Cheryl Harper - Smoky Mountain Sweethearts

But when she’d opened her mouth, she might as well have been the wild girl he’d explored these trails with as a boy.

“I’d rather you set the pace,” he said. “Take the flashlight. Make sure to aim it far enough out that you don’t obliterate your night vision completely because you’ll need to watch the edge of the trail.” Falling would be devastating right now. The foliage was so thick that finding her would be next to impossible until the sun rose. Even then, the old growth along the trail could be impenetrable. “When you get tired, stop.”

“Aye, Captain,” she drawled, and it was enough to draw a smile to his face. She’d never once wanted to be first mate. Avery Abernathy was going to be the king, the captain, the criminal mastermind and the first to charge the enemy.

Their pace was slow and steady. The flicker of the flashlight warned him she was tiring, but she kept going. He could hear her labored breathing but it was a reassuring sound as night settled around them.

The phone call from her mother had scared him.

He’d been preparing to take a final drive through the trailhead campgrounds when his mother called. As soon as she had handed the phone over to Janet Abernathy, he’d tried to reassure her. He could remember Avery’s favorite spot. It would be easy enough to check. There was no need to worry.

“She hasn’t been herself lately.” Janet’s voice was tight and Sam knew she was trying to explain something to him without saying it. “I...I don’t know, Sam.”

On his way up the trail, he’d run through all the scenarios, but there weren’t many that fit. She was too weak to make it back down.

Or she’d gone up with no plans of following the trail back down at all.

Suicide wasn’t something any reserve ranger wanted to encounter, but they’d all experienced the fear last year when a kid, a sixteen-year-old high school sophomore, had driven all the way from his home in Samson City to jump from an overlook along the Hickory Branch motor trail. His attempt had failed, but Sam could still remember the faces of the guys who’d brought him up.

Nobody would be the same after that.

Finding Avery fighting to get back down was such a relief he’d had a hard time getting words strung together.

She tripped and would have fallen again, but Sam caught her arm in time to ease her to the ground. “Rest. We’re close now.”

“How can you tell?” she asked as she brushed her hands over her cheeks. He couldn’t tell if she was crying, but now she had dark mud smudges on both cheeks. He reached into his pack and pulled out wipes.

“Years of experience on this trail,” Sam explained as he wiped the dirt away and tapped the canteen still hanging from her shoulder. “Drink.”

Her beleaguered sigh was enough like the old Avery that it was easy to laugh. “When I have to stop to use the nearest ladies’ room, it will be all your fault.”

“I’ll take the blame.” Sam took the canteen when she thrust it back at him.

“This was not how this day was supposed to go,” she said quietly.

“No?” He knew she was tired. Her words were slurring, and every time she shifted, a faint frown flitted across her face.

“No. I was going to go up confused and come back down enlightened.” She rested her head on her folded arms. “And you were nowhere in the picture.”

“Enlightened about what?” Sam asked as he reached under her to scoop her off the ground. As expected, she squawked and tried to struggle out of his arms. At seventeen, she’d been strong enough to set him down hard on the ground. Picking her up now was like collecting a fallen branch, lightweight and brittle enough to break. As thin as Avery was, she still knew where to hit. One smack on the arm made him snap, “Settle down or I’ll drop you.”

“On my head?” she asked. In the dim light, he could see her lips twitching. He’d threatened that a thousand different times when they were kids.

“If I think it will help, yes.” Sam grunted as she sighed heavily and dropped her head on his shoulder. “Ten minutes. You only have to suffer through this for ten minutes.”

He thought she was resolved to stew in silence. She’d taught him a good lesson about women at an early age. When they got quiet, it was time to worry.

“Thank you for coming for me.” She said it so quietly he had to dip his head to get the end of the sentence. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me anymore.”

“Nothing conditioning won’t solve, AA.” Sam squeezed her tight and made it up over the last hard climb. “That’s all.”

This time, her sniff had to be tears.

“Aim the flashlight down, farther out.” Sam had so many questions, but the ground team was waiting, and he wasn’t sure he was ready for all the answers.

“AA. Nobody’s called me that in a long time.” She sniffed again. “Probably because I haven’t seen you in a long time. I can’t believe I missed it.”

He could see the lights of the rescue vehicles as he rounded the last curve in the path. “When we get to the bottom, I’ll hand you off to the medic. She’s going to recommend you go to the hospital for a checkup.”

Her immediate gasp made him add, “But I’ll call my mother. She can bring Janet up to get you. That’s what you’d prefer, right?” He almost offered to drive her home, but the report wouldn’t write itself.

Besides, he needed time to reconcile himself to the fact that Avery Abernathy had come back, but she was so different from the girl he remembered, she might as well be gone.

She used to be fire; this woman was fog or mist, something too delicate to last for long.

“Yes. Thank you.” She squeezed his shoulders and added, “Always the hero.”

When the medic met him at the edge of the trail, Sam handed her over and waved his cell. “A hero? You said it. I’m going to hold that over your head, AA.”

Her smile was shaky but she gave it her best shot. Here in the lights, it was easier to see how thin she was and the dark circles of fatigue on her face. Whatever she’d been through, she was lucky to have come out on the other side.

He wouldn’t sleep tonight because he’d be filling in those blanks in his mind.

“And happy birthday.” Her mouth dropped open in shock. He’d surprised himself. Remembering that today was her birthday suggested she was more on his mind than even he knew.

As he turned his back on the group and called his mother, Sam stared up at the pieces of night sky he could make out through the trees. Whatever he’d expected this shift to hold, carrying Avery Abernathy in his arms had never figured into his plans.

CHAPTER FOUR

IF SHE’D KNOWN how much trouble searching for this particular epiphany would cause, Avery would have stayed in her room and taken a nap.

But naps had gotten her nowhere.

Telling her story to the law-enforcement ranger staring down at her was also getting her nowhere.

“Honestly, Officer Hendrix,” Avery said as she exhaled loudly, “I’m not sure what part of ‘I waited too late to start my descent and got caught in the dark’ is so difficult to understand.” As Sam tipped his head to the side, Avery realized her tone might not have been as conciliatory as it should have been. “Sir.”

“Actually, it’s ‘Ranger,’ although I am a law-enforcement officer here at the reserve.” He rested one hand on the gun holstered on his belt. “Your story matches Sam’s, so I’ll take you at your word.”

Before she could argue that taking her at her word had nothing to do with anything Sam might have to say, Sam waved his cell. “They’re already on the way. No one answers, so Mom’s—”

The loud rattle of a large Cadillac cut him off as Sam and all the other reserve staff on hand turned to watch a yellow Cadillac lurch to a stop in the parking lot.