Page 25 of Return to Me Always

"I guess not."

We were silent for a few minutes, and my breathing finally returned to normal. I wondered if Tyler would ask me specifics about my dream, but to my relief, he didn't.

"Get some more sleep, yeah?" he said. "We've got another long day ahead of us." And with that, he turned off the flashlight and lay back down.

Once I settled down too, it felt like Tyler was a little closer to me than he had been earlier, and the thought made me feel all warm inside. Maybe it was my imagination—I couldn't be sure—but I still felt comforted and safe.

Chapter Eight

When I awoke, I was alone. Everything that had happened crashed over me in an avalanche that shook me to my core. Fear and uncertainty collided in my head.

Taking several slow breaths, I tried to calm myself. But what helped me even more was hearing Tyler move around the campsite, which motivated me to get up and help instead of having a freak-out session.

So I sat up and removed myself from my comfortable make-shift bed, reaching for my shoes that Tyler had left inside the sleeping bag wrappers. Once again, I was happy for his experience because my shoes were actually warm when I shoved them on.

Kneeling inside the tent, I unzipped the little door to find Tyler packing up and getting ready for the day.

"Hi," I said, my stomach suddenly rumbling with hunger.

"Morning." He handed me a power bar and a mug of something steamy and frothy.

"What's this?" I asked. But before he could answer, I inhaled the delicious scent of cocoa. "Seriously? You made me hot chocolate?"

I didn't just get the half-smile—I got the whole damn smile. It was spectacular and hit me full on in the chest, like an arrow shot right through my heart. His grin even reached his eyes. Before I could fully soak it in, he quickly returned to packing up, reaching for his sleeping bag.

"How's your back?" he asked.

"Better." But it really wasn't. It was actually more sore today than it had been yesterday.

Tyler paused to look at me, eyes narrowed. "I don't believe you."

He reached for the arnica once more, and I didn't argue. Sitting beside me in the tent, he applied the salve with gentle fingers. I didn't know what I liked better—the feel and herbal scent of the arnica or Tyler's hands on my back.

Yeah, right. Who was I kidding? Of course, I preferred Tyler touching me.

"Thank you," I said as he lowered my shirt again.

"No problem. Should be getting better soon, I would think." He got up to leave the tent, hesitating just outside. "You know, I never heard the rest of the story. How did you actually stop the wanker?"

"Oh, you know, I just hit him with a wall sconce and knocked him out."

And there was that smile again, making my knees weak. "Not bad. Not bad at all."

I would definitely appreciate that compliment from Tyler. Between that and the smiles, my heart felt lighter.

We finished packing up, and Tyler again insisted on carrying both packs. I couldn't imagine how much weight that all was, but I told myself at least he was well-rested today. And hopefully, that made his burden feel a bit less.

Not long after we took off down the trail, I started to catch teasing glimpses of a stunning lake set off by the hues of gold, red, and amber trees. Tyler stopped, and I thought he was going to say something about the beautiful scenery. Instead, he dug through the bag and handed me a few things.

"It's going to piss down any second now. We need to get ready," he said.

"I don't see any dark clouds."

He didn't respond, just pointed behind me where ominous black clouds were racing toward us. "Oh, okay then."

After helping me put on some rain gear, he did the same before loading on both backpacks again, this time with a waterproof layer on those as well.

As we started off down the trail, the darkness descended, almost like twilight was approaching. The wind picked up, making the trees beside us sway and bend. Seconds later, the rain started to fall, lightly at first, making me think it wouldn't be so bad.

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