The Hike(29)

Cat handed her a box of plasters, just as the boys arrived back beside them. Neither of them looked happy.

Ginny peeled the backing off one of the large plasters and carefully positioned it over the worst of the burst blisters. ‘Just give me a minute,’ she said. Already forgetting that the reason for the return was not her, but Cat.

‘What’s up with you, Cat?’ Tristan crouched down beside them both. ‘You’ve been a bit out of sorts all day.’ He paused. ‘Do you think you can see this through?’

Paul snorted. ‘Have you looked around, Tristan? I don’t think any of us has a choice, do we? Given we’ve no way of summoning help.’

Tristan ignored him and laid a hand on Cat’s shoulder. ‘Do you need a hand?’

Paul stepped in, brushing Tristan out of the way. ‘I think I can help my own wife, thanks.’

Ginny watched Cat’s expression as her sister’s eyes flitted from one man to the other. ‘You might as well tell them,’ Ginny said. ‘They’ll find out soon enough.’ She rolled her socks back on and carefully slipped her feet into her trainers. It was better. Not perfect, but it would do. She could walk the rest of the way and still keep some of the skin on her feet.

‘Tell us what?’ Tristan said. ‘What’s wrong with her?’

‘Cat?’ Paul was crouched down beside her now, but Cat was already pushing herself up off the ground.

‘I’m fine.’ She glared at Ginny. ‘She’s being ridiculous. Let’s just go, shall we?’

Ginny smirked. ‘I’m being ridiculous? You’re the one who hasn’t bothered to tell their husband that they’re going to be a daddy.’ She flexed her feet inside her trainers, checking for friction. Much, much better.

‘You what?’ Paul was standing now. He looked from Ginny to Cat and back again. The sheer panic on his face was hysterical. ‘Cat?’

Ginny started laughing. ‘It’s what happens when a man and a woman love each other very much.’ She held up one hand with her thumb and forefinger in an ‘o’, then started prodding the forefinger of her other hand in and out of the hole. ‘Didn’t they teach this at your school?’

Paul had paled. Oops! Maybe this was something they’d decided never to do, and silly Cat had decided to trick him by stopping her contraception. This was one of the suggestions on Ginny’s forums for when it looked like the straying husband was going to stray away for good. No man wanted to look like a shit and leave a pregnant woman. It’s something she was considering herself, if she didn’t get some answers from him soon.

Tristan was shifting from one foot to another. He also looked deeply uncomfortable at this turn of events. That was interesting, too. Had the men been talking about this? Oh god! Maybe Paul was planning to leave Cat. Maybe that’s what all their secret little man-chats had been about, in amongst the play-fighting.

‘For fuck’s sake, Ginny.’ Cat took Paul’s arm. ‘Look, I don’t even know if this is true. I haven’t done a test or anything. I hadn’t even considered it until Ginny started banging on about me being sick and dizzy, and maybe—’

‘Like I said before, it’s probably just the heat and the altitude.’ Paul’s voice was stony.

Tristan changed his expression to something more cheerful. ‘If it is true, it’s bloody brilliant news. Cat will make a top mum.’

Paul stepped away from Cat. His face had gone from shocked pale to angry red. ‘It’ll be altitude sickness, that’s all.’

‘Oh, come on,’ Ginny piped up. ‘This could be just what you two need.’

Paul turned to her. He had his hands balled into tight fists, and he looked very much like he was ready to explode. This was not the reaction she’d expected at all. Cat was looking confused, and a bit sheepish. Tristan seemed to be flitting through a series of emotions – the current one being embarrassment. There was really nothing worse than becoming embroiled in another couple’s domestic, and as domestics go, one half being unhappy to be expecting a child was as good as it got.

‘She can’t be pregnant,’ Paul said, through gritted teeth.

Ginny laughed. ‘Why not, silly? The pill’s not one hundred per cent effective. Accidents happen.’ She paused, watching his face. ‘Oh . . . wait. Are you saying you don’t have sex anymore?’ She looked at Cat, unable to keep the gleeful smirk off her face. ‘Only takes one go.’

‘Just leave it, Ginny,’ Cat said.

But Ginny knew she had stumbled on to something big. And there was no way she was letting it go.





Twenty-Three

He’d made a mistake getting too close to them. But it had been hard to resist. He could smell her scent as he tracked the group.

He knew the trails well.

Thought he was deep enough in the woods to stay out of sight. But the younger one had heard him. Spotted him. And running away would have freaked them out even more. He’d decided that revealing himself was the better option. Some bullshit story about being a shepherd. What the fuck did he know about sheep?

Well . . . they were followers, right? Liked to cling together in their little flock. Be told what to do, where to go.

The blonde wasn’t like that. She was determined. She wanted to break away from the others.