Chapter 6
Six
“I’m out.” Nimue laid her final card with a flourish, the paper slapping against the table.
Meg stared at the ridiculous number of points still in her hand, the cards fanning out uselessly.
What could she say? Her mind just wasn’t on the game—kept drifting to the window in the community room of the Ranger Roost—the park service trying to put a positive spin on staff housing.
Her mind was on everything except strategy.
They had been playing cards for a couple hours, basically since Teague and Liam hit the trail again. The rain had thickened into a relentless downpour that battered the lounge windows, water streaming down the glass in rivulets.
At least Noah was still asleep over in his cabin. She didn’t have to worry about him. Didn’t have to face him.
Nimue shuffled the deck, the cards making that satisfying riffle sound, as Eden picked up her phone from the table. The screen glowed in the dim lounge. “According to the satellite, the storm’s going to get worse. Trails will be a mess.”
“I wish they’d get back already.” Nimue’s voice was tight as she lifted her own phone, thumb scrolling through updates, weather reports, emergency notifications.
“They’ll be fine.” Eden’s hand landed on Nimue’s arm, fingers squeezing gently. But Meg didn’t miss the way her body tensed, seemed to betray her words.
Nimue leaned back in her chair, the wood creaking.
A half-empty water bottle dangled from her fingers, plastic crinkling.
But her casual pose didn’t hide her tension, the way her knee bounced under the table.
“I’ve been on the trail with Liam in a storm.
I know he can handle it. It’s just…” Her eyes fixed on the rain-streaked window.
She didn’t have to finish. Meg and Eden knew.
Mudslides. Washouts. Zero visibility. Even the best-trained couldn’t prepare for everything nature threw at them.
They had to talk about something else before they all went mad with worry.
Meg picked up her cards that Nimue just dealt. “I aced both interviews for the research job. They want me to start August first.”
Eden’s eyebrows shot up, disappearing under her blonde wispy bangs. “August first? I thought you were going to finish the season.”
“That was the plan, but the grant has unmovable dates, and if I’m going to do this—”
“If? I thought it was a done deal.” Eden eyed her over her cards, pale-blue eyes sharp. “Are you having doubts?”
Yes.
“No. It’s…it will be great. No caves. No emergencies. Just a lab. Data. Control.” The words felt hollow even as she spoke them, like reading from a script she didn’t believe.
But leaving meant escaping the panic. The trauma. The cave’s ghosts haunting her dreams. That was what she wanted. Needed.
She swallowed, throat clicking.
It also meant losing the team of friends, these women who’d become like sisters. The joy she found in the park, in the red rocks and vast sky.
It meant leaving Noah.
The other two exchanged a look—one of those silent conversations women had. Then both offered her a forced smile, the kind that didn’t reach their eyes.
Nimue laid down her next card. “Wow. Pennsylvania. That’s huge. What does Noah think of it?”
Meg hesitated, her fingers tracing the edge of a card. “We haven’t talked about it.”
The two exchanged another look, more pointed this time, Nimue’s golden-brown eyes widening.
“Like you haven’t talked about what it means, or he doesn’t even know you interviewed?”
The tone implied that she was betraying him. But he was the one who put up the Great Wall of China between them, brick by brick.
She drew a card from the deck and discarded another. “It hasn’t come up.”
“You need to talk to him.” Eden took her turn but locked eyes with Meg. “I mean, you two have been dancing around each other for two years. I thought you were destined for each other.”
Yeah, her too.
“Maybe you need to just walk up to him and kiss him and wake him up.” Nimue’s low laughter filled the room, warm and teasing. “Liam’s kiss woke me up.”
“If the kiss we shared in the canyon didn’t do it, I’m not sure more will help.” Meg’s frustration bled into her words as she slammed her next card on the discard pile with more force than necessary. “But after, he made it clear that it wasn’t—no, couldn’t—happen. So it doesn’t matter.”
Both of her friends seemed frozen in time, cards suspended in midair. Wide eyes taking in Meg’s words.
Finally Eden blinked at her. “You kissed? Like a quick kiss or—”
“Or a full kiss that you feel through your body, that curls your toes and leaves you thinking of nothing else for days. Yup. That. It did, in fact, not wake him up.” Meg drew another card, not looking at either of them.
