Chapter Fifteen
The sun’s rays hitting the tent slowly stirred Mo from her slumber, a far better alarm clock than she was used to.
Her eyes slowly opened as she took in Aspen’s tent, which was a nice, deep-sea blue with the sunlight filtering through.
The sleeping bag was an iota too warm, so she gently rolled on to her back, yawning and stretching in unison.
Birds trilled cheerily outside the tent, mixing perfectly with the lackadaisical babble of the creek.
Mo could feel the warmth of Aspen next to her, but her easy breathing let her know the woman was still fast asleep.
The urge to turn and look at her companion was overwhelming, so Mo lightly rolled to her side, finding an amusing view of Aspen’s eyebrows peeking out between her beanie and sleeping bag.
Mo stifled a laugh, instead just feeling affection spread warmly through her chest at the sight.
How did Mo’s desire for Aspen change from a simple crush to something more enticingly deep?
Her question from the previous night had taken Mo slightly off guard, but in the end she was pleased that Aspen had asked it.
Even more so because it gave her courage to ask some questions of her own.
As if Aspen could read Mo’s mind, she began to stir, emitting a rather lazy-sounding yawn from beneath her sleeping bag. Mo waited patiently, watching as she pulled the edge of her bag down below her chin and opened her eyes to meet Mo’s.
“Morning,” Mo greeted, making sure to speak softly. “I promise I haven’t been staring.”
“Good to know.” Aspen giggled slightly, her voice crackly in the morning air. “What time is it?”
“No idea,” Mo replied, enjoying how adorable Aspen looked just waking up. “Are we in a time crunch?”
“No, thankfully,” Aspen said while checking her watch that she had slipped into a pouch installed on the side of the tent. “Already nine forty-five. Ya hungry?”
“I could eat.” Mo punctuated her words with a yawn. “But that involves getting out of bed. Which, I must admit, it’s a ton more comfortable here in the tent than out there. You were right. Again.”
Aspen sported a slightly proud smile, pushing herself up to a sitting position before removing her beanie.
Mo watched curiously as she fluffed her shoulder-length hair, the highlights taking on the blue from the tent.
She then pulled it up into a lazy ponytail, yawning again as she made sure she got all the strands inside.
Aspen pulled up her sleeves before turning to Mo, her soft features pulled in slight embarrassment before she asked, “What?”
“Nothing.” Mo smiled, watching as Aspen pulled her lip in between her teeth nervously. “Just admiring you is all.”
“Okay.” Aspen turned slightly pink, looking away. She crawled out of her sleeping blanket and unzipped the tent flap, turning to put on her Crocs. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom and get breakfast started.”
“Sounds good. Do you need help?” Mo began to pull herself up into a sitting position.
“I think I should be good. I’d say just relax for a bit. I’m hoping to get us to the fork of Bridge Creek today. I was going to have you look at a few spots around there to see if any of them were to your liking.”
“Sounds…” Mo trailed off as Aspen quickly exited the tent, not waiting around for her answer. “Okay then.”
Mo removed the sleeping bag from her body, yawning as she quietly considered what she was going to do next.
Just as she began to focus, Annie crossed her mind, and she reached toward her hiking pants for the treasure.
When she grabbed at its usual pocket, Mo found nothing but the feeling of crumpled synthetic material.
Dread flowed through her body like ice water, and she frantically began searching, no idea about where it could have gone.
“Mo?” A concerned Aspen asked from outside the tent. “You good?”
“No,” was all Mo could muster, frustration growing as every treasureless moment passed. The flap reopened slightly and Mo looked up, meeting the eyes of a worried-looking Aspen. “Annie’s treasure.”
“What?”
“I can’t find Annie’s treasure,” Mo snapped loudly, picking up the pace of her hasty search. Aspen’s breath caught in her throat loud enough for Mo to hear, and she stopped moving, attempting to contain her anger. “I didn’t mean to yell at you Aspen, I—”
“S’okay,” Aspen replied. “Where did you last see it?”
“My pocket, yesterday.”
“Wait.” Aspen pulled the entire flap open, letting the breeze in. “I think I remember something falling out of your pocket yesterday and God, I’m sorry I should have told—”
“Goddammit.” Mo groaned in annoyance, moving to slide into her Crocs and join Aspen outside of the tent. “Where?”
Aspen’s face was filled with guilt, but she pointed toward the rocks near the creek. “Over there, I think? I think in the same spot you took your clothes off?”
Mo power-walked over, her head moving back and forth as she scanned the ground for it. As she darted around, she rolled her ankle slightly. “Shit!”
