Once we’re finished, I can’t help my smile, feeling proud of myself. Not only did I keep up with the group today but I just helped set up our shelter for the night. I look around and find that everyone else is finishing up as well. I grab my bag and duck my head as I take the bag into the tent, then I take a seat on the floor and lie down, wanting to close my eyes for just a few minutes. “I’m so tired,” I admit when I feel him take a seat near me.
“You did great today.”
“All I did was walk.” My lips twitch into a smile when he chuckles.
“Yeah, but you didn’t spend the entire time complaining, and like I said, every day, it will get a little easier.”
“I hope so.” I yawn, covering my mouth.
“Come on. Since you finished first, you can help me start the fire.”
“Shouldn’t the winner get a chance to rest?” I joke, opening my eyes to find him standing over me.
“Nope.” He holds out his hand, so I take it, and he helps pull me up off the ground, which is good, since I’m not sure I would have been able to get up on my own. “You can rest after you put some food in your stomach.”
“Fine, but only because I’m starving and wouldn’t be able to sleep with my stomach growling anyway,” I say, and he laughs as I follow him out of the tent.
After we get the fire started, he and Blake bring over a large metal-looking swing with a horizontal floating sheet pan that they place over the fire. Then, the two of them set about getting dinner ready while the rest of the group sits around and talks.
With the evening getting cooler, I’m untying my flannel from my waist and putting it on when Avery comes over to join me on the log I’m sitting on.
“Are you doing okay?” she asks, tucking her hands into the sleeves of her sweatshirt.
“Yeah, just tired. Are you doing all right?”
“I just wish I could shower.” She grimaces. “Of everything I thought of when I agreed to take this trip with Grant, it never once crossed my mind that I wouldn’t be able to shower for a week.”
“I didn’t think about that either.” I tuck my hands between my thighs to warm up my fingers.
“At least we’ll all stink.”
“True.” I laugh, and she giggles, then her back straightens and her eyes narrow across the fire. Lauren has taken a seat right next to Avery’s husband and starts talking to him with a flirtatious smile.
“That girl,” she mumbles, shaking her head. “Oliver seems so nice; I don’t know what he’s doing with her.”
“I don’t either,” I agree, spotting Oliver sitting with Parker and Jacob, playing a game with a deck of cards and not paying attention to Lauren. Then again, maybe that’s her problem; maybe she’s trying to find a way to get his attention. “Maybe we just don’t know her.”
“I’ve known women like her my whole life. They are never happy unless every man in their orbit is circling around them.” She turns to face me. “She’s barking up the wrong tree with Grant, and judging by the way Tanner reacted to her touching him earlier, he’s cut from the same cloth.”
She touched Tanner? My stomach twists at the thought.
“Some men get off on women being aggressive, but then there are those who like to do the chasing. My husband is the latter, and I’m guessing Tanner is the same way.”
Unsure what to say to that, I don’t say anything. Jade always said how lucky I was not to be out in the dating pool, and now I know she was probably right, because it all seems like a very confusing game of cat and mouse that I don’t know how to play.
“Who’s ready to eat?” Blake calls out, and on cue, my stomach rumbles.
As we eat, the conversation is light, mostly centering around tomorrow. We’re scheduled to hike down the mountain, where Maverick will meet us with a raft that we’ll take downriver to where we’re going to have lunch. As I eat, I’m happily surprised with my meal of vegetable shish kebabs, bean soup, and buttered rolls, and everyone else seems just as pleased with their meat options.
When we finish, we help Blake load up the dishes before he takes off on the four-wheeler, leaving all of us to enjoy s’mores and warm cider or cocoa before getting ready for bed. Which isn’t much fun, since it includes using the bathroom in the middle of the woods—something I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to.
After I brush my teeth and change into a pair of sleep pants and a long-sleeved top, I climb into my sleeping bag and chew the inside of my cheek as I listen to Tanner talk to Parker and Jacob. I know logically that I shouldn’t be nervous about sleeping in the same space as him, especially since we have separate sleeping bags and enough space between us for another two people. But I feel anxious and on edge as I wait for him to come to bed. After tossing and turning a dozen times, I grab my book and headlamp from my bag, hoping that reading will take my mind off everything and relax me enough that I’ll be able to fall asleep.