The Drifter (10 page)

Eve grabbed an onion and halved it, then peeled off the skin and began to chop it into tiny, even pieces. “I shouldn’t be upset. I knew this was coming. I’ve been prepared. In fact, I’m glad he’s leaving. It would be silly to invest any more time in a relationship that will never go anywhere.”

Tears filled her eyes. She knew they weren’t from the onions, but at least she had a cover while she gave in to her emotions. “He’ll be back. And then we’ll continue as we left off.”

“But you want him to stay,” Lily said.

“No!”

Lily nodded her head. “Yes.”

“No,” Eve insisted.

Lily gave her a pitying look. “Yes.”

Eve brushed the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. “Yes,” she finally murmured. “Of course I want him to stay. I have a man in my life and he’s funny and kind and I think he genuinely cares about me. Why wouldn’t I want that to continue?”

“Exactly,” Lily said. “Just admit that you want a future with him. That’s the first step.”

“I admit it,” Eve said. “Oh, God.” She dropped the knife and sank onto a nearby stool. “This is going
to end so badly.” She grabbed a towel and wiped her runny nose, then looked at Lily through watery eyes. “I let myself fall in love with him.”

“Not hard to do, considering how gorgeous he is.”

“That’s the point. I don’t really even think about how he looks. He makes me laugh and he points out all my faults. He does things to my body that I never thought were possible. When we’re together, we’re…together. It’s like we can’t exist without touching or kissing or whispering.” Eve took a ragged breath. “I do love him.”

“So, tell him. Give him the choice. Love you or leave you.”

“It’s too soon,” she said. “Nobody falls in love in just over a week.”

“It hasn’t been just a week. It’s been five years.”

“No,” Eve said, shaking her head. But perhaps Lily was right. Maybe this feeling had begun all those years ago and had survived, buried somewhere in a quiet corner of her heart.

Lily stepped to her side. “There’s nothing wrong with honesty,” she said, grabbing the towel and dabbing at Eve’s eyes. “Just tell him how you feel.”

“I’ll sound ridiculous,” Eve said. “How can I feel this much in little more than a week?” She shook her head. “No. No! This is just an overreaction. It’s because of the divorce. I’m making more of this than there really is. I did exactly the same thing with Matt
after Charlie left. I made him into some white knight. I’m not going to do that again.”

“All right. Then dump him. Dump Charlie. That will make you feel better, won’t it? Get him out of your life for good. Put this all behind you and move on.”

“I will,” Eve said. “As soon as I figure out where he is. Or when he’s coming back.”

He’d taken all his camping gear. She knew one place where he might be. When they’d gone camping together, he’d mentioned that he’d stayed at that site many times. It was close by and not a difficult hike. Tomorrow, she’d hike up there and tell him how she felt.

And in between now and then, she’d try her very best to figure out how she felt.

C
HARLIE WINCED
as he removed his hiking boot. It had been a stupid accident, one that was easily preventable had he been paying attention to the trail ahead. But his mind had been occupied with thoughts of Eve.

He’d been out in the woods for a day, hoping that fresh air and solitude would clear his mind and make his decisions easier. One misplaced footstep and he’d gone down, his ankle rolling to the side.

By the time he’d removed his sock, the ankle had already begun to swell. “Not good,” he muttered. His cell phone was back at camp, but he was almost
certain he’d get no signal. The only choice he had was to wait, let the swelling go down and walk out.

Charlie wiggled his toes, then tested the motion of his foot. He was pretty certain it wasn’t broken. Balancing himself on a nearby tree, he stood and tried to put weight on it, then hobbled a few feet down the trail and back. He wouldn’t be able to go far, at least not for a day or two. But he had enough food to last a week. Though the river was a complicated trip on one foot, he could easily slide down on his ass and climb up on his knees.

Like any good outdoorsman, Charlie began to formulate a plan. He was only about a hundred yards from his campsite. First, he needed to cut down the swelling. The river would be icy cold from the runoff in the mountains. He’d go soak his ankle, then crawl back up to his campsite before dark. If he elevated it overnight, he might be able to walk out tomorrow.