“Are you okay?” a tiny voice asked gingerly from beside her. Mo turned to see Aspen looking rapidly between the ground and her face, the woman’s obvious anxiety pulling painfully at Mo’s heartstrings.
It made her stop and sit, regretful that her panic had caused that kind of stress on someone else. “You can stop.”
“Huh?” Aspen asked, her voice still small.
“It’ll probably take hours to find it in all these rocks,” Mo replied, halfway smiling as she tried to convey her apology. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel like it was your fault.”
“But it’s important, right?” Aspen replied, returning to search. “If it was Annie’s, I will find it.”
Mo hummed warmly, touched that Aspen wanted to keep looking even after she had let her frustration show again. “Please come sit next to me.”
Aspen seemed to slow to return. Mo let out a defeated sigh, which seemed to call Aspen back to her side. She sat down on the ground, pulling her knees to her chest.
Mo placed a light hand on her kneecap. “I promise, even with how I acted, you weren’t the reason I lost it. And if I’m being honest, I didn’t even know what it was to begin with.”
“What do you mean?”
“It was some hiking thing…I have no idea what it was and I didn’t ask. Opal gave it to me, said it was Annie’s, and I just…” Mo huffed air out, turning to catch Aspen’s eyes. “I put too much weight in something insignificant.”
Aspen didn’t reply, instead lightly covering Mo’s hand with her own.
“And I took it out on you. Again.”
“What did it look like?” Aspen asked quietly, and Mo turned to meet her soft gaze.
“It was a little cylindrical thing with like a twisty circle on top but like to the side. Metal and wood, one side was kind of grooved? It had little leaves stamped into it. And ‘AR’ engraved, her initials, I assume.”
“Was the little twisty thing textured and like off to the side of the cylinder?” Aspen probed, her voice taking on a wave of understanding.
Mo thought about the treasure before nodding. “Yeah, I think so.”
“Sounds like a fancy ferro rod,” Aspen said, looking back toward the rocks. “They’re made to help start fires.”
A wave of affection flooded over Mo. “How do you know that?”
Aspen shrugged before standing up again. “I’ll keep looking…”
But Mo suddenly didn’t want to anymore, instead reaching up to stop Aspen. “No, no. It’s okay. I think I should let go of it.”
Aspen nodded in response, but Mo noticed the anxiety had returned to her face.
“Aspen?”
“I’ll make breakfast, then,” Aspen said quickly before moving back toward the tent, leaving Mo to sit with the regret.
* * *
Mo was back to setting the pace. They were no longer following the trail; instead, she was leading them along the rocky creek bed.
The trail was very overgrown in places, so Aspen had them wearing their Crocs today, explaining that they might need to trudge through the creek for some of the hike.
After that she had gone silent, causing Mo to wonder if she had done something to offend her.
They had been holding that silence for over an hour, and as they reached another shallow crossing, Mo decided to stop and allow Aspen to come up alongside her.
“Are you all right?” Mo asked, turning to look at Aspen.
“Yeah.” Aspen shrugged, but her eyes were clouded with what Mo could only describe as guilt.
“I am going to go out on a limb here and say you aren’t.”
“I am, I’m just…” Aspen took in a deep breath, slowly releasing the air. “I’m sorry. I guess I woke up in a mood.”
“That’s okay,” Mo assured her. “Moods are allowed. Obviously.”
“Are you okay?” Aspen asked, her voice softer than it had been all morning. “With everything?”
“With us?” Mo cocked her head. “Or Annie’s treasure?”
Aspen seemed to pull back in on herself, so Mo stepped forward before gently asking, “Can I hug you?”
“Why?”
“Just because.” Mo took another step into Aspen’s space but kept her arms at her side. “But it’s up to you.”
“Okay.” Aspen chuckled.
The tension that seemed to have built between them rapidly dwindled as Mo enveloped Aspen, sliding her arms between her pack and midback.
Aspen reacted awkwardly for a quick second before leaning into it, resting her forehead against Mo’s collarbone and gripping the side of her own pack.
They stayed locked in the warm hug for a few moments before Mo finally pulled back, looking down at Aspen with a big smile.
“Okay?”
“Actually, yeah. I’m sorry I got all weird,” Aspen replied, her eyes a bit brighter.
“No worries.” Mo nodded. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Aspen turned to look in the direction they were heading before looking back at Mo. “Not really…”
“Want to ask more questions?” Mo moved to cross the creek again. “Like the beach day?”
“Sure,” Aspen said, only taking a few seconds before continuing, “You mentioned wanting to die…”