“Sorry, Coop. I’m using my last one percent to text Tyler and say thank you,” Vanessa narrates her action, while I dig into my sandwich, practically moaning as the smoked turkey and salted bacon mix with the juicy tomatoes and rich, creamy wedges of avocado. “Oh my gosh. Give me a bite,” she says.
I shake my head. “You have your own.”
“But I’m too weak to open it. I’m starving. One bite.”
I laugh as I shake my head and hand her the sandwich.
“Oh my gosh,” she says with a mouthful of sandwich, her eyes rolling back in her head. “So good. So good.”
I set my sandwich down and unwrap hers to ensure she can’t pull the same excuse before returning to mine.
We pack the rest into my backpack to snack on as we go, apply a thick layer of sunscreen, and head out into the desert.
“Are you sure we didn’t come from that way?” Nessie asks, pointing away from me.
I shake my head. “I have no idea. It all looks the same.” The trail itself stopped being blatant once we passed the ‘thumb’ rock, and since that point, it’s just been rocks and sand and the occasional half-mile marker. It’s been hours since we passed one of those markers or any other hikers, which has us dancing around the realization that we’re lost.
“Okay. We are two smart, capable women. We just have to pay attention, and we can figure this out. Footsteps, a trail marker, something.” Nessie sweeps her attention both ways, hoping to find something over the same expanse we’ve searched dozens of times already. “How many acres do you think this place is? I mean, do we just keep walking straight until we reach something? Or will that take us days?”
I shake my head. “It would depend on which way we go.” I don’t even know which way we are or where we started.” I shake my head again as Nessie looks at me.
“But you can figure out which way we’re facing?”
“An approximation, maybe? But I don’t know if it will help. I don’t know which direction we need to go.”
Nessie scrubs her palms against her eyes. “I’m so hot.”
I lower my bag, reaching for another bottle of water that I pass to her. “You need to drink.”
She takes it, drinking a quarter of the bottle in one sip. “Are you sure your phone’s not in your bag? You checked all the pockets?”
I check it again, though I’ve already emptied the contents a handful of times. “I took it out in the car to charge. It has to be in there.”
Nessie drops her head back with defeat. “It’s okay. It’s getting darker. Cooper will get back soon, and when he realizes we’re gone, he’ll figure it out, right?”
I nod, feeling hopeful and doubtful all at the same time, and then stop. “Oh my goodness.”
Nessie freezes. “What?” she whispers.
“Don’t move.”
“Chloe.”
“Don’t move,” I tell her again.
She takes a step as she moves to look behind her. “If you’re pulling a prank…”
I grab her arm. “Stop moving.”
She goes still, her eyes meeting mine. “What is it? Is it a snake?”
I swallow, knowing snakes are Nessie’s greatest fear. “A small one,” I lie.
Her nostrils flare, and her shoulders go rigid. “What kind of a snake?”
I already know it doesn’t matter. Nessie is terrified of all snakes, and I have no idea how to tell them apart. “I’m going to hand you my bag, and you’re going to hold it in front of you, and we’re going to move backward really slowly.”
“Chloe, is it a rattlesnake?”
“It doesn’t matter. Everything’s going to be fine. You just have to move slowly, okay?”
She whimpers. “I hate snakes.”
“I know. But I’m here.” I slowly shift my bag so she can take it, the slight movement making the snake coil, and then it releases the warning as its tail shakes.
“Oh, God,” Nessie says, gripping my bag with her shaking hands and slowly moving it to cover her legs.
“Okay. Okay. Good. We’ve got this.” I place a hand on her hip and take a step back as I seek out any abnormalities that might be another snake, when this one had camouflaged so easily we nearly stepped on it.
“It’s hissing,” Nessie says, shuddering as she reaches back for me.
“I know. Just keep going.”
“Chloe, he looks pissed.”
“He’s probably just as scared as we are.”
“Doubtful.” She squeals as it starts to shake its tail again.
We’re about twenty feet away when I pull her a bit closer. “Okay, okay.” I hold her hand so tight my fingers ache. “We need to pay attention. Everything in the freaking desert is deadly.”
“Too soon,” she says, her gaze still focused on the snake that’s now a good thirty feet from us and still rattling its tail.
“Let’s go this way,” I say.
“You think it leads to the trail?”
“I have no idea, but the signs said to avoid plants because that’s where most snakes hide, and this way is pretty much just sand.”
“Should I mention now that there’s a hunting reserve near here?” She hands me my bag and holds my hand as we comb over the ground.
“At least we’re not in a cemetery near vampires and ghosts.”
Nessie chuckles. “I don’t know. Those ghosts don’t seem so scary right now.”
I cut my eyes to her. “They were, you’re just forgetting. I was willing to hold Tyler’s hand the whole freaking time. I’d say they were pretty damn scary.”
Nessie giggles so hard she pauses to gain her breath. “Do you really hate him?”
“Sometimes,” I admit.
She snickers again. “I think it’s because you guys are attracted to each other.”
“Oh, no.” I shake my head, temporarily forgetting to look at where we’re going because, like everything that revolves around Tyler, it takes too much of my attention.
“You don’t have to like him to think he’s hot.”
I shake my head. “Still not happening.”
“If he wasn’t best friends with Cooper, would you like him?”
I consider her question for too long, making her laugh again. “Maybe if I
