Charming Hannah (Big Sky #1)(15)

“Why do you think that?”

“Because you just reached for the spray again.”

My heart is hammering, and I can’t stop looking around me, listening for any tiny sound. We’ve passed several people hiking down. They’re the go-getters, who come up here super early, hike up, and then have to hike back down because the chair lifts aren’t running yet.

I’m not quite that ambitious.

And not one of them was running down the trail for their lives.

“I do have a bear thing. I’m absolutely terrified,” I admit and feel my throat burn with tears that want to come, but I swallow hard. I will not cry over a fucking bear that isn’t even here.

“Why?”

“Because we have the highest concentr—”

“Yes, I know that part,” he says.

“Every summer since I’ve lived here, at least one person has died from a bear attack. Two were injured last year. They love the huckleberries, and there are berries all over this mountainside.”

“Then why hike here?”

“Because I love it.” I shrug and then shake my head, laughing at myself. “Maybe I have this stupid thought in my head that if I face the fear, I can make it go away. But so far, it isn’t working.”

“I’ve never responded to a grizzly fatality on this mountain.”

“So you weren’t there when that poor man and his daughter were attacked last year?”

“Neither of them died.”

I stop and turn around, petting Sadie when she leans on my knee. “You’re missing the point, Brad. It’s an irrational fear for you. You have a weapon and you know how to use it. You also have Sadie, who I’m sure would go ballistic if a bear was nearby.

“I’m just me.” I hold my hands out to my side. “Me and bear spray. But damn it, I live in this beautiful place, and I’ll be damned if I won’t explore it once in a while. My anxiety can bite me.”

“Good girl,” he says with a smile. I don’t respond, I just turn to keep walking, but just then a cyclist coming downhill way too fast turns the corner and bumps me, hard. “Hannah!” Brad yells, as I stumble down the side of the goddamn mountain, stopping myself on a tree trunk.

“Ouch.” I cringe and brush some leaves some my hair.

“Are you okay?” he says from beside me, bracing himself on the tree, digging his feet in so he doesn’t slide down the mountainside, and assessing the damage. Sadie is with him, whimpering.

“Is she sad?”

“She wants to work,” he says. “She’s waiting for commands.”

“What a good girl.”

“Are you okay?” he asks again.

“My ankle hurts.” I take a deep breath, trying to keep my anxiety at bay. “It’s probably just a sprain.”

Or, you know, broken.

It’s not broken.

Except, what if it is broken? I’m on a fucking mountain and my ankle could be broken.

Shit. Shit shit shit.

“Let’s get back up to the trail.” Brad takes my hand and helps me to my feet. I refuse to put any weight on my hurt ankle, so I’m horribly off balance. “How bad is the ankle?”

“How am I supposed to know?”

His lips twitch. “You’re a doctor, sweetheart.”

“Oh. Right.” I glance up the hill and feel my eyes widen. “Holy fuck, did I fall that far?”

“You did,” he says grimly. “And we’re going to get you back up there.”

“Oh my God. Brad, if this is broken, I won’t be able to get up there. I’ll be stuck here. I’ll die.” I reach for my bear spray, but it’s gone, probably unclipped from my backpack in the fall.

And just like that, hysterics decide to set in.

“Hey,” Brad says, but I don’t hear him. I can’t breathe.

I’m going to die on this damn mountain.

Why didn’t I stay home?

The next thing I know, Brad has slung me over his shoulder, and he is carrying me back up to the trail, where he finds a tree stump and sits me on it.

“Hannah.”

I’m breathing too hard to reply. Sadie lays her head on my lap, but rather than finding it sweet, I want to push her away.

I want to push him away.

“Hannah.” He takes my face in his hands and makes me look at him. “Listen to my voice. Just listen to me.”

“Bear spray,” I manage, but he shakes his head.

“Shh. Listen to me. Hannah, you’re okay. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. No bear is going to get you.”

“I’m dumb.”

“No.” He wipes his thumbs over my cheeks and continues to talk so soothingly. “I need to know how bad that ankle is.”

I shake my head and lean on his shoulder, breathing deeply and fundamentally mortified.

This is not how I planned to spend date number two.

“Can you put your weight on it for me?”

“No.”

He leans in and presses his lips to my ear, erasing all thought of my ankle.

“Hannah, you’re badass. I know you had a bad moment down there, but you’ve got this.”

His hands are rubbing up and down my arms, and I take a long, deep breath. He’s right, I do have this, and it’s because just being with him and listening to his voice has calmed me, which is new.