Page 80 of 15 Summers Later

She hated people coddling her, treating her as if she were incapable of anything she set her mind to. He knew he was guilty of the same thing, of wanting to protect her. Sometimes he couldn’t help treating her like a fragile flower that would bend and break at the first sign of a breeze.

“She’s tougher than she looks,” he said, a reminder to himself as well.

Madi sent him a swift look of shocked gratitude. “That’s right,” she said. “I am.”

“I know she’s tough,” Ava said impatiently. “My sister the superhero, who can leap tall buildings in a single bound, blah blah blah. But now that you’re here, she doesn’t have to go down there, right? You can do it.”

He almost agreed with her, but somehow sensed Madi wanted to do this, if only to prove to herself that she could.

“I should stay up here while she belays down so I can help pull her and the dog back out. I would be too heavy for you to pull up if something went wrong. It should be one of you two. Unless you want to go down, I guess that leaves Madi.”

“What about her leg? And her hand?”

“I have full use of both,” Madi said sharply.

Ava still looked worried for her sister. Luke didn’t blame her. He was worried, too. But he also trusted that she knew what she was doing. He also remembered that she occasionally went to the climbing wall in Sun Valley with Nicki and whatever guys they were currently dating.

If he hadn’t been here, how she had intended to climb out of the hole by herself, with only Ava to help, he had no idea.

He attached the pulley and winch to a sturdy tree limb over the opening, then helped her fashion the rope into a makeshift harness, up through her legs and around her waist, trying his best to ignore her softness and her strawberry scent that teased him.

“You sure you’re ready for this?”

She nodded, smiling with a confidence in him he found deeply humbling.

“Sure. You’re here. You’ve got my back.”

“Always,” he murmured.

She blinked, as if not sure whether she heard him or not, then she lowered into the mine shaft. He held on to the rope, giving her enough lead to rappel down into the hole, which he judged to be about a dozen feet deep.

The entire way down, she spoke softly to the dog. “You’re almost out. There’s a good boy. Almost there.”

He felt the tension on the rope ease when she hit solid dirt.

“Okay,” she called. “I’m down.”

He and Ava both aimed flashlights down into the pit. Together with the light from Madi’s headlamp, they were able to see her approach the dog with some caution. Smart. A cornered, injured dog could lash out, even at someone trying to help. This one was too tired to do more than wag a tail.

“You’re probably thirsty, aren’t you? Look. I brought you some water. I don’t have a bowl but I can do my best.”

He watched her pour some water into her hand. The dog lapped at it and she repeated the process three more times.

She released the rope anchoring her to them. “Can you lower the crate now?” she called softly.

He anchored four corners of the crate with the remaining rope, then slowly lowered it down into the pit. In the beam from the flashlight, he watched as she coaxed the dog into the crate with several treats.

“Okay. He’s good,” she called back up the hole. “He seems to have injured his back paw, maybe when he fell, but you’ll have to take a closer look when you get him out.”

The corgi mix, still close to Ava, barked encouragement as Luke used the pulley to haul up the dog.

As soon as the crate was out of the mine shaft and on solid ground, Luke opened the door and the border collie limped out of the crate. The other dog immediately rushed to him, tail wagging a furious greeting.

Luke quickly ran his hands over the dog, even more matted and covered with burrs than the corgi, probably because his fur was longer.

“How is he?” Madi called.

“He’ll be okay. We’ll take him back to the clinic and clean him up and take a look at his leg. I don’t think anything is broken.”

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