Chaos Theory (Nerds of Paradise #2)(41)

Melody snorted with laughter. “Alright, but make sure you give the tree your phone number afterwards.”

“My what?” He paused and turned back to her.

Melody giggled as she said, “I mean, if you’re going to take advantage of it, the polite thing to do is to keep in touch.”

“Wha— I’m not…that’s not what…” He blew out a frustrated breath, and turned away from her, shaking his head.

Half an hour later, they were changed, had their wet pants draped over their backpacks so they could dry more easily, and were moving on. The bear wasn’t anywhere in sight as they passed the point of encounter on the other side of the stream. Melody scanned the area anyhow, more than a little wary. But soon they were well downstream of the spot, and she loosened up.

“I should have gotten a picture,” she said, falling into a comfortable rhythm of chatting while Will scanned the area around them. “A bear would have made a great picture.”

“Yeah, or one that would have ended up costing Howie a fortune in liability,” Will said. He’d taken the map out of his pocket and was checking it as they walked.

Melody laughed. “No one really believed him when he said there wouldn’t be any dangers on this trip.”

“Let’s just hope that’s the worst of it.”

“Oh, I’m sure there will be plenty more fun to come.”

Will glanced up from the map and shot her a sideways look. There was something about the spark in his eyes, the looseness of his gait, and the softness of his mouth that belied he was having a good time. Melody wondered if Will was like a fossil—the more you chipped away at the rock encasing it, the more the truth of what it was came to light.

“I wonder if anyone else ran into bears or mountain lions or even snakes,” she said as they walked around an outcropping of rocks.

“Probably,” Will answered, half distracted.

They sort of had an answer to that question an hour later when they had stopped for lunch and heard a helicopter overhead. It was clear enough by the edge of the stream for them to see up into the sky and to track the chopper’s path. It descended into the trees, although they could still hear it, and ten minutes later, it ascended into the sky and flew off.

“Looks like we have a little less competition,” Will said, squinting into the growing clouds.

“I hope no one is hurt,” Melody added in a half-whisper.

Will lowered his eyes and looked at her. “You’re right. I should have put concern for someone else’s wellbeing ahead of the need to compete.”

Melody smiled. “You’re learning.” She followed her comment with a wink.



By the middle of the afternoon, Will was fairly certain he knew where they were on the map. And he had no idea where he stood with himself. The competition was supposed to help him hone his competitive skills, give him the hunger to want the NASA job his dad had been lobbying so hard for. Instead, he kept wishing they could take more time to sit and enjoy lunch, walk more slowly through the trees, breathe a little deeper.

“Hey look, I think I see another couple up there,” Melody whispered as they rounded the bottom of a ridge.

Will glanced up the hill where she was pointing, but what he noticed was that she still had that flowery scent when she swayed closer to him, her voice was filled with excitement, and her eyes danced with the possibility of running into someone else, friend or foe. Personally, if he never saw another human besides Melody, he’d be fine with that.

“Where?” he finally whispered back, pausing and searching the hillside in earnest. It was hard to see anything with so many trees.

“Up there.” Melody extended her arm farther, stepping right up against him. “Listen.”

Will held his breath. He could feel the heat of Melody’s body reaching for him. Her breath brushed against his neck. His heart pounded, blood rushing through him, making him feel like more than a high-achieving robot.

Then he heard the faint conversation filtering down through the trees. It was impossible to make out the words, but he could distinguish a male and female voice. He strained to hear more, but it was impossible to tell who the two were. Within minutes, their voices had faded.

“Should we go after them?” Melody asked, stepping away.

“No.” Will shook his head. “This isn’t a team competition. If we’re going to win, we need to cross the finish line on our own.”

In fact, he wasn’t sure if there were any such rules. He couldn’t remember the rules at all just then. But if it meant sharing Melody with someone else, risking her realizing that everyone else in the world was far better company than him, he’d rather continue on alone with her.

“Good thought.” She nodded, then walked on.

He followed her, keeping a wary eye out for other competitors. It made sense that they would be near to others. There was only so much territory that they all could have been dropped in while keeping the competition fair, and the closer they got to the finish line, the more likely they were to run into everyone else.

“We did occasionally have to camp in the rain,” Melody said as though she’d been having an entire conversation while he wasn’t paying attention. “It’s not so bad, really. This one time, Dad got the idea in his head that we should build a hut out of scrub and tall grasses. He’d seen a video about making thatched yurts and wanted to give it a try. It was a total disaster, though.” Her laughter rang through the forest.