Page 29 of Keeping Amanda
“We’ve got this,” Nash said quietly. “We’re doing all right.”
“We’re almost out of the food you took,” she felt obligated to point out.
“But I’m also catching fresh meat almost every night with my snares. Thanks to the empty cans, we’ve been able to catch plenty of water as well. We might be a little hungry by the time we cross the border, but we’ll get there one way or another.”
He was right. Amanda knew he was, but the thought of walking for another week was daunting. She was exhausted. “Okay,” she said softly.
“Hey, look at me, Mandy.”
Sighing, she did as he asked, tilting her head up to meet his eyes.
“You’re doing amazing. We’ve got this. All it takes is one foot in front of the other. Baby steps.”
“Baby steps will just prolong this,” she said firmly. “I’d prefer to take giant Nash-size steps, thank you very much.”
He smiled. “That’s my girl.”
His words were a little condescending, but she took them in the manner he’d intended. As encouragement. Besides, being calledhisanything made her heart do silly flip-flops in her chest.
“If we’re going to have a chance to dry out at all, we need to finish bathing and get out of the water,” she said as sternly as she could. Though honestly, she didn’t want to leave this pool, for fear it would all turn out to be a dream. Or Nash would come to his senses. “Besides, Rain is going to have a coronary if we don’t get back to shore soon.”
The dog was whining more often now, and pacing back and forth as he watched them from the safety of the shore.
Nash nodded, then leaned down and kissed her briefly. He licked his lips after he pulled back, and Amanda almost melted at the tender look in his eyes.
He backed away from her and wagged a finger. “No peeking, woman.”
She giggled, having a feeling he wouldn’t care in the least if she did. He seemed like a man who was secure in his masculinity and wouldn’t give two little shits if someone spied on him while he was bathing.
But fair was fair, and since he’d promised not to look at her while she was getting clean, she wouldn’t disrespect him by not doing the same.
It didn’t take long for her to scrub her body with the sand at the bottom of the pool, and then do the same to her clothes. They weren’t exactly clean, but mentally it felt as if she’d somehow shed several pounds of dirt by the time she’d redressed.
“What about you, Rain? You want to get clean? Come ’ere, boy. Let me give you a bath, get some of that icky dried mud and blood off your fur.”
But the dog wanted nothing to do with the water. He backed away when Amanda tried to coax him into the shallow edge of the pond. She could only laugh. She wasn’t going to force the dog into doing anything for fear he’d go off and leave. She’d gotten very used to having the dog around. He didn’t walk with them all the time, but several times over the course of each day he’d popback up, as if checking to make sure they were still there, before heading into the underbrush of the jungle once more.
Something occurred to her then. “Nash? How are we going to get Rain across the stream? I mean, we’re already wet so it’s not a big deal for us to cross now, I don’t think. But what about Rain?”
She watched as Nash looked at the stream they still had to cross, at Rain, then back at the stream. Then he sighed and said, “We’re going to have to hope he figures out that he’s got to cross if he wants to follow us.”
Amanda’s heart fell. She’d really hoped Nash would’ve had some great idea about how to suddenly get the dog to trust them and to let them carry him across when they went. But she’d had a feeling he was going to say exactly what he said.
“He’s kept up with us so far. I have faith in him,” Nash told her firmly.
Having no choice, Amanda nodded. As they prepared to cross the stream, she spoke to Rain. Telling him what a good boy he was. How he needed to follow them. How it was only water. But Rain simply sat with his head tilted, staring at her.
“You ready?” Nash asked.
She wasn’t. But like most things that she’d been through lately, she didn’t exactly have a choice. So she nodded. After grabbing the pack, Nash took her hand and they started across the stream. Rain paced the bank as they left, looking as stressed as Amanda felt.
After she and Nash had reached the other side of the stream, they were dripping wet, of course. He suggested they turn their backs on each other once more while they wrung out their clothes, getting as much water out of them as they could. Amanda agreed. It was bad enough they had to walk while dripping wet every time it rained. She’d never take being dry for granted again. Or having a mattress to sleep on. Or food. Therewere a lot of things she’d change about her thinking when she got home.
Once they’d gotten redressed, Amanda felt much better. It was silly, she was only slightly cleaner than she’d been before they’d found the pool, but emotionally, she felt lighter.
She looked across the rushing water but saw no sign of Rain, which made her better mood take a nosedive.
“He’ll find us. I know it,” Nash said quietly.
