Authors: Kelly Martin
“Yes, brother,” Sid sighed. “Are you here to spread your Christianly example?” Rachel heard him ask the boy next to him. She rolled her eyes. Why did he have to make a joke about everything?
Carly eyeballed her ex. “I can’t stand him.” She slumped in her seat, pulled her legs toward her, and picked at the lint on her dark wash jeans.
“Well, you are going to have to make peace with him for the sake of us all. It’s going to be miserable if you don’t. He’s asked for forgiveness. Don’t you think you should give it?” Rachel prayed for all of their sakes she took the advice.
Carly’s eyes bugged out like they might jump out of their sockets. “Rachel, I love you, but I don’t feel like hearing the ‘you-have-to-forgive-him-because-Jesus-forgave-you’ speech. I’ve already heard it from my dad. You are my friend and are supposed to be on my side.”
“I am,” Rachel said, trying her best not to get defensive. “But being mad at Sid isn’t going to do any good. He messed up. Sure, yeah, it was a major mess-up, but still. Time to move on, don’t you think?”
“Major? I caught him kissing that blonde bimbo, Easy Emily,” Carly reminded her as if she could ever forget. She talked about ‘Easy Emily’ every chance she got. “I’m sorry, but it’s going to take a while for me to get over that.”
Carly laid her head back on the seat and stared in Sid’s direction. Rachel had no idea how to help her friend. Her experience with boys consisted of seeing them at school and at church. Dates had to be mom approved, not that anyone had ever asked.
“And why did he bring Asher Jenkins, anyway?” Carly asked, still eyeballing him. “It’s not like he even goes to our church.”
Rachel shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe just to be nice?”
“Ha,” Carly laughed. “Sid wouldn’t know nice if it bit him on the butt.”
“You guys do know we can hear you, right?” Sid said, leaning around his seat. Embarrassed, Rachel’s cheeks turned as bright as her hair.
Carly didn’t seem to care. She ignored him and continued right on talking. “Did you know that Sid and I dated for six months, and in that time I could count on one hand the weekends Asher wasn’t at his house? It’s crazy. Does he not have a home? And now he’s here… wonder what’s going on?”
“Curiosity killed the cat,” Rachel whispered and wished Carly would do the same.
“Yeah, and CPR brought it back.”
“That makes no sense,” she had to laugh and shook her head, causing the wild curls that had escaped from her messy bun to dance. She moved a rogue strand that had fallen in her eyes and tucked it behind her ear.
“Neither does love.” Carly sighed. “Neither does love.” Rachel might not have had much experience with boys, but she knew that expression. Carly looked at Sid with puppy love mixed with the need for revenge. Not such a great combination.
“Leave the boy alone,” Rachel told her. “It’s not worth it. Besides, you have other problems.”
“Like what?”
“Like walking a five-mile trail with a ten-pound backpack in bear-filled mountains.”
Carly’s face dropped and a wrinkle appeared between her brows. “Oh, yeah. That.”
When the van pulled into the Thorne Stone Inn parking lot at around eight o’clock, Rachel was relieved. Her legs needed a break. David and Susan went inside the office of the two-story building with a cabin appearance to ask if their rooms were ready. Vanessa Dryer, the Senior Pastor’s wife, stayed behind to watch the group.
Sid got out of the van first, stretching his sore muscles and cracking his neck. Asher followed. Soon only Carly, who refused to get out as long as Sid was around, remained in the van.
The group congregated in the parking lot, waiting for what seemed like forever to hear if they could get in their rooms. Rachel prayed that they could. She wanted to leave her suitcase and freshen up before the hike.
When it became clear David and Susan would be a while, Vanessa told them they could roam the property but to stay with a buddy and not wander off. She told them that she trusted them but not that much. Vanessa was always honest like that.
With Carly showing no signs of emerging from the van, Rachel had to roam alone. Dawn-Alice, Sam, and Heather took off toward one of the airbrush t-shirt shops close to the hotel. Hope Dryer chatted against the van with her mom, Vanessa, and Sid disappeared inside the van with Carly. Rachel knew that conversation didn’t need her; plus Carly would no doubt tell her all about it later. Starved, she decided to try to find some sort of snack machine.
