Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots(38)
Author: Abby McDonald

Almost.

“All set?”

I called to invite him, but Reeve’s arrival still catches me off guard. He slams his truck door and walks over, a water bottle still dripping in his hand. I try very hard not to notice the way his soft blue T-shirt brings out his eyes or how he’s slung his pack diagonally across his chest so it stretches the fabric taut and —

“Yup!” I exclaim brightly, hoping my sunglasses hide my expression. “I think we’re just waiting for Ethan.” I glance around. Fiona is dressed in a cute red top for a change, her hair actually brushed, while Grady loiters a few feet from her, spinning his baseball cap on his fingertips. He looks up.

“Didn’t he tell you? He has to watch the store today. Our parents are out of town for the weekend.”

“Guess you drew the short straw,” Fiona says, like it’s a question.

Grady shrugs, looking awkward. “I guess.”

“OK then!” I say brightly. “Let’s get going!”

We set out on foot along road that winds up out of town. Grady assured me it was a half-day hike at most, but I’m not so sure: the peak of Mount Jacobs rises from the valley, blanketed by the same thick forest that stretches all the way down to the lake. It looks pretty far to me.

“Hey.” Reeve falls into step beside me, Fiona and Grady lingering behind.

“Hi,” I say. Eloquent, I know, but it seems like Reeve is feeling just as talkative. We fall into a companionable silence for a while, walking in the shadows of the forest, with sunlight falling through the tall pine trees. The air is hot and close, and soon I peel off my cardigan, tying it around my waist.

“I hope it doesn’t storm later.” Reeve looks up at the clear, blue sky. I laugh.

“Seriously? It hasn’t rained all week.”

“Exactly.” He gives me that half smile of his, the one that only curls his lips at the edges. The one that makes me shiver. “They can creep up on you.”

“Oh . . .” I fall silent again, unable to think of a single interesting thing to say. I stifle a sigh instead. It didn’t used to be like this, I know: I was getting comfortable around him, just hanging out like I do with Ethan. But now? Even mustering a basic sentence seems fraught with peril.

“So, uh, how are things with the B and B? It was looking good today.”

“Yes!” I quickly fill him in with the good news about the booking. “That reminds me . . .” I pull out my camera and take a few shots of the surrounding forest. And then I casually snap some of Reeve, too. I need to give Olivia as much visual evidence as possible when I talk about him, I figure. If I ever get her on the phone, that is.

Reeve puts his hands in his pockets and looks away awkwardly, but once I tuck the camera away, he glances at me again. “I wouldn’t have thought you’d be into helping out with the tourism project,” he says casually, kicking a rock along the road. “I mean, isn’t that what you’re against?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, tourists damaging the perfect, natural wilderness,” he says. “All those cars, with their bad, bad gas fumes . . .”

“Hey!” I get that he’s teasing me.

“What? That’s your thing, right — environmentalism?”

I shrug, snatching a leaf from a branch as I pass. I begin to tear it into strips. “Well, yes, but not when you put it like that.”

“So how would you put it?” Reeve’s tone is still light, but I get the feeling there’s more under the question than he’s letting on.

I carefully consider my reply. This was a touchy subject with us from the start, and if this is some kind of test, I desperately want to pass it.

“I don’t see anything wrong with letting people know how beautiful it is here, and we’re doing things to be eco-friendly, like recycling.” My big ideas for expensive renovations may have been unrealistic, but there have been plenty of small things to keep the impact low. “I mean, the B and B gets guests, there’s more trade in town — everyone wins. Although, I’d prefer it if they didn’t drive cross-country in a huge SUV,” I can’t help from adding.

He chuckles, and I slowly let out a sigh of relief.

Soon, we veer off-road, into the forest at the base of the mountain. The terrain is too steep to just hike straight up, so we follow a broad zigzag of a trail, walking diagonally across the width of the peak before crossing back, a little higher every pass. By the time we stop for a rest about halfway up, my thighs are aching and I’m sweating hard.

“Just a large hill?” I tell Fiona, taking a gulp of juice.

Somehow, she’s barely out of breath. “Suck it up.”

“Nice.” I pause, walking to the edge of the clearing. The valley stretches as far as I can see, Stillwater nothing but a small collection of tiny buildings and the thin thread of Main Street snaking out toward the wider ribbon of highway. I feel very small.

“That’s Blue Ridge up there.” Reeve points at a collection of faux-log buildings, looming over the top of a far ridge. “They built a whole new road off the highway, just to get construction materials up there.”

I carefully lift the video camera from my pack and slowly pan out, away from the ugly resort. Wispy clouds are drifting across the sky, and I swear, the air feels even crisper up here. “Act nice for the camera, Fiona!” I turn to her, but she covers her face with her hands.

“Don’t point that thing at me!” She backs away. “I told you: I don’t want — argh!” She lets out a sudden cry as she trips and tumbles heavily to the ground.

23

“Graceful!” I giggle at her mishap, but she doesn’t get up. Instead, Fiona stays folded on the ground, nursing her ankle.

“Thanks a lot, I bet it’s broken.”

“Oh, no, really?” I lower the camera and start to move toward her, but Grady gets there first.

“Does this hurt?” he asks, crouching down by her and pressing around the edge of her sneaker.

“No, it doesn — OWW!” Fiona cries out. “God, are you all trying to kill me?”

“It’s not broken,” he reports. “Maybe just bruised, or a sprain?”

“Just? It hurts like hell!”

“Uh, yeah. Sorry.”

Reeve looks at her, concerned. “What do you want to do? Wait here a while until it feels better?”

“We can rest as long as you need to.” I put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Fiona shakes it off and presses her foot back to the ground, testing the weight for a split second. Then she sighs dramatically.