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I managed to get Chance into dry pants with only a little embarrassment. Once he was dry and we ate some granola, he sent me off in search of dry wood for a fire and a stick he could use as a crutch to help him move around without putting weight on his injured ankle.
Leaving Chance again made me nervous, but he was shivering, and we needed a fire. Even though it was late summer, the temperature dipped to uncomfortable levels at night. My mind was replaying the first aid training and trying to recall the symptoms of shock. Maybe he didn't remember crawling to the clearing because of his head injury. "Pay attention," I said. I couldn't afford to get lost because I let my mind wander.
"You shouldn't have tried to move," I said, dropping my load of wood in front of the tent. Chance was sitting with his butt inside. He had his sleeping bag wrapped around his shoulders.
"It wasn't pretty, but I scooted on by butt. It was low risk," he said.
"Are you OK?"
"A little cold. That's why I moved." His answer came out a little snippy.
I couldn't blame the man for being upset with me. I pushed him off a cliff, and we had to call for rescue. Something he told me he never needed to do before.
I managed to get the fire started and make hot tea from pine needles. It wasn't as bad as I expected. By the time I gathered enough wood to keep the fire going all night, dark was starting to settle in around us.
"You need to help me up," he said, reaching for the walking stick I'd brought him.
"Where do you need to go?"
"Nature call. I'm not going far."
With a flashlight tucked under one arm and the walking stick in the other, he walked to an area of brush downstream from camp.
When he returned, we settled in the edge of the tent, staying near the fire. We ate in companionable silence. "Should we stay put tomorrow?" I asked. "Or should we try to walk back as far as we can?"
"We'll walk back. Tomorrow morning, we need to take care of my ankle before we head out."
"Do we need to take care of it tonight?"
"I want to leave it until morning. I'm not up to it now."
After a few minutes of silence, he asked, "What's going on with you and Jim Stafford?"
I wasn't sure what he meant, and I guess that was clear on my face.
"You two seem to be spending a lot of time together according to the Wilkins’ Gap news channel."
I chuckled. "I like that you've named the rumor mill. It somehow makes it sound almost legitimate. Jim's the only person in Wilkins’ Gap I knew when I arrived. We emailed about Harry's will before I left Georgia. He introduced me to a lot of people in town, and he helped me paint my office at Hairy's and my bedroom."
"Really. Don't think I've ever heard of him providing that service to his other clients."
"Why do you care?"
"Just trying to figure out if Jim can be objective about Harry's will with you involved."
Silence descended again. We decided to sleep. Both of us were exhausted from the ordeals of the day. I banked the fire with Chance supervising. Unlike previous nights, I let Chance get settled first, while I took my nightly nature call, and returned to the tent. I knelt by the tent flap. "Is there anything I need to take care of out here?"
"No. Just be careful of my ankle when you come in."
I crawled in and sat cross-legged on my sleeping bag. "Can I get you anything? Or help you. Do you want to take your jeans off?"
"I'm fine as is. If you can give me a couple more pain pills, I should be good 'til morning."
When we were both settled into our sleeping bags, he asked me who I'd made friends with in Wilkins’ Gap.
"You already know I'm friends with Jim."
"At least," he quipped.
"Rick, Rita, and Sally at the cafe. I want to get to know them better, but they seem nice. I guess Laurie Beckett is probably my best friend in town. She went with me on my shopping trip to get the gear I needed. I met people at the potluck, but don't really know any of them. Oh, I met Laurie's brother Tom the other day when I picked her up at the shop. He seems nice."
"Do you have a thing for firemen?"
"I don't have a thing for any particular occupation, though Jim has....
"A leg up because he's a lawyer?"
"Actually, I was going to say Jim has to overcome the fact that he's a lawyer. My ex was a lawyer. I'm a little wary."
"Most women around here seem to think Tom's pretty hot, if you can say that about a fireman. You'll have a chance to get better acquainted. He'll probably be leading the search and rescue team. I normally take the lead if I'm not in the field. When I'm not available, then Tom leads. I'll never live down needing to be rescued."