Page 51 of The Rebound
I can already picture it, emerging from the tree in a blaze of triumph. I’ll give the money to Louise and then I’ll be the good sister and when she’s drowning in gratitude I’ll simply tell her that the wedding is canceled and, oh, by the way, I might be staying here a little while longer while I— “Hey!”
Luke plucks the map from my hand as Andrew blares a novelty horn that makes a child near me start to cry.
“Shouldn’t you be at the stall?” I ask as the rest of the participants run into the forest.
“Beth kicked me out,” he says, examining the clues. He looks a little more awake now, probably from the five shots of coffee he just had. “I’m not supposed to come back until I apologize to you. Apparently I’m in a mood again.”
“Well, apology accepted. You’re free to— That’s my map!”
Luke walks off without waiting for me and I’m forced to run after him, grabbing one of the small wicker baskets as I go, following him into the woods.
11
We walk in silence, surrounded by shrieking children as we follow the trail. The sun shines weakly through the trees but it rained heavily this morning and the ground is soft and muddy beneath my feet, coating the sides of my sneakers. Every few steps, I get sprinkled from droplets still lingering on the leaves and eventually I pull my hood up, as one fat one catches me on the back of my neck.
“For someone who doesn’t like me very much you’re sure doing your best to spend a lot of time with me,” I say as I dodge a chocolate-fingered toddler running away from her father.
Luke doesn’t even turn around. “I’d spend a whole day with you if I got a thousand euros at the end of it.”
“Five hundred euros.”
“Half a day then.”
I scowl as a I halfheartedly pluck a few of the prizes “hidden” around us. I leave most for the kids, even though they quickly get bored and start heading back to the clearing so they can eat what they found. It’s not the worst idea. No one else seems focused on finding the grand prize, which makes me think what Luke said to Andrew about no one winning it is true and I’m about to tell him to drop the whole thing when he suddenly veers left, heading deeper into the trees.
“Where are you going?” I ask, stopping on the edge of the path. “Do you know how to read a map?”
“Yes.”
“Then you know that this part of the forest isnot on it.”
He keeps walking and because he has all the clues, so do I. It’s not exactly Blair Witch territory. The forest isn’t that big and even from here I can hear the noise from the clearing easily. But it’s still a waste of my time.
“There are no eggs here.”
“They’re hidden,” he says. “That’s the whole point of the event.”
“You know what I mean.”
“You’re not going to find it on the trail,” he says. “No one has ever found it. I’m not even sure Andrew puts the egg in here. He just uses it to get people to take part so they can get money for next year.”
“You think he cheats?”
“I think he chooses his words carefully. But you want to find it, so we’ll try and find it. Someone came this way recently.” He points to the ground. “There’s footprints in the mud.”
“Uh, okay, Mr. Hunter Man.” I glare at his back as he keeps walking. “You better not get us lost.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
That’s what people always say before they get lost. I unwrap a miniature chocolate egg, chewing it mournfully as Luke keeps five steps ahead of me, like I’m not even there.
I’m surprised by how much it bugs me. This acting like I’m nothing to him. Like we weren’t halfway to the bedroom before he heard about Tyler. You don’t just turn off a person that easily.
Another drop of water falls, this time square on my head, and I stop beside a swollen tree trunk, done. “This is dumb. Let’s go back.”
“Abby—”
“I’m serious.”
