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“Well,” she corrected automatically. Then her face flamed. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I do that with my kids all the time, and now it’s a habit. But it’s rude to correct someone’s grammar.”
He frowned, thinking over what he’d just said. “What did I get wrong?”
“It’s nothing. Forget it.”
“I’m serious. I sucked at English, but I don’t mind if you school me. What should I have said?”
“‘You did well,’ instead of ‘you did good.’ One’s an adverb and the other’s a noun. If I did good, that means I did a good thing, like a good deed.”
“You did. You climbed a mountain to scatter a friend’s ashes. Doesn’t that count?”
He peeked at the water, which was almost boiling. They’d start with chana masala, he decided, because the beef stew tended to leave a certain residual smell behind. He tore open a packet and divided the dehydrated food between two lightweight tin bowls.
“Sure, but it’s not used to mean something specific, it’s more of an abstract good, like doing good in the world.”
“But you do good in the world.” He really wasn’t understanding the issue. “You hiked well, and you did good. Does that work?”
She finally gave in with a laugh. “I guess it does.”
With a cheeky smile, he winked at her. “I’m getting the hang of this grammar shit, ain’t I?”
As he poured boiling water into the bowls, out of the corner of his eye he watched her press her lips together to hold back the automatic correction.
“It’s okay, you can say it,” he told her.
“Aren’t I,” she burst out. “Or am I not, if you want to be old-fashioned.” She fanned herself as if she’d just run a sprint. “Whew. That was hard.”
“Nice effort,” he complimented her. “You almost managed it. I thought you’d give in sooner.”
“So you did that on purpose? Just trying to torture the poor teacher?” Her eyes filled with merry laughter. Rays of sun seemed to radiate from her. Did they even need a lantern when Brenda was in the room?
He shook his head to get rid of these crazy thoughts.
“I was just teasing. I’m an ignoramus when it comes to grammar rules. Society rules in general, actually. The only rules that make sense to me are the ones that try to save lives. All the others roll off me like water off a wood duck’s back.”
He brought her a steaming bowl of chana masala and a bamboo spoon. “It needs to cool down a bit,” he warned her.
She held the bowl in her hands to warm them. “I like how you don’t use plastic utensils or plates.”
“I use some plastic. There’s nothing like a black contractor bag to keep your things dry on a canoe trip. Except a dry bag, but those are expensive. I use both. I’m not a purist. I’m more of a scavenger. I like to reuse things, so if I find a dry bag at a garage sale, I grab it. But I wouldn’t buy one new. I’ve never bought a new piece of clothing.”
She gave a surprised laugh, then blew on her bowl of soup. “Never ever? What about underwear?”
“What’s underwear?”
When her mouth dropped open, he laughed. “I’m kidding. I do buy underwear new. I like my silk boxers too much to give those up. Kidding again,” he said when her mouth dropped even farther. “I wear normal underwear, and yeah, I buy it new.”
“Galen Cooper.” She shook her head, as though marveling at him. “You really had me going. Both times. I don’t know what’s more believable, you not wearing underwear or you wearing silk undies.”
“To be honest, neither one is impossible. I’ve gone commando before. And I wouldn’t mind seeing what silk feels like against my—” He broke off, suddenly realizing where the conversation had brought them. His face turned to fire. “Sorry,” he managed. “That was unprofessional. I shouldn’t be talking about my…you know…”
She was laughing so hard she sloshed chana masala onto her hiking pants. He plucked the bowl away from her so she didn’t waste any more food.
He honestly wasn’t sure what was so funny, but he found himself smiling right along with her.
“Oh my gosh, I haven’t laughed so hard since I don’t know.” She wiped tears from her eyes. “It was your expression, that was what set me off. You looked so horrified, as if you’d just mooned the queen of England or something.”
He grinned happily at her. Making her laugh was a joy, even if entirely unintentional in this case. “Just for the record, I’m not that uncivilized.”
