Chaos Theory (Nerds of Paradise #2)(59)

“So what are you going to tell him?” she asked.

Will shrugged. “That I’m happy where I am. That I like my job. That I am in no way willing to leave Haskell or its unique and charming citizens at the moment.”

Melody giggled low in her throat. “Good.”

She leaned closer to him. Will’s first impulse was to slide an arm around her and kiss her. And for a change, he gave in to that impulse. Melody met him halfway, and their mouths sought each other out, hungry for a kiss. In spite of fish-breath and their awkward positions, it was a good kiss too. He scooted closer to her, contemplating letting the rest of the world go to hell while they—

A loud rustling in the bushes jolted him off the path he’d been about to head down. Melody gasped and pushed away from him with a hissed, “What’s that?”

“I don’t know.”

A low grumble joined the thrashing in the bushes up the hill a little ways from them.

“Is it a bear?” Melody asked.

It could be, but he wasn’t about to say that and let her worry. He leapt to his feet, lifting her with him, then turning to face whatever it was. And it was quickly becoming apparent that it was more than one big something.

“My backpack,” Melody whispered, pointing to where she’d let it fall to the side.

“Let it be for the moment.” He slowly backed away from the dense line of shrubbery separating the narrow lakeshore from the woods, arms outstretched to protect Melody. “If it’s a bear, it won’t want anything in there. If it’s something else, we’ll deal with it once we know.”

He nudged Melody another step back as the rustling grew closer.





Chapter Sixteen





Melody’s heart was in her throat, panic and doubt over her ability to run with her bad ankle if something truly dangerous came at them making her dizzy. She gripped the back of Will’s wet shirt with one hand and searched wildly for some sort of escape. The path along the river was clear for what looked like a hundred or more yards downstream, but with her ankle….

The bushes rattled closer, followed by a barked, “Ow!”

Instantly, Melody’s fear melted. She stood straighter as an impatient shout of, “Jogi!” followed.

Will relaxed too, and seconds later, Jogi Sandhu stumbled out of the bushes, skidding across the damp grass and loose gravel making up the lakeshore, a camera in his hand. Sandy pushed her way out of the bushes behind him. Laura and Ben marched into the clearing after them, looking exhausted, worn, and done in.

That changed the moment they spotted Will and Melody.

“Oh my gosh, am I glad to see you guys.” Laura burst forward, throwing herself toward Melody and closing her in a clumsy hug.

Melody laughed in spite of the stab of pain in her ankle as she fought to balance the weight of Laura and her backpack. “We thought you guys were a bear.”

“Ha,” Sandy snorted. “I wish.”

“There was a bear farther up the mountain yesterday,” Ben said. “But we steered clear of it.” He nodded to Laura.

“We saw one down by the water’s edge yesterday morning,” Will added.

Was it only yesterday morning? It felt like a lifetime ago. Melody let go of Laura and moved to hug Sandy. Where Laura had been drooping with relief, Sandy was stiff with frustration. “This is not the energetic, athletic challenge I thought it was going to be,” she grumbled. “Wildlife I can deal with. The elk were mostly just an inconvenience.”

“Elk?” Melody perked up.

“Let her tell the story.” Jogi pointed to Sandy and shook his head.

“But the cheating?” Sandy went on. “That’s where I draw the line.”

“What cheating?” Will’s expression had gone dark.

“Someone’s been going around stealing from people,” Ben said.

It was like the light had been flicked on while Melody was trying to do her homework. Everything suddenly made sense. “Someone snuck into our camp and stole our food the other night.”

The others didn’t look even a little bit surprised.

“I told you it wasn’t just us,” Jogi said. He took a step back when Sandy turned a sharp frown on him, holding up his camera as if it were a shield.

“Where were you guys dropped on the first day?” Will asked. His switch into problem-solver mode was so fast that Melody caught herself grinning.

Sandy twisted, studying the mountains. “We were dropped by the river, way up that way.”

“We filled up all our water containers and headed for higher ground after that,” Jogi added. “We’ve been walking along the ridge ever since.”

“We were dropped higher up, then traveled down to the river the next morning,” Melody said. “I wonder if we crossed you at some point?”

“More importantly,” Will added, “I wonder who else was dropped near us.”

“Near enough to swipe both your food and ours?” Sandy crossed her arms, jaw tight.

She and Will had come to an agreement about what must have happened with just a few words. Melody was inclined to agree with them. They’d been closer to others than they’d thought this whole time, and some of those others weren’t playing fair.

Of course, if they had been so close to other people, anyone could have watched them getting it on.