Page 31
“I’ll—I’ll help,” Sam said through chattering teeth. “The sooner we get wood, the sooner we’ll have a fire.”
They began picking up twigs and branches. At least it hadn’t rained, so nothing was wet.
Tanner nodded at the boy. “That’s exactly what my father said to Noah and me when we fell into this river when we weren’t much older than you.”
“Really?”
“Yep. And I know your mom would be so proud of how brave and strong you’re being. Noah too. Don’t tell him I told you, but when he fell in the river, he cried like a little baby.”
Arms full of wood, they headed back toward Bree and Eva.
“Noah really cried?” Sam asked.
“Yeah, of course, and I was crying too. It was damn cold.” That got a small laugh from Sam.
Bree was holding a sleeping Eva on her lap wrapped in a blanket when they got to them.
Tanner began building a fire. Normally he would have taken this opportunity to teach Sam about it, but Sam probably wasn’t up to learning much right now, and getting the fire going quickly was of the essence.
“She okay?” he asked Bree.
Bree rocked the girl back and forth in her arms. “Once I got her warm and fed her a protein bar, she was out like a light.”
“Did you get something to eat too?”
“Yes. There isn’t a lot in that bag, but I’m thankful for a little bit of food.”
Tanner got the blaze going, then reached down and pulled off his wet jeans, glad he had boxers on. He held out the other thermal blanket to Sam, who took it, then removed his own wet clothing.
“I feel like I could sleep for a week. Getting tossed around like that takes it out of you.”
“What happened?” Bree asked. “Did we run into a rock or something?”
Tanner looked over at Sam. The kid’s eyes were already drifting shut. He grabbed a protein bar from the bag, unwrapped it and put a bite in the boy’s mouth. He chewed without protest. Tanner took a bite himself, then put the rest of it in Sam’s mouth.
“It shouldn’t have mattered if we’d run into a rock. Rafts like that are meant to hit rocks regularly.”
Feeling much better without his wet clothes on, Tanner grew the fire until it was a large blaze. Sam was already falling asleep on the ground next to him.
“The bag you saved wasn’t the one with the emergency sat phone, was it?”
Bree shook her head. “No, it wasn’t your backpack. It was the emergency kit Barb was carrying. Blankets, some food, a water bladder and a flare gun.”
“Flare gun. That’s good.”
“Do we need it?” she asked.
“Only to signal to the others that we made it and we’re okay. I’m sure Marilyn is beside herself right now.”
Bree pulled Eva more closely into her arms. “I would be too if I saw my kids go headfirst into a river and there was nothing I could do about it.”
He got up and walked over to the wet backpack. Pulling out the flare gun, he also grabbed two of the four flares in the package.
“Two flares will let Noah know we don’t need any assistance. Otherwise he’ll be trying to sprint his way to us. Getting to the nearest bridge would take him hours, even at full speed. We don’t want him doing that—the risk of injury is too high in the dark if we don’t need help.”
He kissed Bree on top of the head as he walked by to get far enough away not to wake the kids as he shot. He pulled out the flare gun, loaded and shot it, then repeated the process. He knew Noah would understand the message and just hoped he’d be able to keep Marilyn calm.
He added more firewood to the fire, then resumed his seat next to Sam.