Her mom had packed a few snacks in her backpack along with everything else on the day hiker checklist. Judging by how heavy it had felt, her mom had also packed a lot of things that weren’t on the list. The bad news was her bag and snacks sat on the floor next to Carly, and she had no intention of going and interrupting that conversation. Spending an extra dollar seemed well worth it.
Rachel felt inside of her emerald green coat pockets for some change. She loved her coat and tried to find a shirt to match it for the hike. The best she could come up with in her closet was a dark teal one with three buttons up the top. At least it was warm.
After walking around for five minutes without any luck, Rachel started to question if the hotel even had a snack machine. About to give up, she spotted one down the hall facing the creek. At the moment, it was being held up by Sid’s friend, Asher. Having no idea anyone was around, he stood there, fiddling with some sort of black rectangular thing. When he saw her, he threw it in the inside pocket of his hike-inappropriate, black leather jacket.
Well aware of his family’s reputation, Rachel jumped to the obvious conclusion: he had some sort of drugs or maybe a little black book with all of the names of the women he’d hooked up with scribbled inside. Either way, it didn’t need to be on a church trip.
“David’s gonna be mad if he catches you with that.”
“I doubt if David does anything to me.” Asher smirked and amusement lit his eyes. It made her a bit ticked that he found it fun to toy with her. He didn’t even know her that well.
She plopped herself in front of the machine and looked over the rather sparse selection.
“Why do you think the worst of people?” Asher leaned his arm on the machine inches from her. She could feel him staring down at her, and her face warmed.
“If the shoe fits.” She shrugged, and her shoulder rubbed against his arm, causing her skin to get little goose bumps. She hadn’t expected that.
He waited until she retrieved her selection, the barbecue chips from A-2, before he answered. “How about this? You don’t assume things about me, and I won’t assume things about you.”
Her gaze darted up to him. At full height, she barely reached his shoulder. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Without answering, a self-satisfied smirk crossed his face and he strolled past her.
“Asher,” she yelled, but he never stopped walking. He hadn’t heard something about her, had he? And why did she care?
Chapter Two
The fall mountain air chilled Rachel when she stepped out of the van at Deep Creek Trail. It had taken forever to get there. After the group had found their hotel rooms and unpacked, they had to ride forty-seven more miles from Gatlinburg over the mountain and into North Carolina before they reached the trailhead. David said he chose Deep Creek Trail because it had awesome waterfalls. Rachel figured he picked it so he would have an excuse to go to Cherokee, the town thirteen miles away, and buy some of their world famous fudge. Being a bit of a fudge junkie herself, Rachel respected his choice.
She zipped up her bulky coat, fixed her ponytail, and put her charcoal-colored toboggan on her head, hoping it would block the breeze. The cold wasn’t one of her favorite things, but the idea of the hike began to excite her. Seeing all of the trees, plants, and views made her smile.
Her mom had been right. It felt nice to be away from home for a while and from all of the sadness staring her in the face day after day. A shiver crept up her back and not from the chill in the air. It seemed the sad memories from home followed her everywhere.
Warming a bit, Rachel picked up her dark purple heavy-duty pack and flung it on her back. The weight of it made her lose her balance, and she grabbed the van for support. Her mom had gone a bit overboard on the packing. She had no idea what was in there except for a few snacks, a notebook, her Bible, a small purple blanket for their picnic, and her e-reader. A five-mile hike with
that
on her back began to feel a little daunting.
It took a few minutes to get everything out of the van and everyone ready to go. After the van was empty, the eight hikers and three chaperones gathered at the foot of the trail where the forest met a wooden, three-row fence. The fence outlined where the trail started but didn’t continue very far down the visitor parking lot area. Only three other vehicles filled the fifteen car lot which meant they wouldn’t see many people on the trail.
David divided them into two groups. Rachel, Sid, Asher, and Dawn-Alice were put into Susan’s group. The larger than life woman always had a smile on her face and a song off-key in her heart. Her personality and hair rivaled the country legend’s, and her enthusiasm for life spread to all around her.
