She was ruffled and red-faced when she caught up to April.
April glanced over her shoulder and reported that Galen was falling further behind them.
“Good. Maybe we’ll lose him,” Jo murmured.
“What?” Dove asked.
“Nothin’.”
“Did you say something negative about somebody?” Dove’s tone was playful.
“I was just wonderin’ where the mountain lions are when you need ‘em.”
“Jo! That’s awful,” April scolded her.
Jo shook the scorn from her face. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry.” But she wasn’t.
As they walked, the air warmed and the sun turned white. The green land rolled out on each side of the trail, staying flat on their left and becoming hilly on their right. Puffs of clouds floated in the blue sky. The group’s footsteps munched on the earth beneath them. The rare call of a bird startled Jo and made her think of Galen's strange words that morning. She thought about the ride up yesterday. No people. Now, no birds. What was this ‘hunger’ he spoke of? Fanatical. What an odd word to use. Jo shivered, as she considered its meaning: extreme, compulsive.
“Hey!” Mike stopped. Lary almost plowed into him. The group came to a halt. He pointed off the trail. “People!”
Everyone gawked as if they were looking at aliens, except for Red. She sat her hands on her hips. “Hell, Mike, I at least expected to see someone naked.”
Jo rolled her eyes.
A short distance away, lounging in the shade under a cluster of cottonwood trees was a family: mom and dad, a small child, and a baby sleeping at the bottom of a port-a-crib.
“Aww…isn’t that sweet,” April said.
“You wanna hold that baby, don’t you?” Dove kidded her.
“There’ll be no holding of babies!” Red’s voice was harsh.
“Geez, Red.” Mike looked crossly at her.
Jo turned her head so no one would see her grin.
Red huffed. “I thought we had a swimming hole to get to.”
“We’ll get there,” Mike told her calmly. “Think we should go say hi?” His eyes scanned the group with a sly expression on his face. Jo nodded her head in support.
“Tick tock.” Galen warned, as he came up behind them.
“Yes. Let’s get going,” Red agreed. She took off, waiting for no one.
“It is getting a little warm,” Ben stated, as he wiped his brow with the back of his hand, flinging the sweat to the ground.
“He’s right about that.” Lary pulled on the front of his T-shirt where it clung to his damp chest.
“Ok, Ok.” Mike feigned disappointment, but Jo caught the wink he shared with Lary.
The group went on. Jo walked a bit, but a loose shoe string caused her to stop. “Go ahead,” she told her friends. In the shade of a birch tree she stooped to tighten the laces, and then unhooked her water bottle. As she lifted the bottle to take a drink, muffled, angry voices rose in the quiet, coming from the direction of the cottonwood trees. Galen! She slipped off the trail into the brush and crouched low, creeping up behind a tree. She peeked around it.
What in the world? Is he telling them the same stupid thing he told us? Galen was facing the father of the family. The mother had scooped up her baby and was clutching it to her chest. Her blue-checked sundress fluttered in the breeze. The man’s face was red. His fingers were curled into his palms. He pointed at the trail and took a threatening step toward Galen. Jo held her breath.
Galen turned away from them. The man shook his head.
Jo spun around and leapt through the brush and grass back onto the trail. She sprinted up the path and slowed as she approached Ben and Drew. Ben turned his head. Jo pretended to be interested in something off in the distance to her right, so he wouldn’t see her sweaty face. She tried to breathe normally.
“Jo, where’d you go?” He asked her.
Darn! “Oh, had to take a little break…you know.” She affected a bashful grin.
“Oh.” Ben blushed.
She wiped the sweat from her forehead with her fingers and flicked it away, and she puzzled over what she’d seen: Galen accosting total strangers. She was excited to share her story with Dove—more evidence that he was crazy and here for nefarious reasons. But Dove was talking with Red. April was a few paces behind them chatting with Lary. And Mike was—coming her way!
Her eyes widened, like a deer caught in headlights. She dropped her gaze to the trail. She was sure he was only coming back to talk to the guys, but her heartbeat accelerated, her chest grew taut.
