Chaos Theory (Nerds of Paradise #2)(58)

“What thought?” She stared at him as if he’d grown a new head. “I was convinced you’d turned into a dick overnight and blown me off.”

“After everything we said yesterday?” He didn’t know he could sound as mellow as he did, but there it was.

“Yeah, after everything we said.” He didn’t realize she could sound so peevish either, come to think of it. “Mind you, I would have torn you a new asshole if you actually had gone on without me.”

“I know.” He unrolled his trousers. “That’s why I didn’t.”

She paused, then let out a snort of laughter. “Okay, you get points for that.”

“At least I get points for something.” He feigned his old grimness, but at the same time the new part of him stretched and flexed, feeling pretty darn good.

She let out a breath that turned into a weak laugh. “You really didn’t try to run off without me and leave me with this thing?” She held up the GPS device.

“Nope. I wasn’t even aware that had fallen out of my backpack.”

“Whoa. You didn’t, like, do a complete inventory before taking your backpack and wandering off in the forest?” The sparkle of humor was back in her eyes.

Will chuckled. “You might not know this, but guys generally don’t go through a checklist before they masturbate.” Although he’d come too damn close.

All at once, Melody burst into laughter. She elbowed his arm just as he finished getting his socks on, then twisted as best she could with her huge backpack on and threw her arms around him in a hug. “You could have woken me up and done me good and proper, Clementine.”

“The thought occurred to me.”

She chuckled harder, her weight sagging against him. “They say it’s the thought that counts.” She pulled herself together a little, straightening. “Although damn, I could have used a wake-up call like that.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time.” He grinned as he bent over to tie his boots. “How is your ankle, by the way?”

The last of the unexpected maelstrom evaporated. Melody sighed. “It’s okay. Believe it or not, I’ve had worse. I’ll be okay walking on it, as long as we go slowly.”

“That can be arranged.” He stood and turned to offer her a hand up. She took it. The gesture was simple, but it clicked another piece of him into place. Or maybe it snapped the old him out of place. Either way, it felt good.

It didn’t take him long to pack up, transferring some of the stuff Melody had packed in a hurry to his backpack, and to hoist the load over his shoulders. Within minutes, they were hiking slowly but steadily through the forest again.

“Aren’t you going to get the map out to make sure we’re heading in the right direction?” Melody asked as they followed along the river’s edge.

Will shook his head. “I figure we’re doing fine by following the river. Besides, there have been enough helicopters in the last day to give us a pretty good idea that the finish line is that way.” He pointed ahead and slightly to the left.

“I wonder who’s even left in the competition?”

“I’m sure there’s still more than enough competition to keep you on your toes.” He sent a wry grin over his shoulder to where she walked half a step behind him.

They continued on for about half an hour in silence, focusing on a stretch of difficult terrain that took them partway up the rocky slope before they could head down to walk on the even land beside the water again. After that, Will figured it was time for Melody’s ankle to take a break and for them to find something to eat.

“I wrapped up the leftover fish from last night’s dinner,” Melody said once she was seated on a sandy bank beside the lake. She shrugged off her backpack and searched for it while Will went down to the lake for water. It would take time for the water he collected to purify, but they still had clean water from last night in another bottle.

They ate, and while Will munched on overcooked fish and not-quite-tasteless water, Melody stared at him like something was eating at her mind. As last, she asked, “Were you running away from something when you came to work at PSF?”

As much as he wanted to answer that of course he wasn’t, if he could admit to whacking one out in the forest without her, he had to admit to other things. “My dad had been trying to get me a job with NASA for years. He’s still trying. In fact, just before we left to come out here, he called to say that it’s pretty much a done deal.”

She nearly swallowed a swig of water wrong. “Was that what that phone call was about the day before we flew out?” she asked when she stopped coughing.

Will nodded. He didn’t need to add anything else.

“So you were running away by taking the job in Haskell.”

“I don’t see it that way,” he said, genuinely not sure if it was a lie or not. “Howie made his offer. It was a good one. NASA hadn’t given me anything by that point, so I took it. Dad hit the roof, saying I was settling for second-best when there was still a chance for me to go to the stars.”

“Does he realize you don’t want to follow in his almost footsteps?” She arched a brow.

“Nope.”

For the first time, Will was able to smile as he answered that question. His dad didn’t have a clue when it came to knowing what Will wanted. But at that moment, also for the first time, it didn’t matter. Will knew what he wanted, and she was sitting right next to him on the grass, powering through a banged-up ankle, pink-faced and glistening from exertion. NASA had nothing on that.