Kate Hoffmann - The Drifter

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

CHARLIE 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.”