After giving Ben and Drew a playful shove and few light punches, he stepped in right beside her. “Hey.” He flashed his bright smile.
“Hey.” She licked her lips and fidgeted with the straps of her backpack, trying not to stumble.
They walked a moment in silence. Jo smiled at him, hoping he couldn’t see her trembling.
“So…what happened on the bridge?” He asked.
“What’d ya mean?”
“Were you guys just goofin’ around?”
The scene was a jumble in Jo’s mind. It had all happened so quickly. She did recall the malice in Red’s eyes, but she wasn’t going to mention that. “I think Red was just playin’, but I freaked out. It wouldn’t have been such a big deal if…if I wasn’t such a baby about water these days.” She frowned and took a deep a breath of air soaked with the scent of wild grasses.
Mike’s cheeks were flushed from walking. The breeze was lifting the layers of his hair and dropping them gently, over and over, against the sides of his face. “You know, Jo, I quit BMX a few years ago, before I met you.”
“Oh?”
“I had a bad wipeout and almost broke my back. Even if I had wanted to get back into it, my mom would never have allowed it.” He chuckled. “But now that I’m a big boy…I don’t want to do it.” His expression sobered; his gaze fell downward. “I can’t.” He spoke in hushed words. His eyes rose to meet hers, shining like sea-green glass. “Stop for a sec. I need a drink.” He grabbed the water bottle on the side of this backpack. Tilting his head back, as he raised the container, his sun-bleached hair slid from his cheeks, but wisps of bangs, darkened by sweat, were stuck to his forehead. His eyes closed as his lips met the bottle. Jo licked her lips, but not because she wanted the water. He looked at her as he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, grinning. The crinkled skin at the corners of his eyes began to smooth out. His grin slowly dissolved. His gaze wandered over her face, glancing at the golden strands of hair playing around it in the breeze. He stared as if he’d never really looked at her before now. His eyes came back to hers, glimmering, shiny and clear, but it wasn’t their color or clarity that gripped Jo, it was something inside them. She swallowed. In slow motion, she blinked, her lips parted.
He yanked his gaze from hers and pointed it up the trail. They started walking.
Jo wasn’t sure about what had just happened, but she didn’t want the moment to end with awkward silence. “Well, I would think that taking this group hiking would be a thrill to last a lifetime.” She giggled nervously.
He grinned and laughed with her.
Jo’s heart soared, along with her confidence.
“Actually, this is nice,” he mused, glancing around at the hills on their right and the meadow on their left. “It’s great to take it easy and do something mellow for a change.”
Jo floated down the trail beside him. “Hmm…that’s funny. I was hoping for an adventure.”
“The day’s not over yet.” He lifted his eyebrows and winked at her.
Jo’s heart swelled.
“We could check out those caves.” He nodded to the hill.
Jo observed a rock formation rising out of the top. There were three crevices in the craggy rock face. One appeared big enough to walk through. There was a smaller, thinner fissure and a third opening not quite as large as the first. Jo squinted fearfully at the slant of the hill leading up to them.
“Well, maybe we could run up the
re on the way back,” she joked.
He nodded his head. “Well, Ok then, it’s a date.”
Date! Did he just say the coveted word? Jo tingled all over. She knew it was said in fun, but hearing that word come out of his mouth—to her—caused fireworks to explode inside her. Her arms, shiny with sweat, were covered with goosebumps. Her lips wouldn’t stop smiling. She tried not to be obvious, but couldn’t help sneaking a peek at the muscles in his arm, his thick, round shoulders, and that beautiful face. “Thanks, Mike.” She spoke with heartfelt gratefulness.
He smiled.
Her heart skipped with hope coming alive, excitement, desire—
“Hey, Red!”
The air shattered like glass.
“Wait up!”
Jo’s heart deflated.
“Talk to you later, Jo.” He threw her a quick grin and jogged away.
Nothing could make this moment any worse.
“Tough break.” Galen’s tone was sarcastic.
She faced straight ahead and walked briskly. She couldn’t turn around and give him the hateful look she wanted to because he would see her watery eyes.
Chapter 12