or maybe just flightseeing. Everyone wants to see bears.”
“From a distance, you mean.”
She laughed. “Exactly. Remember the time—”
“—you tripped and fell in a pile of bear scat and were terrified the bear would be mad about it and come after you?”
“No. I was afraid the bear would think I smelled like a bear. Which I did, for about a week, no matter how much I showered.”
“No, you didn’t. You just felt like you did.”
“I could still smell it.” Her nostrils twitched. “I think I still smell it, fifteen years later.”
“Has nothing changed in fifteen years?” He lifted his eyebrows at her as he stroked through the water. His eyes caught an extra shine from sun reflecting on the ocean. His broad shoulders flexed with each stroke of the oars. Her mouth watered.
“Maybe a few things have changed,” she murmured, helpless to stop her gaze from drifting across his body.
He caught her meaning and his eyes darkened. She felt herself respond in a very primal way, deep in her belly, like the vibration of a cello string. She swallowed, and knew that he saw her swallow, and that he knew exactly how to interpret that.
The Zodiac crunched onto the rocky shallows. Padric, who was wearing water boots, jumped out and brought it broadside to the shore. She scrambled out, doing her best to keep her good hiking boots from getting immersed in the ocean.
He handed her their things, one by one, then the two of them carried the Zodiac to high ground and beached it.
“Should we have a snack before we hit the trail?” she asked. Nothing else was going to distract her from Padric’s edibleness, so she might as well eat.
“I thought we could have a picnic once we get to the first ridge. Better view.“
She kind of liked the view she had—his strong hands adjusting the straps on his backpack, his eyes alight with the joy of being in the wild.
“Good plan.” She tilted her head to look at the tall spruce trees piercing the sky, crowding thick as soldiers up the slope. “So, here we are again. The Larkspur Trail.”
“You nervous?” He picked his way through the driftwood and seaweed that marked the high tide line.
“I am, a little. My whole life changed the last time I was here.”
“You know what I think we should do? Just walk right past that spot. It’s not far from the beginning of the trail. Once we pass that boulder, the rest will be new territory.”
“Are you being metaphorical right now?”
“Maybe a little.” He grinned. “But also literal. I’ve never hiked past that spot—did you?”
“No, I’ve never been back to this trail until now.”
Their gazes met and held, then he reached for her hand. “Come on. We got this,” he said softly.
Chapter Eleven
Silent now, they stepped into the deep quiet of the forest. To Zoe, It felt like entering the house of an ancient being. A wise being. As if the forest had an identity of its own, a way of communicating through its atmosphere. Hadn’t she and Padric been talking about forest spirits that last time? She couldn’t really remember the conversation, except that she’d scoffed at the concept and he’d shrugged off her skepticism.
She didn’t feel so skeptical now. The deeper they walked down the trail, the more she felt enveloped by mystery. Did she really know everything about what was and wasn’t real? Could anyone really say that?
They didn’t even speak as they passed the boulder she’d leaned on after she’d twisted her ankle. They paused for a moment, as if honoring their past selves, then continued onwards. New territory.
She soaked in the details. Moss-draped nurse logs with baby spruce trees sprouting from the generous decay. A mushroom with flared flanges. Crisp lichens the color of celery. The scurry of voles in the underbrush. The quiet flap of an owl disturbed in its sleep.
She held her breath as she took in the wonder of this hushed place. In the coolness, Padric’s hand felt warm and alive in hers. As far as she knew, they were the only two humans in this deep wilderness, with only a sketchy trail to prove anyone else had ever been here.
The trail headed upslope and she had to breathe again. She let go of Padric’s hand so they could hike single file. This time he took the lead, which meant she had an excellent view of his rear. She tried not to focus on it as the grade steepened and her breath grew ragged.
It didn’t work. Instead, other fantasy images flitted through her mind. Naked images. The flex of his buttocks as he turned to face her. His hips moving as he braced himself over her in bed. The glow in his dream-blue eyes when he entered her.
Distracting thoughts like that kept her occupied until they reached the ridge and the view opened up to show the slopes of the next mountain beyond, and a river cutting through the valley. In the other direction, they could see across the inlet to Driscoll Cove, one of her favorite spots for gathering debris.
A short spur trail took them to an overlook with a flat rock perfect for a picnic.
“Wow.” Zoe panted as she tucked her thumbs under the straps of her backpack. “We did it. We made it past the…”
“Past?” Padric smiled at her and offered his hand for a high-five. “How does it feel?”
“Glorious.” She shaded her eyes and gazed out over the wooded slopes, miles and miles of spruce dotted with birch and alders. “Not a soul to be seen except us.”