Charlie searched around in the underbrush for a sturdy stick. He found one dangling from a nearby sapling and pulled down. It wasn’t the best, but it had a nice joint to tuck under his arm. He pulled off his T-shirt and wrapped it around the Y in the branch, then gave it a test. Though it was a bit long, he could take care of that problem with his hatchet.

As he struggled back toward his campsite, he couldn’t help but think about how this little accident had completely taken his mind off Eve.

He’d thought solitude would clear his mind. But
instead, he’d spent most of his time thinking about their last trip together, the seduction in the cold night, lying next to the campfire. The feel of her naked body curled up against his. The pleasure of waking up to the sounds of the trees rustling outside and the soft rhythm of her breathing.

He’d planned to spend just one more night in the woods before heading back to Boulder. The day after tomorrow, he was due at the university for another lecture and he had every intention of keeping that appointment. If he couldn’t hike out under his own power, they’d come looking for him. And Eve could guess where he might have gone.

By the time he’d made it down to the river, Charlie’s ankle was throbbing from the pain. He sat down on a boulder, then slid over to the edge of the water, plunging his foot into the rushing current.

“Shit,” he muttered, wincing at the icy cold. He closed his eyes, then waited as long as he could be fore he took his foot out. Though it felt considerably better, it didn’t look much different.

“Charlie!”

He straightened at the sound of his name, looking up along the bank toward the woods. “Yeah?”

“Charlie? Where are you?”

“Eve? I’m down here. At the river.”

A few seconds later, she emerged from the woods, her hair tangled and her face dirty. She stumbled up
to his side and threw herself into his arms. “Oh, God. You’re safe. You’re alive.”

He stared at her in disbelief. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I found your daypack on the trail and it was all torn apart. I thought you’d been eaten by a bear. Or a wolf. Or a cougar.” She held his face in her hands. “Are you sure you’re all right? Why did you leave your pack there?”

“I twisted my ankle,” he said, then stopped. “I didn’t leave it behind all that long ago.” He craned his neck to scan the woods. “A bear might have gotten at it. Or a very determined squirrel. Damn it, Eve, you shouldn’t be hiking alone. Never, ever, hike alone.”

“I could have been eaten by a bear?” she said.

“He probably wouldn’t have eaten you.” He shrugged. “Well, not unless you ran into a grizzly. Black bears usually run when they see humans. But—that’s not the point. Never hike alone.”

“You’re hiking alone,” she said.

“I have a little bit of experience in the woods,” he replied. “And look what happened to me.”

She took a ragged breath. “I had to find you. We need to talk.”

“Right now?”

“No, not this minute.” She glanced down at his foot. “What happened? Your ankle is all swollen.”

“I sprained my ankle. I told you. That’s why I left my pack on the trail. Are you all right? Did you hit
your head?” She seemed completely flustered, as if her time alone in the woods had unhinged her a bit. This was not the calm and organized Eve he knew and loved.

“It’s a little scary out here all alone,” she said, glancing around. “I wasn’t sure I knew my way. I had my cell phone along, just in case, but—”

“Your cell phone won’t work out here,” he said.

“It worked earlier. I called Lily at the restaurant to tell her about the new blender I ordered and she said…”

“Your phone worked?”

She nodded, then held it out to him. He turned it on, but there was no signal. “It doesn’t work now. How long ago did it work?”

“A half-hour,” she said, glancing at her watch. “I called her at two-thirty. It’s quarter after three now.”

“Two miles,” he murmured. “Maybe three. So, what was so important that you braved the wilds to find me?”

She gave him an odd look, opening her mouth, then snapping it shut. “Nothing,” she finally murmured. “It seemed important at the time, but it’s not. We can talk about it later.” She pointed to his foot. “Doesn’t that hurt?”

Charlie nodded. “Yeah. It’s a pretty bad sprain. I don’t think it’s broken, though.”

“How were you going to walk on it?”

“I wasn’t,” Charlie said. “I was going to give it a few days, see if it felt better. I figured if I missed my lecture, someone would come looking and rescue me. And here you are.”

“I can’t carry you out,” she said. “You’re too heavy.”

“If you can get cell phone service an hour down the trail, then we can walk to that point and call.”

“You can’t walk,” she said.

“It will be a little slow going. It shouldn’t take us longer than three or four hours.” He stood, but the moment he put even a tiny bit of weight on his ankle the pain was unbearable.

