Something Wilder(53)

With a resigned sigh, she shoved it all in the center of her change of clothes.

When everything was ready, Leo helped get Walter settled in the back seat.

“You sure you know what you’re doing?” Bradley asked him with a mixture of concern and envy.

“I think I know what I’m doing,” Leo said warily. “But even if I don’t, Lily does.” He glanced back to where she and Nicole were talking quietly a few feet away. “Let’s just be glad she’s willing to keep going.”

“You are in so deep,” Walter said with a pained laugh.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s adorable, but come on,” Bradley said. “If I have to go back with Mom and you get to keep playing, you’d better keep your head in the game.” He motioned between the three of them. “We’re splitting this, right? So don’t get distracted because you’re busy getting your dick wet.”

Leo pulled back, feeling his temper slam down, a heavy pulse right in his temples. “Bradley, what the fuck?”

“I’m sorry to be crass, but this is serious!” Bradley stepped away from the Jeep, shoving a frustrated hand through his hair. “Walt and I need to know that you’ve got this.”

“I know what I’ve got to do,” Leo said. “Do you?” He ticked the instructions off on his fingers. “Get Walt to the hospital. Go to the police and tell them that Terry took off and we’re looking for him. If we find the money, we’ll get whatever we can carry, and call you the second we have a signal.” Leo held his gaze and then braced his hands on Bradley’s shoulders. “You’ve got to trust me. Okay?”

Reluctantly, Bradley nodded.

They all straightened when Lily and Nicole joined them again.

Nicole adjusted the ice pack around Walter’s ankle. “How’re you doing?”

“Okay,” he said. “Sorry again for messing everything up.”

“No need to be sorry,” Lily said. “It could have been worse.” Her words echoed for a beat. “Obviously.” She squeezed her eyes closed and took a deep, steadying breath. “Y’all were real cowboys this week,” she said, looking carefully at each of them, and a tender filament in Leo’s chest burned at how good she was at being a host, even now. “You aced your do-over. You should be proud.”

Lily and Nicole shared a glance, and then Nicole moved in to hug her. “You stay safe.” Nicole turned to Leo. “And you. Bring her back in one piece or I’ll cut off all your protruding parts.”

“Noted,” he said, and turned to Lily. “Do we have everything?”

Lily checked her pack one more time. “I think so.”

“Wait!” Walter called. With a dust-caked hand, he reached up, shoving his dark curls off his forehead. “I just wanted to say to Miss Nicole and Lily, this has been one of the best trips we’ve ever, ever done.” He looked at Bradley and Leo. “Right, guys?”

“Except for the death,” Leo agreed, “it’s been great.”

“Right,” Walter said, laughing nervously, “obviously except for that. So, I just wanted to say thank you. I won’t ever forget this experience.”

With a reluctant smile, Lily leaned over and hugged him. “You’re a sweetheart, Walt. Don’t let Nicole into your pants.”

“Hey.” With a scowl, Nicole climbed into the driver’s seat, and Leo watched Bradley get in the passenger side. The engine roared to life, and Nicole looked out the window at them. “See you in a few days, Dub.”

Beside him, Lily nodded, expression intense. The guys waved, and they watched as Nicole tried to gently navigate them over the bumpy road.

Finally, the Jeep disappeared from view. “Think they’ll be okay?”

“They’ll be fine.” She hitched Terry’s pack up on her shoulders. “It’s us I’m worried about.”



* * *



They headed back out, retracing their steps, more conscious of the path and the pitfalls this time. They hadn’t talked, but there seemed to be an unspoken truce between them, an acknowledgment of what had happened last night and an understanding that it wouldn’t happen again. They just focused on the journey in front of them.

After about half an hour, though, the reality that they were truly alone seemed to loosen something. They dusted off conversation, warning each other of things to avoid or pointing out sights on the trail. Leo asked her about a flowering plant (creosote bush), and the clucking of a small bird with a gray cap (chukar), and she asked him a little more about Cora: What was she like, did she have a significant other, what kind of medicine did he think she’d go into? The going was faster with just the two of them, and they talked as they hiked over loose red dirt softened by bulges of grass and shrubby plants. When Lily veered right, the makeshift trail became more rock than soil and began to slope sharply down, requiring most of their concentration. They walked for miles, his thighs burning in the steep downhill grade.

“Step directly on my footprints here,” she tossed over her shoulder.

He did as she said, changing his stride so his steps mirrored hers.

She pointed. “See where the dirt is darker over there?”

He nodded. Just off their path, the dirt was bumpy, covered in some kind of organic matter. “What is that?”