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.
“I love you, Evie.”
She looked up at him, her eyes wide. For a moment, he thought she might return the sentiment. Instead, she just blinked. “I should go.”
Charlie nodded. Whether she believed him or not didn’t matter. He’d told her how he felt. And he’d certainly showed her how he felt. Now, she’d have to figure out what to make of it.
He watched her walk out of camp. “Make a lot of noise while you’re walking,” he called. “Sing.”
The sound of her voice drifted back to him. “What should I sing?” she called. A few moments later, the strains of “My Country ’Tis of Thee” came through the trees.
“Oh, Evie, I do love you,” he murmured. “And I’m pretty sure you love me.” Now if he could just get her to admit it, they could start planning a future together.
7
EVE SAT QUIETLY ON A BENCH in the ranger station, the quiet pace belying the fact that a rescue operation was underway. Any moment now, Charlie would return to the station, rescued by two men driving ATVs.
She met up with a group of eight mountain bikers fifteen minutes down the trail. Half the group had walked with her until she could get cell phone service and the other half had set off for Charlie’s campsite.
In the end, she’d been ordered to wait on the trail until the rangers arrived. One had returned her to the station while the other two had gone on to get Charlie and his gear.
“Don’t worry. Your husband will be fine.”
Eve looked up to find a female ranger standing in front of her, a clipboard in her hands. “He’s not my husband,” she said.
“Well, he will still be fine. We handle all sorts of emergencies here. And lots of sprained ankles and broken legs. People seem to get particularly clumsy walking through the woods.” She sat down next to Eve. “Can I get you anything?”
“Sure. Do you have a psychiatrist handy? Because I really need to talk to someone.” The ranger gave Eve an odd look, then slowly stood. “I’m kidding,” Eve said. “I just heard something out there in the woods that I never thought I’d hear. And I’m not sure how to take it.”
“This isn’t one of those alien stories, is it?” the ranger asked. “Because we get a lot of those, too.”
“No,” Eve insisted. “No, I’m not crazy. My boyfriend just blurted out that he loved me and I’m not sure what to think about that. We’ve only been together two weeks. Well, we were together for a month and two weeks five years ago. Or five years and two weeks. Don’t you think that’s kind of soon to be saying something like that?”
Eve wasn’t sure why she was unburdening herself to a complete stranger. Maybe she wanted a totally unbiased opinion. Lily would never give it to her. And if she asked her mother, that would set off a firestorm of wedding plans that Eve wasn’t prepared to deal with.
“I guess he wouldn’t say it if he didn’t mean it,” the ranger said.
“But maybe it was just one of those casual ‘I love yous.’ You know the kind. Love you, babe. Men toss those off all the time and it doesn’t mean they want to settle down and have children with you. My ex-husband told me that he loved me and he didn’t.”
“I think you might be overanalyzing this,” the ranger said.
“What is your name? I mean, your first name. Your badge says ‘Beckham’.”
“Carly,” the ranger said.
“Carly, have you ever met a guy and been so in credibly attracted to him you can’t think straight?”
“Sure,” Carly said. “I love when that happens. Al though it doesn’t happen that often. A few years back, there was this ranger who started working here and he was gorgeous. His name was Eric. Ranger Eric. I mean, I usually have my pick of guys. Look at me, I’m the only woman at this location. But this guy was so amazing. And he knew it. We dated for a month and then he informed me he was being transferred to a post in Wyoming. He knew this when we started sleeping together but he didn’t think it was important enough to tell me.”
“That’s exactly what happened to me. Charlie just disappeared one day. He didn’t even tell me he was leaving. These guys are…drifters. You know in your heart they’re bad for you, but you can’t help yourself. He was gone for five years and then one day he just showed up again. Like he’d never been gone at all.”
“And now he loves you?” Carly asks.
“That’s what he says. I’m not sure I should believe him.”
“Maybe it’s just taken him five years to figure it out. Sometimes men can be so slow at those things.”
The door to the ranger station opened and Carly stood up. Eve waited, then smiled as Charlie hobbled in with a pair of crutches.
“That’s him?” Carly asked.
Eve nodded.
“Oh, girl, if a man like that told me he loved me, I’d put all my doubts aside and marry him as soon as possible.” She pressed her hand to her heart. “Goodness, he is gorgeous.”
