Via sighed as the morning sun pounded down on her arms. No water sports today. Her parents had dragged them over to the parking lot for an orienteering scavenger hunt Ruth organized every year. The only bearable part was reading the compass. However, after her great escape yesterday, her parents weren’t taking no for an answer.
Zac was flirting with Diana while they waited for the other families to arrive.
Libby got there first, herding her loud kids and even louder husband over. She was soon followed by Ruth, whose face was pale and filled with worry lines.
“Sorry, guys,” she said, puffing to a halt. “Good news is the course is all set up. Ethan and I think it’s our best one yet. Bad news is Lulu and Theo both managed to fall in poison ivy, and Ethan’s on a work call all morning. That means I’m not going to be able to man the halfway checkpoint to hand out drinks and the next lot of clues.”
“Poor Lulu and Theo. I’m sure we can find someone else.” Via’s mom, who’d been jogging on the spot in preparation for the upcoming adventure, stopped. Then she rubbed her brow and turned to Via. “What do you say, honey? I know you weren’t really excited to be doing the challenge.”
Was this a trick question?
To participate, or sit at a table and hand out water bottles and pieces of paper? Tough one.
“Sure.” She nodded her head.
“Oh, that’s great. And Hudson can keep you company,” Ruth said, relief flooding her face.
Wait. What?
“Um—” she started to say but was cut off by her mom, who had once again started jogging on the spot.
“Perfect. Via, you can drive the car to Ruth’s cabin to collect everything. It will save Hudson from having to walk too far on his crutches.”
No. Via wildly peered around for Zac, willing him to volunteer to take her place, but he’d managed to slink behind a car, making himself small. No doubt he wanted to spend the day flirting with Diana rather than being stuck with Hudson Trent.
And who could blame him?
“Thank you. It’s so much fun getting to cheer them all on. I know you’re going to love it.” Ruth let out a grateful sigh, oblivious to Via’s internal battle.
Doubtful.
She plastered on a smile. “Sure. It’s my pleasure.”
xxxx
“Did I mention I’m sorry?” Hudson said an hour later as she carted another box of water bottles over to the tent. Ruth’s husband had already set it up, along with the table and two folding chairs, where Hudson was currently sitting.
“Only about a hundred times.” She dumped the box next to the cut fruit, bags of trail mix, and energy bars. There was a folder with the answers for the first part of the scavenger hunt and the clues for the second part.
To his credit, Hudson did sound genuine.
She glanced at her phone. It would be at least an hour before anyone reached them, and they had to stay there until all eight teams had checked in. In other words, far too long.
“I swear I had no idea you’d be roped into it. I offered to babysit the kids, but Ruth was worried they’d outrun me. If it would make you feel better, I could sit in the car.”
It absolutely would.
Except it was eighty degrees.
She’d already sprained his ankle. Probably shouldn’t give him heat stroke too.
“It’s fine.” She busied herself setting everything out. Hudson didn’t speak, but his eyes were boring into her. “What?”
“Just remembering when we had to wait in Mr. Gardener’s office to talk about a holiday program, and you ended up tidying his entire desk.”
“Oh.” She blinked. She wasn’t sure what he’d been going to say, but it wasn’t that. In her defense, the desk was a crime scene. She’d been doing him a favor. Then she quirked an eyebrow. “I remember when Mrs. Splinter spent the entire lesson saying cytoplasm instead of cytoskeleton. Then when she asked you a question, you didn’t want to embarrass her so you said it too, even though it must’ve been killing you on the inside.”
“Guilty.” He laughed and held up his hands. Her skin prickled. It was a long time since she’d heard him laugh. It was deeper than she remembered, and warmer. Like syrup. “So, you doing pre-calculus this year?”
“Yeah. My mom wasn’t sure if I should fast track, but I convinced her.” She nodded and finished putting out the maps, using a rock to stop them blowing away in the faint breeze. “You?”
“Same,” he said, and cautiously looked at her. “Via. I really didn’t mean to upset you at the fair.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Her mouth tightened, and the warmth of the day left her skin.
“I know,” he agreed in a low voice, and anger flared through her. Was he trying to make her feel guilty? Totally unfair. And unreasonable. If anyone was guilty, it was him. Zac’s words floated in her mind. Here’s a crazy idea. Just make your peace with him. Her brother could be so irritating sometimes. But what if he was right?
She sighed and swiveled around to face Hudson. His injured ankle was stretched out in front of him, and he was tapping his leg as if he was nervous.
He should be.
She arched a brow. “You want to talk? Great. So tell me Hudson, why did you sabotage my science fair project and then pour water over me, allowing the entire school to see my bra?”
He flinched like she’d hit him, then pressed his lips together.
“I wasn’t sabotaging it. I was looking at it and noticed your capacitor was bent. Believe it or not, I was trying to fix it, but my hand was shaking and when I pressed it down, it snapped. That’s what caused the short circuit.”
She stiffened. Impossible.
No way would she have done that. It was a rookie mistake, and she’d checked it three times. Hadn’t she? Her mind tried to rewind, but it was so long ago and all tangled up