As much as Rachel liked Susan, she wished she was in Vanessa’s group with Carly. By the look on her friend’s face, she could tell she felt the same way. When Carly loudly voiced her disappointment to David, he told her that he was sorry but all groups were random and final.
Carly, nerdy Sam Boyd, senior pastor’s daughter Hope Dryer, and book-loving Heather Markham gathered behind their leader, Vanessa Dryer. Rachel wished Carly could be in her group more than anything. Dawn-Alice was nice enough, and a good friend, be it a bit mousy and weird at times, but she couldn’t replace Carly in the best friend department. A best friend was what Rachel needed. She wished she could trade Sid or Asher for Carly. Either would be fine.
When David cleared his throat at the base of the trail to get everyone’s attention, Rachel fought the urge to glare at him. How dare he put her in a group without Carly? Some youth pastor he had turned out to be. Despite her hurt feelings, she plastered on a broad smile and willed it to trickle down into her heart. Nothing good would come from being angry or upset. A five-mile hike without Carly wouldn’t kill her.
“We’ll all meet at the picnic area for lunch,” David said when he had everyone’s attention. “It shouldn’t take more than a few hours to complete the hike, but remember you don’t have to rush. Pace yourself and don’t try to make it a race. Take your time and enjoy everything God has provided for us today. Don’t go off this specifically marked trail.” He turned and pointed to the sign that said
Deep Creek Trail
. “The trail is clearly marked, but it does have side trails. You will be tempted to go off on them. Don’t,” he emphasized, looking at each of them to get his point across. “Stay with your group. We don’t want to have to send out any search parties. Any questions?” He got a few scattered responses like:
“Where do we go to the bathroom?”
and
“Can we feed the bears?”
Once every question had received a response, David finished up with a few last details. “Susan, your group will go first. Vanessa, your group will start a few minutes after. We don’t want to crowd the trail for the other hikers.”
“What other hikers?” Sid asked, looking around the almost empty parking lot. “Doesn’t look like we have much company.”
“It might pick up later. You never know. I will hike alone in the back to make sure no one gets left behind. And the most important thing I need to tell you, have fun! We came all this way, let’s enjoy it!” A smattering of cheers and hollers echoed through the parking lot. Raising his hands to quiet them, he asked Rachel to please lead them in prayer for a safe and uneventful hike.
Rachel was still miffed about the Carly travesty but bowed her head and closed her eyes. “Dear Lord, please protect us on this trip. Please keep us safe and away from harm… and bears. Please allow us to have a great time and, most importantly, come closer to You. In Jesus’s name I pray.” She opened her eyes and noticed that everyone had their heads bowed, everyone except Asher. He stood not far from her with his hands in the pockets of his dark-wash jeans, studying her like he was trying to figure her out.
“Amen,” she forced herself to say. Various amens repeated throughout the gathered hikers. Asher mouthed the word but never took his eyes off her. She felt her face flush, and she couldn’t understand it. Why did she care that Asher Jenkins had stared at her longer than he had to?
“Brother, can we please get going while we are still young enough to be considered a youth group?” Sid asked, tapping his foot with extra flourish.
“Patience,” David smirked at his little brother and drew out several extra unnecessary, directions just to aggravate him which, from what Rachel could tell, worked.
“Dude, you’re hilarious,” Sid fussed. “Can we please just go?”
“Fine.” His brother sighed, overdramatic in his own right. “Go have fun and be the church.”
Rachel gave Carly a hug before heading out with her group. David slapped his brother on the back and told him to be careful. The first group walked through the fence and started their trek up the mountain.
****
The farther the hikers got into the woods, the less they could see of the sapphire-tinted sky between the dense clumps of tree branches. Winds picked up the longer they walked, and Rachel tried to remember if the radio weatherman had mentioned rain. Truth be told, she hadn’t paid much attention on their drive up. Much to her surprise, the trail did have a few other hikers. They met a couple, who stopped to tell them hi going down the mountain.
After a while, Rachel couldn’t hear the rowdy group behind her any more, and she wondered what was slowing them up. She figured Vanessa was making them stop and take lots of pictures. It was one reason she liked being in Susan’s group. Susan let them do things at their own pace, and Rachel appreciated that. As long as she stayed within yelling distance, no one bothered her.