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Lauren woke to the smell of bacon frying; her mouth watered. She breathed in the damp morning and curled herself into Rowan’s body, dreamily unaware of the passing of time. Rowan took a deep breath and wrapped an arm around her. He snored loudly in her ear. The magic of the moment was suddenly gone. Now fully awake, Lauren was aware the sky was almost the same muted pink it had been before she’d drifted off.
She lifted his arm to peel herself out of Rowan’s grasp. She pulled on her jacket and then her hiking boots. She crawled out of their tent.
“Chow’s almost ready,” Jean-René said. The bemusement that curled the corners of his mouth did not escape her notice as she emerged from Rowan’s tent. Now that their secret was out, they gave up any pretenses. The ring on her finger gave her authority to sleep wherever she wanted.
“I’m starving,” she said, running a weary hand through her hair. “Anything happen overnight?”
Bahati brought her a cup of coffee. “You didn’t miss anything, Boss. It was quiet all night. At least until Rowan went to bed.”
Lauren laughed. “Rowan could wake the dead”
“Yes, but the real question is, can you wake him? We need to get moving.”
Bahati was right. Daylight was burning and they had another arduous hike ahead.
Lauren looked back at the tent. “I’ll see what I can do.” She offered. She went to her equipment trunk and found one of the digital recorders. She kept the volume turned down until she found the segment she wanted, then she stood behind the tent, and turned the sound all the way up. A grainy recording of an unexplained yowl filled the meadow. Once it ebbed, there was a moment of silence followed by a second. Before that cry faded, the tent began to shake violently and the zipper was thrown back, Rowan all but fell over the threshold as he hopped out trying to get a shoe on. Clearly, he wasn’t fully awake but when he froze and realized the whole camp was staring at him, he stood with his foot half out of the hiking boot, looking around, dazed.
A roar of laughter filled the camp. Lauren came around the tent holding the digital recorder. A devilish grin brightened her usually sober face. Rowan realized he’d become the victim of a classic prank in the world of paranormal research. “Good morning, Sunshine,” she beamed, awaiting his reaction.
He straightened and he shook his finger at her. “Ha! Ha!” He gave her a toothy grin. “You got me.”
She pulled him in, kissing him. “Come on. Let’s get breakfast and pack it up. We’ve got a lot to accomplish today.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he kissed her again, then went to do her bidding.