“What about you and Teague, Eden? You’re not exactly subtle with those looks you give him. ”
Eden laughed, the sound a bit too bright.
She spun a pen on the table, the plastic clicking softly against wood.
“Teague? He’s a walking ego with a nice smile.
I’m not losing sleep over him.” She paused, twirling the pen between her fingers, her grin fading.
“So are you going to Pennsylvania because you’re running toward the job or because you’re running away from how you feel about Noah? ”
Meg’s gaze dropped to her cards, the numbers and suits blurring. The storm’s roar drowned her thoughts, thunder rumbling through the building’s frame.
Why did people keep saying that?
Leaving was logical. If she was running from anything, it would be from moments like she’d had in the cave—the panic, the helplessness. Only no one but Noah knew about that.
Was getting away from Noah a bonus?
She gripped the table’s edge, knuckles whitening. “It’s time. I can’t keep doing this. Maybe part of me is tired of waiting for him to wake up. But I’m also tired of waiting for the next disaster. The next call. I’m moving to Pennsylvania in two weeks. End of story.”
“You’re what?” Noah’s voice cut through the room. Low. Rough. Like gravel.
Meg spun in her chair, cards scattering. Her heart lurched, dropping into her stomach.
Noah stood in the doorway. He looked healthier now. His color had returned—no longer that gray pallor. His posture was steady, though he still wore the gray sweats he’d slept in. His hair was tousled but dry, sticking up in places. His eyes were clear, bright, and focused.
His eyes locked on hers. Raw with hurt and shock. His hand gripped the doorframe.
Her throat tightened. But she held his gaze, refusing to look away. “I’m taking a research job in Pennsylvania. It starts in two weeks.”
The air crackled with tension. Eden and Nimue exchanged glances—wide-eyed, uncomfortable. Then stood with awkward scraping of chairs and made their way out to the kitchenette, shoes soft on the carpet.
Noah’s jaw tightened, the muscle jumping beneath skin, his silence louder than the thunder rolling outside. His clear eyes burned into hers. “You can’t leave in two weeks. You committed through August. The park needs you.”
Seriously? That was all he had to say? The park needed her? Not him? Not I need you?
And another four weeks would make any difference?
She crossed her arms in front of her. “I’ve talked to Virgil, and I agreed not to leave him in the lurch. He’s posted the position and will start interviewing come Monday. The park will be just fine.”
Something seemed to shutter in his eyes. He stared out the window for a moment, watching rain sheet down the glass. “I guess you have it all figured out.”
The silence hung heavy in the room. Then she took a half step toward him. “Is there another reason I should stay?”
He blinked at her, mouth opening slightly. But before he could respond, the door swung open with a rush of cold air and the smell of wet earth.
Teague and Liam walked in. Water dripped and pooled on the floor. Mud was splattered up to their knees. They both dropped their packs by the door with heavy thuds and stayed on the industrial rug by the entryway.
“The rumors of our demise were greatly exaggerated.” Teague kicked off his boots, mud dropping off, and shed his coat.
Then he looked at Noah, taking in his appearance.
“The good news is, we were able to get to the cave and rope off the entrance. It’s nothing permanent but hopefully enough to dissuade most hikers from getting curious. ”
When Noah didn’t respond, just stared blankly, Teague’s voice rose to a falsetto. “Wow, Teague and Liam, you are amazing. I’m so glad I hired you.”
Noah seemed to shake himself back to the moment. Rolled his eyes. “You are amazing, but never make me sound like that again. I’m feeling better, so let’s meet in the morning and discuss trail cleanup. And we can talk about going back to the cave to give it a more permanent seal.”
“I can go with you when you do go back and look for the chest.” Meg took a step toward them, chin raised.
“You don’t need to go.” Noah’s words were clipped, dismissive.
Not this again.
But she didn’t have to fight him this time. Liam spoke up. “If the weather is good, we could use her. She could take us right to where she thought she saw it. It would speed the whole process.”
Noah stared at Liam for a moment—jaw working—before he nodded curtly and turned away, back rigid. “We’ll let you know.”
She couldn’t help but feel that her announcement had broken something in him, shattered whatever fragile thing he’d been holding. But shouldn’t he be glad? He had been the one to say they needed to keep their distance, to build those walls.
She was just giving him a country’s worth of distance.
Across the continent.
Away from her forever.