“Do you know how rare this is for me? Normally I’m surrounded by people. I miss having time alone.”
Time alone? That was a strange comment, and she felt her joy dim. “Do you wish you were alone right now?”
“No! No, that’s not what I meant. I meant, alone with my choice of person to be alone with.”
She cocked her head at him. “I don’t get it. What’s the point of having all that success if you can’t do what you want and be with whoever you want?”
He shrugged slightly. “It’s…complicated, I guess. I feel like I owe everyone whatever they want from me.” He slid off his backpack and propped it against the rock. “You must know what I mean. You do everything your family needs. Do you ever think about what you need?”
The way he was looking at her
implied that he knew what she needed—even more than she did.
She wetted her lips and glanced way from him. If he kept looking at her like that, she might do something crazy.
“If you keep doing that, I might do something crazy,” he said, his gaze fixed on her mouth.
Her lips parted in surprise. How on earth—how could they be that in sync after so many years apart? “I was just thinking something similar.”
“Were you?” He stepped to her side and helped her slide her backpack off her back. His closeness made her tremble. “Funny how that still happens.”
“I was thinking that, too.” A smile sketched across her lips, which drew his gaze again. Her tongue tingled.
“Is that a fact? Well, I really hope you’re thinking the same thing I’m thinking now.” He took her hand again and gently tugged her against his chest. Fire flashed up and down the entire front of her body. “Since we’ve broken the curse and made it all the way up here.”
“They say there’s only one thing that can really break a curse.” She leaned closer to him and tilted her head. Her lips parted all on their own under the magic of his attention. Always, from the beginning, she’d felt the most herself with Padric. The most strong, the most confident, the most sexy.
Okay, the sexy part was new, but very real. Under his gaze, she felt like a goddess, because that was what she saw in his eyes.
He bent his head so he could reach her lips, and there it was—like a key in a lock—instant, glorious rightness. The touch of his mouth, the scent of his skin, the sound of his breath drawing in—everything new and yet already written.
He ran his tongue along her lower lip, eagerly tasting the flesh he’d been eyeing a moment ago. “So sweet,” he murmured. “And lush. So beautiful.”
She closed her eyes under the combined pleasure of his kiss and his words. For a moment suspended in time, nothing else existed. Just her and Padric and skin and touch and this kiss…this lingering, exploring, opening kiss…
A whining drone caught her attention, and her eyes fluttered open. She spotted it immediately, the same twin-engine plane from earlier, now headed back toward Lost Harbor. But something was wrong.
She drew away from Padric and shielded her eyes against the sun so she could see better.
“What’s wrong?” Padric asked.
“Not sure. That plane is flying funny.”
He turned to look where she was pointing. “Maybe they spotted a bear and are trying to— Oh my God.”
Zoe cried out at the same time. As the plane banked, black smoke poured from the right engine. The wings tilted sharply.
“They’re looking for a place to land,” said Padric.
“There’s nothing out here. Oh my God! They’re going down!”
With smoke spiraling behind it, the plane plunged at a terrible angle toward the forbidding wilderness below.
And then disappeared into the trees.
Chapter Twelve
Padric snatched up his backpack and dug around for his binoculars and phone. He handed the binoculars to Zoe.
“Keep your eye on the spot where they went down. Is there still smoke?”
“Oh yeah.” She scanned the surrounding area while he turned on his phone. “I think they’re near the Hope Trail, the one that wraps around Lookout Mountain. This trail intersects with the Hope Trail. Probably an hour hike away.”
“They need emergency help, not us.” He dug out his phone; no service. “Fuck, we’re out of range here.”
“They probably sent out a mayday.”
“I hope so. Come on, let’s get to higher ground so we can get a signal.”
“What about going back down? There’s a signal at the beach, I think.”
“I’ll run back down and make the call, you go on ahead. If we can help on the ground, we should try.”
“Good.” She held her hand out. “I’ll take your pack so you can run faster.”
Before giving her the pack, he grabbed her hand and pulled her against him for a hard kiss. “Someday we’ll get to finish a kiss right,” he murmured against her lush lips.
She smiled—he felt the motion against his own lips—then shooed him away. “Go make the call. I’ll be jogging up the trail, and you know what my idea of ‘jogging’ is. So I’m sure you’ll have no trouble catching up.”
Briefly, he cupped her face in his hand. So beautiful and real. So actually here instead of slumbering in his memories.
He launched himself down the path, leaping over patches of exposed rock and the occasional fallen branch. Every muscle of his body was sore from the training workouts, but also stronger, so on balance it was a win. Thank you, Nate, you commandant bastard.
