Page 43 of Falling for the Enemy

He moved much slower on the way down, stopping to test branches for sturdiness before putting down his feet.

“You’ve got this, Jack Sprat,” I said. “Only twenty feet more.”

Jack placed his foot on one branch and then immediately withdrew it because it made a cracking sound.

“I see your point about the difference between climbing a tree at nine as opposed to thirty-nine. I weighed about seventy pounds back then, so the branches hardly knew I was there.”

“Take your time. It’s not as if we have anything pressing to get to, except, of course, eating this delicious breadfruit.”

I stepped out of the shade of the trees into a small patch of sunshine. What a difference a day made for the weather. I stooped down to admire a red-bordered stink bug on its journey across the forest floor when a loud cracking sound made me stand upright. A branch shifted abruptly downward. Jack grunted and muttered “Oh man, not good” just before he cameplummeting through the branches. He landed on the ground in a balled up position and stayed there, not moving an inch.

“Jack!” I dropped the breadfruit and sprinted toward him, my heart racing and my mind filled with horrifying images of me trying to get him back to camp and then back to the station.

I reached him. He was curled in on himself. I touched him gently on the shoulder. “Jack? Where does it hurt?”

No response.

“Jack?”

He uncurled and threw a bunch of leaves at me. “Jack Sprat is back and in tip-top form!”

“Argh, you bum.” I swung around and swept up a pile of leafy debris, then threw it at him.

It landed on his head and shoulders. “You’ll pay for that, Lo. Big time.” He moved to get up. I squealed and made a run for it but didn’t get far before he dropped a pile of debris on my head. I turned around to retaliate and ran right into his chest. He stumbled back, and I held on instinctively thinking I could keep him from falling. His foot hit a jutting branch, and he fell back. I fell, too, landing directly on top of him.

“Ouch,” he said.

I didn’t move off of him. Our faces were only inches apart. “Thanks for cushioning my fall,” I said quietly. The rambunctious banter had been replaced by something much more subtle.

“Anytime, Lo.” He reached up and pushed a strand of hair off my face. The warmth of his fingertips stayed on my skin after he pulled his hand away.

“Jack,” I said softly. The thought of a kiss lingered heavily in the air above us.

“Ava,” he replied.

Everything about the moment seemed right and entirely wrong. I shook my head and scrambled off him. “No, no, this is silly. This can’t happen.”

I stood up. Jack, on the other hand, crossed his legs at his ankles and crossed his arms behind his head. “That’s your opinion.”

“Seriously, you think something can happen between us? After our history and our present and, I’m sure, our future, you think—” I pointed to him and then back to myself. “Never. It’s ridiculous.”

“Why is that?” He looked annoyingly relaxed, stretched out in front of me.

“First of all, you said it yourself. Brimley would frown upon us—you know—even more than us being adversaries. Secondly?—”

“Yes, waiting for the second thing.”

“Well, you irritate me, that’s what. Just watching you lying there all flippant and arrogant while I’m having a minor meltdown—it’s irritating. I much prefer you high-strung, always looking for the negative side. Far less irritating.” I knew the words were wholly untrue even as I said them.

“I don’t know. I’m thinking about leaving that guy behind for good. Far too little time on earth to spend it filled with anger. And, of course, knowing this side of me is even more annoying to you—sort of makes the whole thing more of a win.”

“See. And that’s it in a nutshell. You look for ways to annoy me, and frankly, I don’t need that in my life. I have a younger sister, and she fulfills that duty just fine. Now, I’m going to take the breadfruit back to camp. You may lie there until you grow fungi or the ants carry you off, whichever you prefer.”

I picked up the breadfruit and marched past him. “Thank you for getting these down,” I said grumpily.

“My pleasure, Lo.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

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