The Middle of Somewhere(60)

She clasped the dishes against her and took a giant step onto a tall boulder, allowing the momentum to carry her to another stone farther up the bank. She caught hold of a branch and swung herself up the rest of the way. The brothers laughed.

At the top of the bank, in sight of the McCartneys, she paused to arrange the dishes to carry them more comfortably.

“Oh, Liz,” Payton called. “I forgot to give you this. Found it on the trail.”

She turned and spotted a narrow object in the air as it caught the light before falling to the ground behind her.

A red tent stake.

They laughed again, and Rodell let out a snort.

Dante hadn’t returned from the ranger station, but Liz was relieved to see he’d stowed his gear and would soon be ready to leave. She wanted to get the hell away from the Roots. She pulled a pair of used, but dry, socks from her pack and changed into them. There was nothing she could do about her wet boot. She packed the dishes, tucking them in with her clothes so they wouldn’t rattle, and secured the toggle closing her pack.

Brensen’s campsite was empty, so he must have been feeling well enough. Paul and Linda seemed to be getting a late start, probably with the intention of putting distance between themselves and Brensen. She was about to walk over and tell them about her encounter with the Roots when Dante came up behind her.

“Good news! The ranger says the weather should be fine for the next couple of days.”

“That’s a relief.” She pulled the top of her pack closed. “Dante, you won’t believe it, but I just ran into Payton and Rodell at the river.”

“I thought Rodell was injured.”

“I know. Listen.” She told Dante about her encounters with Payton: the time at Purple Lake when she’d been trapped between him and the stream, and today. He listened without interrupting.

“So,” she said, “I might not be a social genius, but I can’t ignore the fact that every time Payton opens his mouth I feel like I need a shower—or a bodyguard.”

“He’s definitely strange. Both of them are. But dangerous? Maybe he just likes to get a raise out of women. Maybe he considers that kind of talk flirting.”

“I think you mean ‘get a rise’ out of them. Provoke them.”

“Yes. Maybe if you refused to respond, it wouldn’t be fun for him anymore.”

So, it’s me? Liz thought. The nerd who blew her first marriage and was about to blow this relationship needed the behavioral adjustment. Well, he had a point. She hadn’t tried ignoring Payton. But her instincts—and recent events—said it wouldn’t work. “And what about the tent stakes? And the fuel? And that little present in our cabin?”

“We can explain those in other ways.”

“How? That we’re just incredibly careless and unlucky?”

He shrugged.

Liz didn’t want to press any further. “Let’s just get out of here, okay?”

They applied sunscreen and lip balm, drank water and put on their packs. Liz scanned the site one last time and led the way to the trail.

She wanted to mention the Roots’ reappearance to Paul and Linda, but although their gear was still at their campsite, the couple was nowhere to be seen. Liz figured they were upstream collecting water or perhaps had gone to a nearby clearing to take in the view.

They crossed the bridge and continued south on a gentle descent along the Kings River. After less than a mile Dante called to Liz. She heard him stop, so she leaned on her poles and regarded him over her shoulder. He removed his sunglasses and turned to the sky, as if for guidance. Then he looked at her squarely. “I’m sorry I didn’t understand before how much the Roots bothered you. If you want to stay away from them, that’s fine. We don’t have to talk to them.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“What do you think they want from you?”

“I have no idea.”

“Well, don’t worry about it. We’ll avoid them, okay?”

“We can try.”

As they resumed hiking, she wondered if it would prove possible to avoid the Roots; it certainly hadn’t been thus far. The Sierras encompassed a vast area, but in certain ways, not vast enough. For the rest of the trip, it would be harder to avoid other hikers. The passes were about a day’s walk apart. Most hikers preferred to cross them in the morning, when their legs were strong, which meant camping on the north side of the passes. To shake the Roots, they would have to go over two passes in a single day, and not get caught in an afternoon storm on the second pass. Some hikers managed this, even covering the entire two hundred twenty miles in a week or less, but it was too difficult for most, including her and Dante.