As he ran, he kept checking the signal, and as soon as a bar appeared—a short distance from the beach—he stopped and dialed Nate’s number. Not that he didn’t trust the dispatchers, but he could communicate more quickly with Nate.
“Yo,” his friend answered. “How’s the big hike—”
“We saw a plane crash. One of the twin-engine bear-viewing planes, it went down on the west slope of Lookout Mountain, about a mile in.”
Nate was instantly all business. “What else did you see?”
“Lots of smoke coming from one of the engines. We’re going to hike down and see what we can do.”
“I’m on it. Don’t do anything crazy.”
“We won’t.”
Nate ended the call, and Padric filled his lungs a few times before heading back up the trail. Would it make more sense to bring the boat around to the Hope Trail, in case anyone needed transport back into Lost Harbor?
He dismissed the idea. He could always come back down for the boat, and he didn’t want to leave Zoe alone on the trail. Hiking alone was never a good idea. Not that she couldn’t handle herself, since she’d grown up hiking in Lost Souls Wilderness. But if there were injured people on that plane, it would take two of them to deal with the situation.
He loped back up the trail, once again passing the infamous boulder where they’d kissed the first time.
Why did every goddamn kiss get interrupted by some kind of disaster? It had to be just a coincidence, but it sure was a strange one. The old local proverb drifted through his mind. Strange things happen around Lost Souls Wilderness.
Add another strange thing to the long list.
He caught up with Zoe about half a mile past the overlook. Even carrying two packs, she was making pretty good time.
She stopped to catch her breath while he jogged the last few yards to her side. He reclaimed his backpack and slid it over his shoulders. “You got farther than I’d expected.”
“See, that’s my secret. It looks like I move slow, but I get there.”
That sounded almost metaphorical.
“Did you call for help?”
“Nate’s on it. They’ll probably call in a chopper with a rescue rappeler crew.”
Zoe nodded. “I was thinking the same thing, but the closest crew like that is an hour away. We should still see if we can help.”
“Agreed.” As one, they set off at Zoe’s fastest pace down the trail.
That feeling of being exactly on the same page with someone—he loved that. The only other time he felt that was when he was jamming with a group of skilled musicians. Listening, responding, creating, until all boundaries disappeared and the flow of music was like a river carrying them all to the promised land.
They saved their breath for the exertion of tackling the steep switchbacks of the Larkspur Trail. The trees thinned out as they reached the higher elevations. Up here the blueberries grew thick on the ground, and low alders clung to the thin soil. Patches of snow glinted from the rocky cliffs higher up.
In a few months, all of this would be covered with a thick blanket of snow, and the only people who would come here would be heli-skiers dropped from a helicopter.
“There!” Zoe pointed to a trail that forked off to the west. “That’s the Hope Trail. There’s supposed to be
a sign, but I heard it got stolen.”
“Who the hell would steal a trail sign?”
“Probably the twins,” she said wryly.
He laughed, as much as he could while being completely out of breath. They took a short break while they both took a drink of water. Zoe reached into her pack and pulled out a foil-wrapped package. “Baklava? We have to keep our blood sugar up. It has protein, too, with all the nuts.”
“Sure.” He accepted a small piece from her and let the divine combination of honey, walnuts and pastry melt on his tongue. “This really takes me back.”
“Yeah.” Zoe delicately placed a bit of pastry in her own mouth. “Did you know I haven’t had baklava since you left?”
He took in her averted face, her lowered eyelashes. “Why would you deprive yourself of something so delicious?”
“I just…it reminded me of that day. I hated thinking about that day. So I just avoided it.”
She swallowed it down, her throat muscles moving under the tender skin of her throat. The sight was disturbingly erotic.
“So…how does it taste?” His voice held a rougher-than-usual edge.
“Nostalgic. High-caloric. Also it tastes like home. Oppressively loving with lots of high drama.” She sighed and brushed off her fingertips. “Come on. Break’s over.”
They hurried toward the Hope Trail fork. Oppressively loving. Quite the phrase. And from what Padric remembered, it described the Bellini family perfectly.
They were halfway down the trail when they saw the smoke rising over the treetops deeper in the valley.
“We’re going to have to bushwhack,” said Padric. “They went down off the trail. Let me go first.”
She didn’t protest. Bushwhacking through alders took a lot of energy, and they didn’t have any tools to work with. A machete would come in handy right now, or a hacksaw or a chainsaw. He thought longingly of all the fire mitigation tools at the fire station. Why hadn’t he brought something like that with him?
Nope, instead he was reduced to ducking under bushes, snapping branches, clearing just enough space for him and Zoe to squeeze through.
Yours Since Yesterday Page 10