Chapter 18 #2
Noah wrapped the towel around my shoulders. Water dripped from his dark hair, and his wet shirt clung to his chest in a way that made my mouth go dry despite my river-drinking experience.
I looked down at my pruned fingers to distract myself, still trembling from the wet and the cold. “Maybe for the rest of our authentic Colorado adventure series we should stick to things that are less adventurous,” I said. “Like basket weaving. Or extreme napping.”
Just as I was warming up, Yeti trotted over and gave an enthusiastic full-body shake, spraying a fresh wave of river water and wet dog smell.
“Good girl.” Noah patted her head like he had trained the beast to do it on purpose.
“Jenn’s on her way,” Diego called out, pulling the tandem further up the bank. “We’ll drop off the kayaks and then she’ll take you back to the resort.”
Part of me was desperate to get back to civilization.
Take a long hot shower, savor a ten-course meal at the resort’s gourmet restaurant, then book one of every deluxe massage package down at the spa.
And then for the rest of my assignment, maybe Victoria wouldn’t notice if I just lay in bed posting stock photos of mountains with inspirational quotes.
But then another part of me didn’t want to leave. I was cold. I was wet. I was shivering. But I was also surrounded by beautiful mountains. Standing under a brilliant blue sky. Breathing in the fresh air from the trees. And despite almost dying, I felt alive … fulfilled.
Noah had nothing to do with it, of course.
Nothing.
Not a thing.
A cloud of dust announced Jenn’s arrival in an ancient pickup truck, which rattled over the dirt road like it was Noah’s Jeep’s twin. She hopped out, keys jangling against her belt.
“Ready to load up?” She stopped short, eyes darting between my bedraggled state, Noah’s protective hovering, and Diego’s barely concealed grin. “What the hell happened?”
“Sam had an impromptu swimming lesson,” Diego said, throwing the oars into the bed of the truck.
“I hit a rock.” I tried to sound nonchalant despite my chattering teeth. “Or maybe the rock hit me. The details are fuzzy.”
“And then Noah fished her out,” Diego added, exchanging the same look with Jenn they’d had when I told them Noah baked muffins. Maybe the Adventure Center staff developed their own secret language of significant glances.
“Don’t sweat it, Sam,” said Jenn, patting my shoulder.
“Water was way too cold for any sweating,” I reassured her.
“Sometimes the river’s got to humble you before it can teach you anything worth knowing.” She turned to Diego. “Come on, let’s get the trailer. These boats won’t load themselves.”
They climbed into the truck, leaving me alone with Noah. The silence stretched between us, broken only by another Yeti shake that sprayed cold droplets in a twenty-foot radius.
“Thank you,” I said. “For pulling me out.”
“I’m trying to save the Adventure Center, not kill it. Drownings are bad for business.”
“Yeah. Those rarely make the brochure.”
“You might want to delete all that.” Noah handed me back my phone, still dripping from its waterproof plastic bag.
“Oh, trust me, I’m deleting every second.” I swiped the screen open, ready to erase any evidence of my river humiliation. The camera app showed the latest recordings, and my stomach dropped. “Oh no. No, no, no.”
Noah raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“You left it live streaming.” My voice came out as a gasp.
“Live streaming? What’s live streaming? All I did was press that red button and point.”
“The whole time. Everything.” I scrolled through my notifications, watching the numbers climb higher than any of my previous posts in weeks. “Two hundred thousand views. And climbing.”
“That’s ... good?” Noah’s brow furrowed, creating little lines between his eyebrows.
“No, that’s terrible. Thousands of people just watched me fail spectacularly at the exact thing I’m trying to promote!”
“It was pretty spectacular.”
“This isn’t funny.”
“Kinda funny.”
“NOT. FUNNY.”
“Then you need to watch it again.”
“I can’t believe this.” I buried my face in the towel. “LuxeLife hired me to make their resort look luxurious, not recreate America’s Funniest Home Videos, Wilderness Edition.”
Meanwhile, the comments kept rolling in.
@MountainMomma84: “OMG I’m dying!! Most authentic travel content I’ve seen in YEARS! That tour guide can rescue me from ANY DAY ”
@AdventureJunkie: “You totally face-planted and GOT BACK UP! Real influencers show the messy parts too. Who is Mountain Man and does he have Instagram? Asking for a friend ”
@TravelBloggerBecca: “Girl your SCREAM when you hit that rapid I just woke up my boyfriend laughing so hard! But that rescue was super impressive. More REAL content like this please! ”
Noah pointed at my screen. “They seem to like it.”
“They seem to like you.”
“What’s not to like?” A smug grin crossed his face.
“Where should I start?”
“You said Victoria wanted authentic, right?”
“Authentically disastrous.” I groaned as notifications kept popping.
“Well, look on the bright side,” said Noah. “You can always redeem yourself tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” My head snapped up from the avalanche of comments, a drip of water rolling off my nose. “What’s tomorrow?”
“You’ll see.” Noah gave me a reassuring wink. Which, for the record, was not at all reassuring.