Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
EVIE
By the time I finished breakfast the next morning, Tavian had already appeared twice at the edge of the station trail.
The first time, I caught a flash of deep bronze skin between two trees while I was cleaning a lens at the outdoor table.
He disappeared before I could get a proper look at him, leaving behind only the faintest trace of citrus leaves and warm wood carried toward the station on the humid morning air.
The second time, he leaned just far enough around the trunk of a broad tree to make direct eye contact with me, flashed a grin when he realized I had caught him, and vanished again.
Unfortunately for both of us, Mara noticed that one.
“You have a very large problem in the trees,” Mara observed from the opposite side of the table, pausing with her coffee halfway to her mouth as she stared toward the section of trail where Tavian had disappeared.
The overhead fan barely disturbed the heavy morning air beneath the station roof, and somewhere beyond the screens a cicada started up loudly enough to compete with the generator.
“Monkey?” I asked Mara innocently as I worked a faint smudge from the glass, deliberately keeping my attention on the lens in my hands rather than the trees.
“Too big,” Mara answered, lowering her mug while she continued studying the trail as though whatever she had seen might make the mistake of showing itself again.
“Sloth?” I offered Mara as I turned the lens beneath the morning light to make sure the glass was finally clean.
“Too fast,” Mara replied, turning back toward me with one eyebrow raised. She knew I was enjoying this far more than I should have been.
“Then I’m out of ideas.” I capped the lens and reached for the next one, refusing to acknowledge the grin threatening at the corner of my mouth.
“Whatever it is, it has terrible hiding skills,” Mara decided after another glance toward the trees, taking a slow drink of coffee just as a muffled laugh came from somewhere beyond the first line of vegetation.
I closed my eyes briefly because Tavian apparently had absolutely no interest in helping me maintain the lie. When I opened them again, Mara had turned fully toward me, waiting to see how long I intended to keep pretending nothing strange was happening.
“What?” I asked Mara as innocently as possible, keeping both hands busy arranging spare batteries in their padded compartment.
“Nothing.” Mara lifted her coffee again, but the long look she gave me made it perfectly clear she believed none of this.
She took another drink, frowned into the empty mug, then pushed herself up from the chair with a quiet sigh.
“I need more coffee before I deal with either you or your unusually large sloth.”
“That sounds wise.” I told Mara as she collected the field log from the corner of the table and headed toward the station building, biting the inside of my cheek when another faint rustle came from the direction where Tavian had disappeared.
The screen door had barely shut behind Mara before Tavian appeared again.
This time he stepped only as far as the edge of the clearing instead of coming anywhere near the station itself.
His nearly black hair was messier than usual, warmer reddish tones catching wherever the morning light filtered through the canopy, and he wore lightweight field pants, a faded dark shirt, and sturdy trail shoes.
A small, worn field pack hung from one shoulder, which immediately made me suspicious that he had been planning something longer than lurking in the trees to annoy me.
“You have terrible timing,” I told Tavian quietly as I checked the doorway behind Mara before turning back toward him, keeping my voice low enough that it wouldn’t carry through the open station windows.
“I waited until she left.” Tavian gestured toward the building with one hand, looking far too pleased with himself for someone who had accomplished the bare minimum required to remain unseen.
“That is not the impressive defense you think it is.” I slipped a spare battery into my camera bag and pressed it securely into its padded slot while Tavian’s grin widened beneath the shade of the trees.
“You’re going out.” Tavian nodded toward my equipment, his amber eyes traveling over my boots, radio, and packed camera bag before returning to me.
“That is generally what the boots, radio, camera, and enough supplies to keep me alive for the day mean.” I zipped the padded compartment closed and checked the rest of my gear while I spoke.
My lunch was packed beneath the spare cloths, two water bottles sat in their usual side pockets, and the medical pouch at my belt held my blockers and emergency heat medication.
The locator was secured in an outer pocket where I could reach it quickly, and I had enough batteries and empty memory cards that running out of either would require an exceptionally productive day.
