Page 35 of Wild Child
She leaned back on her haunches. "Yeah. There's an odd dynamic going on between them."
Odd? She had to be kidding. There was an almostferaldynamic between them. The fact that Ellie didn't have red flags waving over Kimball's vague story or concerns about the fact that Steve had no tent, no real hiking ability, and no words was more surprising than the weirdos on this trip.
But this was her gig, so my approach to this topic had to be careful.
Ellie glanced at me over her shoulder while water trickled from the stream and into the filter bag. "Steve put on a long-sleeve shirt over his sweaty one. Think I should wake him up and tell him to change?"
"He'll figure it out when he's cold from the sweaty shirt tonight."
Her frown deepened. "He doesn't have a tent, either."
"Weird, right?"
"A little."
"C'mon, Ellie." I crouched next to her so I could drop my voice even further. The strange acoustics up here were always unpredictable. Sounds bounced in weird ways and I didn't want them to risk hearing us. "I don't think this whole trip is a good idea. We need to go back."
"What?"
"I don't feel good about this."
And the last time I didn't feel good about something,I almost added,people died.
"I . . ."
The words stuck in my throat, and I wasn't sure what to really say next. Explaining my deployment ghosts, the ones she didn't know about, wasn't on the table right now. Maybe I was being too sensitive or queasy over these two weirdos, but I didn't think so. Steve might have been a quiet guy, I could accept that. But this situation was a step beyondquiet.
I just . . . I didn't know how to peg the situation down.
"There's animosity between them," I murmured, more for my own sake than hers. "For being 'friends', they sure don't speak at all, do they? And Kimball is obsessed with time, for some reason. Supposedly, they came to the mountains to relax, but Kimball seems pretty wound up. And Steve? Has this guy ever set foot on a mountain in his life? No. So why is he here? Why did he challenge Kimball about stopping? Something is wrong."
She straightened, a full bag of stream water dangling from her right hand. "People who have never climbed mountains pay for guides all the time. It'swhythey pay for guides. Argument point invalid."
"Okay, in general, I'd agree. But that guy? No. He's not at all excited about this. He's acting like he's obligated."
She scowled. "You want me to cancel my first overnight guide because their situation is weird?"
Stated that way, my case didn't sound as strong. The incredulous tone of her voice certainly didn't help, either. The more I spoke this out loud, the less certain I felt. I sat in the grass next to the stream and sighed. Unfortunately, there was a chance I was being too paranoid. That I read into comments or situations too much to help keep myself and Ellie safe.
Life back from deployment got weird in strange ways.
"I don't know," I said.
The flash of irritation in her gaze faded. She hung the unfiltered bag off the branch of a nearby tree, then looped the other bag on a nearby branch next to it. Clean water trickled into the second bag while she settled next to me.
"I can't cancel the guide unless I have a real reason to believe that they mean us harm, or that all of us aren't safe. Just because their dynamic is a bit . . . off . . . doesn't mean anything about us."
The way she saidusgave me too much of a physical thrill. I tried to ignore it, but I couldn't. There was too much hope in me to give up on us yet, even if she'd been as distant to me as Steve was to Kimball.
"You're right."
She sat next to me in the grass, close enough that our arms almost grazed each other. For a moment, I could forget Steve and Kimball. Could just stare into the trees across the stream and remember when this was our every day. When the world always seemed bright and okay because Ellie was at my side.
So, how had I not understood then?
Why did it take a fellow Marine dying in my arms for me to see what should have been blatantly obvious?
There would probably never be an answer to that question, but a dozen possibilities rotated through my mind. Maybe I hadn't been ready to recognize my feelings for Ellie. Maybe it was only after leaving that I understood what she meant to me.
