Page 35 of Let's Call a Truce
I grabbed the right size boots, trying to balance as I slid my foot in.
The employee called over to me. “Ma’am, have your co-chaperone help you, please. We don’t want you falling, and you can’t strap them on by yourself. You’ll end up with water in your shoes.”
I looked down at my beautiful new running shoes, cursing myself for donating my old ones. I glanced between my shoes and Ben, weighing my options. One: ask Ben for help. Two: wreck my new shoes. I was still trying to decide when Ben sighed and grabbed the boots from my hands.
He kneeled in front of me, gently grabbing my calf as he guided my first foot into a boot, followed by the second. They reached right above my knees, with straps wrapped around to keep the water from getting inside. I tried to steady my breathing; his fingers skimmed my thighs as he helped me with the straps.
He looked up from where he kneeled in front of me when he finished. “Nothing sexier than a beautiful woman in thigh-high boots.”
I laughed despite myself, popping out a hip. “Swamp chic. It’ll be all the rage at Fashion Week.”
My smile faded as he slowly rose in front of me.
“Isn’t this better, Juliana?”
I felt flushed, and I fought against the urge to fan myself. These damn boots were making me overheat.
“I should check in on our group.” I spun away from him as fast as the clunky boots let me.
We ended up as the last group, with Ben at the front. I knew from experience there’d be places he’d have to lift kids from the mud back onto the shore. Orlando had seen even more rain than usual in the past few days, and the mud reached above my ankles less than five minutes in. It was only going to get deeper. The woods echoed with the kids’ squeals and the squelching of their tape-wrapped shoes in the mud, and I laughed along with them as we all slipped and slid our way along.
We trudged through a deep section. I could see the students in front of me practically swimming, the mud up to their chests. It was only waist-deep on me. I was confident in my abilities until I suddenly couldn’t move my foot forward.
I yanked, trying to free myself from the muck. I tried to twist my foot a bit to loosen it up. I looked around for any tree branch I could use to tug myself out. Nothing. The students were disappearing around a corner. Before I could call out, they were gone.
Shit.
They’d notice I wasn’t there any minute and come back. I just had to wait it out.
Or not.
Who knew how much time had passed since the group lost me? I was sure I’d been stuck here for hours. I was starting to panic. I was the last person in line, so maybe they didn’t notice until the trail’s end. Why didn’t I make Ben go last?
I kept rotating my escape tactics, but nothing was working. What if I ended up stuck in a swamp all night? Damn it. I would have to dip under the water to dig my foot out. I used the term “water” liberally. It was really just a huge puddle of muck made up of god-knows-what.
I was working myself up to go under when a noise came from around the corner, sending my heart into my throat. Just as I was resigning myself to my future as an alligator’s lunch, Ben came into view.
“Oh, thank god. I thought no one would ever notice I was missing.”
“It’s been, like, five minutes.”
“Bullshit.”
“I swear to god. Ten minutes maximum. The rest of the group is only twenty feet around the bend. How long did you think you’ve been stuck here?”
I pursed my lips, still unsure if I believed him but uncertain enough that I didn’t want to embarrass myself more.
“It doesn’t matter. You’re here now.”
“This may be the first time you’ve ever been happy to see me.”
“Screw you. Better? Now get me out of here.”
“So disrespectful.” He stopped a few feet away from me and crossed his arms.
I glanced around for snakes, frogs, and other crawly creatures I was desperately trying not to think about and decided this wasn’t the battle to fight.
“Please, get me out of here.”
