Page 48 of Last Chance Cowboy
But in all of that, Cara had been lost.
When she had stood out, it was with her acts of service. With her baking. With knitting sweaters and blankets, and doing things for other people. For her mother, for the community. So there was something sort of self-indulgent and fascinating about this. About having this little connection. This little secret. Even though it wasn’t really anything, it wasn’t anything more than these moments. And maybe to him it was nothing at all.
But to her, it felt like something.
She just wanted to go ahead and feel that for as long as she possibly could. It didn’t have to become anything. In fact, it was probably better if it didn’t.
But it was so nice to feel something exciting, something that didn’t really scare her so much as invigorate her.
“All right,” he said, picking up his bag. “I’ve got my firestarter in here. Today I’m going to help you with that. We’re going to do a bit of wayfinding with the compass. It would be good if we could go out at night.”
The image that painted was instant. Them, out at night together. Under the stars. Would it be cold? Would he pull her closer to keep her warm?
He’d probably push you in the river and demand you figure out how to keep yourself from getting hypothermia while he stood there and stared at you sternly.
Even that made her feel fluttery and a little bit…excited.
She had a problem.
“Would it?”
“Yeah. Because then you could practice finding your way using the stars.”
He hadn’t been thinking of the stars in the same way that she had been, but knowing that he was thinking of them at all set something alight inside her.
“Yes,” she said. “We could do that.”
“I’m thinking that’ll be your graduation. Camping.”
He started to walk out the front door, and she scampered after him. “Camping? Camping is not a quick look at the stars to see which way is north.”
“No. But it would be good for you. To survive the night in the wilderness.”
“I practically already did that.”
Genuine worry was bubbling up inside of her.
She wasn’t sure about spending the whole night outside.
“I would stay with you, of course.”
That made her blood pressure skyrocket instantly. Though, not in a bad way.
“Oh.”
“Of course, I’m going to give you a bunch of assignments to complete so that you can graduate.”
“There’s a graduation now? This is official?”
“Maybe.”
She followed him down the steps. “Does that mean I get a certificate?”
“Don’t push your luck.”
She wanted to. She wondered what he would do if she did. It was now a curiosity that she found she couldn’t quite let go of.
“Okay,” he said, bringing her to the center of the driveway. “I’m going to collect some wood for you, and some tinder, and then I’m going to show you how to light a fire. You can use your lighter for the first round. Because what I’m going to be showing you is what to use to build a fire that’s going to keep going. But then, I’m going to show you how to start a fire with a ferro rod.”
