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“Congratulations.” Brian reaches across me to shake Lila’s hand. “This is a badge of honor.”
“An honor? Really?” She sounds like she’s ready to collapse into laughter all over again, but she shakes his hand.
“Next time you’re sitting around a campfire and somebody starts complaining about worst hikes, nobody’s going to be able to top this story.”
“I guess it’s good to have bragging rights. Kind of.”
“Only a small nibble in the sleeping bag,” Deena says as sheand Mitchell join the rest of us circled around Lila’s tent. “I can patch it up when we get back.”
“At least it happened on the last day,” Mitchell adds.
“I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I think it was after the granola bar wrapper I had in my pocket.”
“I saw the shredded foil. It’s all right. Things happen. We’re just glad nobody got hurt.”
“But we do need to talk about where you’re going to sleep tonight,” Mitchell says. “The sleeping bag will be fine, but the tent won’t keep out the cold very well like this.”
Lila frowns down at the open tent. “I didn’t think about that.”
“Grant has space in his tent.” He sends a careful look my way. He’s not quite offering, but it’s clear he thinks someone should.
Lila’s eyes also shoot to mine, brimming with questions.
“Of course you can share my tent.” I’ve slept in two-person tents with strangers on trips like this before. This wouldn’t be any different.
Except Lila’s not a stranger. And I haven’t been able to get her out of my head for four days. And having her so close just might kill me in all the best possible ways.
But I can set that aside so she can sleep in comfort tonight. Well—relative comfort.
“We would divide up so Mitchell can share with Grant, except we sleep in a two-person sleeping bag.” Deena looks to the other couples, silently testing if either of them are willing to split up.
Cindy smiles but shakes her head. “I’m a really light sleeper. I don’t think I would be able to sleep if I wasn’t with Brian. Sorry.”
“And Scott snores like a freight train,” Shannon says with a laugh. “Unless Grant has heavy-duty earplugs like I do, hewouldn’t sleep a wink if they paired up. I’m sorry, Lila. I think you’ll have to go with Grant.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time she’s been in his tent.” Scott lifts his eyebrows, but looks away as though claiming innocence of what he just said.
I figured they’d noticed as much—there are no secrets on a trip like this—but I didn’t think anyone would bring it up to our faces. Apparently, I gave them too much credit.
“We’ve been reading together.” I read moreColor of Magiclast night until Lila could barely keep her eyes open, and she ducked out of my tent with a huge yawn.
He elbows his wife in the side. “I remember when we used to read in our tent.”
I ignore his insinuations, and turn to Lila. “I don’t mind sharing.”
She drops her mouth open but snaps it shut again, like she’s torn between two answers. Given the circumstances, there’s only one feasible option.
“Okay. Thank you.”
I’m not sure she’s as comfortable as she’s pretending to be, but I’ll do whatever it takes to put her at ease. This is only about keeping her warm.
Even if I spend the whole night trying not to think about all the other ways I could do just that.
After dinner, Lila appears at my tent, toting her sleeping mat.
“I figured we should get everything set up before the sun goes down. We don’t want to have to fumble around in there in the dark.” She closes her eyes slowly and doesn’t look at me when she opens them again. “You know what I mean.”
“Go ahead.” I unzip the door and hold it aside for her. I’dalready slid my mat and bag as close to the door as possible. There’s enough room for her, but only just.
