Page 11 of Owen

It was awkward, but I needed to make it work. I couldn’t have explained why it was so important to me if I tried all night. It just was.

Besides, it probably wasn’t the best idea to let a complete stranger carry me. I didn’t know what his story was or whether he was going to try to get handsy.

“What do you do to work out?” I asked as I hopped along.

It was not easy. In fact, I was starting to get winded thanks to my pack, which added a good twenty pounds and made hopping infinitely more treacherous. Every hop sent the darn thing smacking into my back.

“I lift weights.”

I glanced his way. “Like… how? I’m just curious because it feels like my arm’s wrapped around a bowling ball.”

He snickered. “You somehow manage to make that sound like an insult.”

“Believe me, it isn’t.” I was so glad there was no light to see by, because my cheeks burned like they had just burst into flames. “More like I’m questioning what I’m doing with my life, because you’re crushing it at the gym.”

“Do you work out, then?”

“Not as much as I’d like to. Just like I don’t get outside as much as I want. Work, you know.”

“Yes, I know.”

“But like I said before, I’ve been outdoors most of my life. My dad was an avid hiker and mountain climber. My mom, too. I’m not huge with climbing, but I can hike all day.”

“And they obviously taught you how to take care of yourself. You made it through the storm all right.”

It was slow going, one hop after another. I was starting to wish I had accepted his offer and let him carry me, since we’d already be at the cave by now and I would be hanging out in front of an actual fire that somebody actually had the ability to build. Instead, my pride had gotten in the way. As usual.

“I did, somehow. I won’t lie. There were one or two times when I wasn’t so sure. Sometimes, the trees swayed so hard I was sure they would come down right in front of the cave, and I’d be blocked in. Can you imagine?” I shivered a little. What a nightmare that would be.

“What do you do for a living?” he asked. “You said work keeps you away from all the hiking and exercise you’d like to get.” I had to give it to him: he was patient, letting me take all the time I needed to hop along. And he listened when I spoke. I started feeling bad for giving him so much grief. He wasn’t a bad guy. He had already done much more than he needed to, that was for sure.

“I study archeology. A graduate program.”

“That sounds fascinating.”

“I think so. I mean, I chose to work in it for the rest of my life. My dad had a bunch of old artifacts passed down through his family for, like, centuries. I think they sparked my interest in history.”

“I have a bit of an interest in it, myself,” he confided.

“Wow. Beauty, brawn, and brains. Any particular era?”

He shrugged. “Ancient Scottish history, in particular. I’ve always felt an affinity toward it.”

We reached the fire. It was bliss, the warmth coming toward me in waves. Until he steered me past it and into the little cave where I had already spent endless, frightened hours. My breath came in a hitching gasp when I looked inside, though, and I hadn’t expected it to.

I stopped. I couldn’t move another inch.

“What is it?” he asked, trying to move me deeper inside the cave. It wasn’t working. Not even he could budge me from that spot when I really and truly had no intention of moving.

“I… I can’t,” I managed to whisper as my throat closed up. “Can’t do it.”

“Can’t do what? Go inside?”

My head bobbed up and down.

“Why not? There’s nothing in there that will harm you. I’ve made sure of it. You shall be safe and warm inside.”

Yet when he tried to pull me along, I shook my head as hard as I had just nodded it.

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