25. Grady #2
“Ugh, I’m so sweaty.” She pulls at the shirt sticking to her back.
“Yeah, you better get used to it. We’ve got plenty more to go.”
She snickers, munching down another bite of her chicken salad sandwich like it’s the best food she’s ever had.
That’s another thing I love about hiking. You appreciate the little things.
When your body’s hurting and you’ve got sweat running into your eyeballs, there’s nothing sweeter than a mouthful of plain old water.
When you’ve got nicks and bruises on your skin and your legs and back are screaming at you to stop already, there’s nothing more delicious than a homemade chicken salad sandwich. You feel like freaking royalty biting into that thing because you’ve worked so hard to get it.
Damn, I really do love this shit.
Every time I come out here, I’m reminded of what brings me to life.
Don’t get me wrong. I love being in class, filling my brain with stuff. And being out on a football field, making plays and scoring touchdowns with my team, that is golden.
But this right here… this is what I was put on the earth for.
I’m sure of it.
Which is why a part of me has been toying with the idea of switching from computer engineering to conservation engineering. Jobs in that field probably won’t pay as well, but making nature a full-time part of my life could be so amazing. I have to do whatever I can to preserve places like this.
“What are you thinking about?” Blake places her sandwich crusts back into the wrapper.
“You don’t eat your crusts?” I give her a pained frown.
“Never.”
I tut and hold out my hand. “Give ’em to me. We’re not wasting food.”
She laughs and hands them over. “Sure, Mom.”
“Can’t believe you weren’t made to eat your crusts as a kid. Come on, Wilson.”
“What?” She laughs. “The crusts are…” She wrinkles her nose.
“They’re what?” I munch through them, proving how delicious that are.
“There’s nothing on them. It’s just plain bread.” Poking out her tongue, she shows me a taste of the prissy little princess she was no doubt raised to be.
I roll my eyes, holding back my teasing insults before telling her, “I was thinking about how I want to preserve this place and make sure it stays as fresh and beautiful and clean as it is right now.”
“I love that.” She smiles at me, before looking back over her shoulder.
“And I understand why you want that. I’ve never seen anything like this before.
It’s so quiet and peaceful out here.” Inhaling a deep breath, she holds it, then lets her shoulders sag as she releases it on a long sigh.
“Just listen,” she whispers, closing her eyes and looking all things delectable.
Her hair is golden in this light, her delicate features and porcelain skin raised to the sun as her lips curl into a smile I want to memorize .
I have to force myself to look away and only just manage to before her eyes slowly open. Dipping my chin, I ball the trash in my hand and slip it into my pack.
“Here.” Throwing her the drink bottle off the side of her pack, I make her down at least five decent mouthfuls before we get to work assembling camp.
She has no idea how to pitch a tent or rig up a pack, so I walk her through each step. Thankfully, she picks things up really fast, and our little campsite is soon set up.
I’ll build a fire before it gets dark, but we’ve got a few hours before that happens.
“We’ll need to collect some kindling and firewood,” I tell her. “Might as well set the fire up, and then we can light it just before the sun goes down.”
“Sounds good.” She starts searching the ground nearby. “So, what does kindling look like?”
“Come on, I’ll show you.” I tip my head, and she follows me into the nearby forest, where I pick up examples of the kindling and wood we want for this fire.
It doesn’t take long before we’re loaded up and returning to camp.
We dump out supplies, and I show her how to build a fire, setting up the rocks and then stacking the kindling in a teepee formation.
I can’t help explaining the mechanics of how a fire works and am no doubt coming across like a mansplaining douchebag, but she doesn’t stop me and doesn’t seem to mind, soaking it all in like it’s the most fascinating thing in the world.
“You can build the next one, if you like.”
“Okay.” She grins, flashing me those straight white teeth again and chipping away another piece of my resolve. “So…” She tips back on her heels. “What do we do now?”
“Well…” I look around, checking my watch and calculating the time until sundown. “We’ve got about two and a half hours left, so we can just chill here. I brought cards and travel chess, if you want to play a game.”
Her nose wrinkles.
“Or you could read a book. You packed your Kindle, right?”
“Yeah.” She crosses her arms, tapping her fingers like she’s agitated.
“Okay, what do you want to do, then?”
“I don’t know.” Bouncing from toe to toe, she gazes down at me.
I’m still crouched by the fire, trying to figure out how to entertain this woman… in ways that I’m actually allowed to. “We could?—”
I cut myself off.
No, man. That is a terrible idea.
“We could what?” Her eyes dance with curious excitement, and because I am a world-class fool, I say it. I actually fucking say it.
“We could go swimming in the lake. There’s a rock face just around the corner we can jump off.”
Her face puckers. “Won’t it be freezing?”
“Yeah.” I bob my head. “This time of year, the water’s pretty cold, but it won’t kill us, and it’ll definitely freshen us up.” Standing tall, I brush my hands on the back of my pants, my lips twitching. “Plus… if you want a rush? Launching yourself off that rock face will probably do it for ya. ”
Her eyes light to sparkling sapphires as she nods, then spins for the tent. “I’ll go put my swimsuit on!”
Shit.
She looked at me like I was crazy when I mentioned packing a swimsuit.
She didn’t even have one and had to run into town to buy one.
I should have told her we probably wouldn’t use it, but I always pack swimwear unless it’s the middle of winter.
For a five-day hike, you have to freshen up, and I figured she wouldn’t want to be skinny-dipping with me.
Or I knew I couldn’t handle skinny-dipping with her, so I put it on the list. And now I’m closing my eyes, quietly berating myself for losing my head as I move to my hammock, digging out my bathing suit from my day bag and finding a spot behind a clump of trees to strip down and prepare myself for temptation city.
You are seriously such a fucking idiot!