“Good. I know somewhere you should go.” Tavian rocked slightly on the balls of his feet, restless energy running through him even while he kept himself beneath the cover of the trees.
“That sounds suspiciously like you deciding where I’m working today.” I glanced toward Tavian while checking that the zipper on the main camera compartment was fully closed.
“I’m suggesting.” Tavian lifted both hands in defense, although the grin he failed to hide made the claim less convincing.
“There’s a waterfall northwest of the eastern fork.
Big pool underneath it, open bank on one side, trees all around the other.
Monkeys use it. Birds too. Reptiles like the rocks when the sun reaches them. ”
That got my attention. I paused with one hand resting on the top of my camera bag before reaching for the folded map tucked beneath my equipment.
“How far from the fork?” I asked Tavian as I opened the map and smoothed it over the table, shifting enough that I could keep one eye on the station door while he leaned forward from the edge of the clearing.
“About an hour and a half for you if you’re actually walking.” Tavian came a little closer but remained beneath the trees, bending enough to see the map without stepping into the open. “Longer if you stop every time something moves.”
“That is called working.” I traced the general direction northwest of the fork, comparing his description against the waterways and elevation marks already recorded on the map while the damp morning air curled the edge of the paper beneath my fingers.
“I know.” Tavian pointed toward a section of higher ground without actually touching the map, his teasing easing as he continued. “You’ll probably stop a lot. There’s good bird traffic around the pool.”
I glanced at him.
He had been paying attention. Not only to the fact that I took photographs, but to what made me stop and the kinds of places that offered several potential subjects without making me hike half the day between them. Tavian might be impulsive, but that didn’t mean he never noticed anything.
“You sound very sure I’ll like it.” I folded the map again and slid one thumb along the crease.
“I am.” Tavian answered without hesitation, giving a slight lift of his chin.
“You are way too sure of yourself.” I slipped the map back into its protective sleeve, although I was already considering the location.
A reliable water source surrounded by forest could mean birds coming down to drink, primates moving through the canopy, reptiles along exposed banks, and possibly mammals using the pool or stream.
“That sounded like a yes.” Tavian’s grin widened, his entire posture changing as though he had already won something.
“That sounded like I’m willing to look at the waterfall.” I settled my camera bag over my shoulder and adjusted the weight until it sat comfortably against my back. “If it turns out to be terrible, I’m blaming you.”
“It won’t.” Tavian assured me, folding his arms loosely across his chest as though the quality of the waterfall were personally guaranteed by him.
“You’re awfully cheerful this morning.” I tightened one of the straps on my bag while studying him. “And before you ask anything about yesterday, remember that I know where your ribs are.”
“I wasn’t going to ask anything.” Tavian pressed one hand against his chest with exaggerated innocence, his amber eyes much too bright for the performance to be convincing.
“You were absolutely going to ask something.” I narrowed my eyes at Tavian, catching the way his mouth kept threatening to curve.
“I was going to ask whether you slept well.” Tavian managed to keep his face serious for nearly two full seconds before the corner of his mouth betrayed him.
“You are exhausting before eight in the morning.” I stared at Tavian for a long moment, although the amusement tugging at my mouth probably weakened the complaint.
“You say that like it’s new information.” Tavian moved closer and reached toward my camera bag with absolutely no shame.
“No.” I shifted the bag out of his reach and gave Tavian roughly the same look I would have given a capuchin reaching for something expensive and shiny.
“No?” Tavian repeated, his eyebrows lifting while amusement brightened his face.
“You don’t automatically get the bag.” I adjusted the strap higher on my shoulder.
“I’m courting you.” Tavian reminded me, gesturing toward himself as though those three words settled the matter.
“I know.” I glanced toward Tavian, already suspicious of whatever logic he intended to build from that statement.
“I carry things.” Tavian gestured toward the camera bag again.
“I’ve noticed.” I checked the side pocket holding my spare battery without taking my attention completely off him, remembering several previous attempts to relieve me of whatever I happened to be carrying.