Page 17 of First Bride to Fall
“I was—am—two years younger.”
“Ah. A fair young maiden of thirty,” he teased.
She laughed, and his body warmed further, despite the rain. He’d never paid too much attention to a woman’s laugh before. But he liked Nell’s. It seemed all sunshiny, like those brightly painted toes of hers.
“Grant?” she asked a little shyly. “Are you seeing anyone?”
“No. Are you?”
“Not at the moment.”
Nice. He snuggled her in a bit closer. “That’s probably good, then. Your boyfriend might get jealous of me carrying you down the trail.”
“Well. Thisisa medical emergency.”
He studied her playful expression, glad she could joke. That had to mean she was feeling okay. “Even so.”
She locked on his gaze, and there was a look in her eyes like she wanted to say something more. Then the rain picked up, drumming the earth and the leaves all around them.
They were almost to the parking lot. On one hand, he regretted that she’d no longer be in his arms. On the other, he’d much rather continue getting to know her somewhere warm and dry. The storm seemed determined to make that impossible. “This has to be the front of that nor’easter coming through.”
Worry furrowed her brow. “Do you think we’ll make the bridge?”
“Don’t know.” He’d find out when they got to the SUV so he could text Jordan to update him on their situation and make sure the others had gotten out safely.
“Is that the only way?”
“There is one other.” Of course, that road could be flooded out, too. Fortunately, though, he had a backup plan and a decent place for them to stay if it came to that. Tending to Nell overnight would be a welcome distraction from the weather. He enjoyed her company, and she seemed to enjoy his. He could take care of that injured ankle of hers and make sure she was all right. And maybe he’d get to the bottom of why she signed up for his hike.
…
We’re stranded.
Okay, yes, she was stranded with Grant, but she might have preferred better circumstances. Circumstances that didn’t include a washed-out bridge. Something planned would have been so much better. That way she’d have known to bring some nice clothes and makeup along, beyond the basic lip gloss she kept in her purse. She’d used the bathroom near the trailhead before they left, and her reflection was horrific. She’d had to scrub her face clean with industrial hand soap and paper towels to cure her weeping mascara.
Now, she felt like crying for real. She was cold and achy. Getting hungry, too. She’d only had time to grab toast and coffee for breakfast, and that had worn off somewhere between the scramble up the hill and her meltdown at the top.
“Well, there goes that,” Grant said as rushing rapids swept by, carrying pieces of the bridge’s pilings with them.
Nell stared out the rain-streaked windshield. She had her hurt ankle propped up on Grant’s dashboard in the boot. Her foot felt like it was swelling, too.
“Didn’t you say that there’s another way?”
“Yeah but…” He grimaced. “Maybe if we’d started earlier? That road is low-lying near a stream. It tends to flood over.”
“Maybe it hasn’t yet?”
“Yeah. But no.” He shook his head. “I’m pretty sure that it has.”
“We won’t know until we check, will we?” He had the defrost on and the heat cranked up, but she still had goose bumps. She shivered, and he seemed to take pity on her.
“All right,” he said, relenting. “We can go and check.” He gave an exaggerated groan but didn’t sound seriously grumpy. It was more like he was indulging her and was resigned about that. “If it will make you feel better.”
“Yeah.” She smiled. “It would.”
They only made it halfway down the road of their alternate route before they had to stop because of a tree that had fallen across the road, blocking it. Through its spindly branches dotted with gold and brown leaves, Nell spied the low spot in the road that was in fact heavily flooded. Even if the tree hadn’t been in the way, they couldn’t have made it through.
Argh. He was right. The road was impassable.
