“It’s a travesty, Paul,” Marla agreed. “You can’t believe anything you hear, and you certainly can’t believe anything you see. Climate change isn’t even happening, and if it is, it’s a completely normal process. Why can’t these Base Camp folks admit that?”
Avery was glad Nora wasn’t home yet and Clay was with her at the hospital waiting for her discharge.
“And don’t even get me started on Harris and his forge,” Marla said. “A forge, folks. In the twenty-first century. Yeah, making iron implements the old-fashioned way is going to save us all.”
“I never said it would save anyone,” Harris sputtered. “It’s an art form. A way of slowing down and appreciating life.”
“Don’t listen to them,” Samantha told him, touching his arm.
“As for Samantha, sheesh,” Paul said on screen. “I guess you can’t expect much from a groupie who drove the bus for Deader Than Ever for over a decade.” Both hosts cackled. “What do you think she’s growing in those greenhouses, eh, Marla? A little something they can all smoke? No wonder they’re clueless.”
Samantha grabbed the phone from Hope’s hand and stopped the playback.
“We don’t need to listen to that,” she said.
“We need to know what lies they’re telling people about us so we can make sure we counter them,” Hope said. She turned to the nearest crew members. “You have to make sure you get footage that shows they’re lying.”
“Anyone who believes those lies is a fool!” Samantha said.
“What if they don’t know any different?” Win spoke up. “What if they’re not watching Base Camp, so what Star News broadcasts is all they know about us? In that case, it won’t matter what we do on the show. Why isn’t Fulsom doing something about this?”
“Are you kidding?” Renata spoke up. “He must love this. He probably planted the idea in some Star News lackey’s head. Controversy, remember? He loves controversy.”
“Well, I’m not letting this slide anymore,” Hope said. “We have to counter their accusations on our website. Put up information of our own that clearly outlines our position. I’ll take that on.”
Avery couldn’t listen to any more of it. She took her plate inside the bunkhouse, dropped it off in the kitchen and was just leaving again when Boone cornered her.
“Can we talk?”
“Do we have to?” She wanted to find some chore to do that would leave her so busy she didn’t notice Elizabeth trailing after Walker like a sixth grader after her first boyfriend.
“We have to,” Boone said.
“Fine.” She followed him a little apart from the others, trailed by a camera crew, of course.
“There’s no good way to say this, so I’ll just say it,” he started. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with Walker and Elizabeth. I know he loves you,” he added, heading off her protests, “but Walker is a man of honor, and there’s something about this promise he made he obviously doesn’t think he can just walk away from. Fulsom has got a rule: no one on set who’s not in the process of working toward being married. I got a call from him this morning, checking up on things. He made it clear; I’ve got to find you a backup husband.”
Avery stared at him. Was he serious? “You’ve got to be kidding. I’ve been here from day one.”
“I wish I was, but I’m not. You don’t have to like the backup, you certainly don’t have to marry him, but you have to be filmed spending enough time with him to keep Fulsom happy. Got it? I’ll have him here in a day or two.”
Avery heaved a sigh. “Fine. Get me a backup husband. Get me twenty.”
“Avery,” Boone called after her as she walked away. “I’m rooting for you two, you know that, right?”
She didn’t bother to answer. Boone caught up to her, and when she turned to tell him off, Harris and Samantha were there, too.
“We travel in groups from now on,” Boone reminded her. “Someone was on the property.”
“Oh, come on.” Avery bit off the rest of what she wanted to say. Harris had seen someone near the barn last night, and Boone was right to put safety first. She longed for the day when life could feel normal again, though.
Whenever that might be.
“I just want to check on the bison,” she said.
“Then we’ll check on the bison together.”
Avery kept going, feeling like a fool trailed by her entourage, and when she reached the bison pasture and saw Elizabeth standing at the fence cooing to Champ, she nearly growled in frustration and would have retreated if Elizabeth hadn’t beckoned her forward. They all crowded around her.
“Where’s Walker?” Avery asked, but she spotted him talking to Jericho closer to the barn. He’d spotted them, too, and she realized he was keeping an eye on Elizabeth.
“You’re not supposed to be alone,” Boone told her.
“I’m not.” Elizabeth pointed to the two men nearby. “I’m just seeing how the bison calf is doing. God, it’s cute.”
“It is,” Avery admitted. She didn’t like this new, human side to Elizabeth. Elizabeth was supposed to be all bad, so she could hate her. Boone and the others moved to talk to Walker and Jericho.
“You’ve done a lot of work this past year,” Elizabeth mused when they were gone. “All those tiny houses. The wind turbines. Everything.”
“It’s what we’re here for.”
“Thought you were here to save the world.”
“It’s the same thing.” She didn’t want to be sparring with this flint-sharp woman who’d known Walker far longer than she had.
“It’s not the same at all, you know.” Elizabeth’s gaze flicked over her. “You’re sending the wrong message altogether.”
“How so?” Avery was losing her temper. It was one thing to try to take Walker away—any sane woman would want a piece of him. It was another to talk down their efforts here.
“It’s not individuals who are the problem; it’s industry. It’s government. We’re one or two court battles, one or two pieces of legislation away from
