Page 46 of Into the Mountains
“They can sleep in the woods, sunshine,” Hudson says.
The shuffling of leaves from our footsteps must be loud enough for them to hear now because they all turn their heads in our direction.
“We were just going to send out a search party to look for you two.” Sky’s sarcasm ebbs as she sees the state of us and who we are walking with. The others realize it at the same time, their faces changing from exasperation to concern.
Avery is the first to move toward us and she goes to Charlotte first, eyes studying her and our wet clothes. Then to the two additions to our group, one holding a bottle of top shelf whiskey and the other holding ingredients for s’mores.
“Hey there, gang,” Cordie says, lifting up her bottle to them. “Brought some goodies.”
“And saved your friends over here,” Fran nods our way as she walks over to the fire and hands Jacob the bag she was carrying.
“Saved them?”
“Helped us, really. She’s being dramatic,” I try to correct, but Fran turns around and gives me a look that says without them, we would have been stranded in the woods forever with no chance in hell of surviving. “But we wouldn’t have made it back without Fran and Cordie, of course,” I add on with too much emphasis that the ladies roll their eyes at me.
Avery loops her arm through Charlotte’s and tugs her to one of the chairs next to her. There’s a part of me that wants her to look back, acknowledge what happened between us, but she just squares her shoulders and straightens her spine, leaning into her friend. The shiver that runs through my bones reminds me of my soaked through clothes and how uncomfortable I actually am. I find my bag I threw haphazardly in my tent earlier and dig out a pair of black sweatpants and an old gray hoodie from high school. I'm surprised it still fits me. Then again, it’s oversized and I have been trying to work with Hudson and Jacob at the local gym when I can. The front desk employee, Jackie, keeps trying to hit on me every time we go. I just chalk it up to the fact that I’m the only single one in our group and if I wasn’t, she’d be trying to flirt with the other two first. Once I’m in dry clothesagain and my wet ones are hung up on a nearby branch I make my way back to the fire.
Charlotte’s laugh pierces the air at something Avery said and suddenly, the place by my side feels cold and empty. I ignore the pull I feel to go to the chair next to her to feel warm again and instead sit on the open spot on the ground next to Sky.
Fran starts passing around plastic cups with Cordie trailing behind her, pouring shots of whiskey. They weren’t kidding.
“What are you two doing here anyway?”
When Fran hands me a cup, she’s close enough for me to see that her eyes are glossy with tears. “Well,” she starts as Cordie pours my drink.
“We take this same trip every year.”
“Neither one of us ever had kids. Henry and I never could as you know.”
“And Chester and I knew early on in our relationship that kids were never in our future,” Cordie explains.
“The four of us would come out here every year on a friend’s trip. Our other friends would join us some years, but once they all started having kids, it was harder for them to keep coming,” Fran continues as she sits in the empty chair next to Charlotte.
“So, after our husbands passed, we decided to keep the tradition alive. A trip to honor our guys. Just us girls. Just because we’re old doesn’t mean we can’t adventure like we used to,” Cordie chuckles.
“That’s really great you still do this,” Avery says, her own tears shining in her eyes now.
Cordie and Fran raise the cups and the rest of the group follows suit. “To Henry and Chester.”
“The best husbands,” says Cordie.
“To Henry and Chester,” we echo.
“And the best lovers,” says Fran. Half of us choke on our drinks, while Charlotte is the one who takes Fran’s comment instride. “I’ll drink to that,” she says as she tips her head back and swallows the liquid in one go. Throat suddenly dry, I take a sip of mine and let the warmth settle into my chest.
“So, how exactly did you run into Charlotte and Elias?” Hudson asks and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say he’s digging for something more than the answer to his question.
“We saw these two…talking as we were canoeing and then they washed up by our camp.” Cordie ignores the shocked looks on everyone’s faces and pours herself another shot, passing the bottle to Fran’s open hand.
“You were in the river?”
“Not on purpose,” I answer Sky. “Well, a little on purpose. It was her fault,” I nod toward Charlie.
Her jaw drops immediately. “You started it!”
“You’re the one who decided we were racing.” I can’t help but chuckle. Even when we are getting along, we can’t resist bickering.
“You what?” Sky asks in a deadpanned voice and I can’t tell if she’s annoyed or unsurprised.