“You’ll never be able to walk on it. I ran into some mountain bikers on the trail,” she said, glancing between his foot and his face. “Maybe if we yell, they’ll hear us.”

“I don’t think yelling is going to help,” he said.

She chewed on her lower lip for a long moment, then took a deep breath and stood. “I’ll go. If I hurry, I can bring back help right away.” She sat back down. “I don’t want to go. What if I run into a bear? It was stupid of me to come out here alone.”

He reached out and put his arm around her. “Then you’ll stay. Maybe tomorrow, my ankle will feel good enough for both of us to walk out. Come on, help me back up to the camp and I’ll make us some dinner.”

Charlie had no idea what had brought Eve to the woods, but it must have been something pretty
important. He thought about pressing her further, but then decided that they had the entire night together. Sooner or later, she’d tell him.

When they got back the campsite, Eve perched on the log next to the fire, watching him warily. “I was surprised when I woke up yesterday and you were gone.”

“I left the note,” Charlie said.

“I thought you were gone for good. Like the last time.”

“Eve, you knew I had to be back for my lecture. Besides, I said in my note that I’d be back.” He sighed, then sat down beside her. “I’d never leave without saying goodbye. Not this time.”

“And what has changed?” she asked.

“A lot. My feelings for you…they’re different. Deeper. More…durable.”

“And you think they’re strong enough to last over another long separation? Another five years?”

“I’m not going away for five years,” Charlie reassured her.

“But you are going away,” she said. Eve reached into her jacket pocket, then held out an envelope. “These are for you. They were delivered yesterday morning. I signed for them.”

“Them?”

“They’re airline tickets. For your trip to Katmandu.” She paused. “You could have told me you were planning to leave.”

“I wasn’t,” he said. “I hadn’t made a decision.”

“Plane tickets aren’t a decision?” She held up her hand. “I’m not angry. We knew this time would come. You need to go back to your life and I need to go back to mine. Besides, I’m not going to be here anyway. I—I’m going to open my restaurant in Seattle. I have investors and they’ve found a good location. I should have—”

He stopped her words with his finger, pressing it against her lips. “How do you really feel, Eve? Say it. Out loud. Tell me what you want.”

He saw the indecision in her face. She still didn’t trust him. Hell, if he could turn back time, he’d do it in a heartbeat. His choice to leave her the first time had been the worst decision in his life and now he was paying for it. But he couldn’t force her to trust him. He’d have to show her that he planned to stick around.

“I’m not going to Katmandu,” he said. “I’m not taking the job. The guy who found the job for me just assumed I’d be anxious to go. He was wrong.” Charlie chuckled. “Besides, if this ankle is broken, I’m not going to climb Everest in a month.”

“What kind of job is it?” she asked.

“It’s a television special for National Geographic about the ecological and social impact of the climbing business on Everest.”

“It sounds important,” she said.

“It is, kind of,” Charlie admitted. “I’m really not
sure I could do it. I write. But with this, I’d be on camera a lot.”

“Oh, you’d be great,” Eve said. “You’d be perfect.”

“You think so?”

She nodded. “Charlie, you have to do it. It’s about ecology. It’s your moral duty to do it. Don’t you want to stand up for a cause that’s important?”

“Of course I do. But it’s going to take me away from you.”

“We haven’t made any promises to each other. You should go.” She drew in a deep breath, then smiled. “You should.” Eve got to her feet, then brushed off her backside. “I’m going to walk down the trail and see if I can get cell phone service. Maybe I’ll run into those mountain bikers and they can help.”

He considered her offer for a long moment, then shook his head. “No, I don’t want you out there alone. Stay here with me. Help will come.”

“I’ll be back in a little while,” she said.

He didn’t want her to leave, but she seemed determined to put some distance between them, no matter what the cost. And when Eve made a decision, she usually couldn’t be swayed. “Be careful,” he said.

“I will.”

“If you’re not back here in an hour, I’m coming to look for you.”

She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. But Charlie grabbed her and pulled her into his embrace,
his balance wavering for a moment. His lips found hers and he kissed her, deeply and thoroughly. And when she was nearly breathless from the experience, he drew back.