LITMIR.BIZ

       Chapter Three

      Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Don’t panic.

      Charlotte wasn’t sure if it was Alex talking to her or her own psyche. But it was good to remember that she wasn’t all by herself.

      The raft was gone. The rope snapped when the tree landed on it and sent the inflatable boat rushing down the river. She wasn’t one to be a pessimist, but if that wasn’t bad enough, the overhead clouds finally gave way and opened with a sheet of rain. “What do we do?”

      “Grab the food,” Alex said over a loud clap of thunder. “I’ll close the dry boxes and meet you in the tent.”

      “Wait, what if lightning strikes the tent?”

      “The poles are fiberglass, not metal. And it’s better than sitting out here in the wide open. Besides, it usually goes for the tallest thing in an area and since the tent is by a grouping of smaller trees, we shouldn’t be in too much danger.”

      “Did you see what happened to the last tree it hit?”

      “Charlotte, take Trouty and get in the damn tent, please.”

      Rules and lists and directions made her feel safe. Having someone with her who knew the rules and how to give directions made her feel even safer. She pulled the sleeve of her shirt over her hand and picked up the skillet, which was still warm. As she ran toward the open tent, she felt a sense of peace come over her. Again she thought about the book she’d read right before embarking on this trip. In Our Natural Souls, the author spoke of how, hundreds of years ago, people with a lot less resources survived a lot worse conditions than these.

      She took one steady breath and then another. This situation was only temporary and they’d get through it. In fact, Charlotte bet people from all over the world would pay Russell’s Sports big money for exactly this type of adventure, being forced to commune with nature. The rain wouldn’t hurt her, it would only add depth to her article. She needed to focus on the positive.

      By the time Alex ducked into the tent, he almost looked surprised to see her sitting cross-legged in the center. She was calmer than even she would’ve thought possible. And if she hadn’t been, then she’d at least had years of etiquette classes to teach her how to pretend she wasn’t on the cusp of a panic attack.

      “I suppose there’s some sort of plan set in place for these types of unexpected events?” she asked.

      “The plan is that we hole up from the storm and wait for someone to come get us.”

      “How do you know they’ll find us?” Whoops, that anxiety was creeping back into her voice.

      “Why wouldn’t they?”

      She wanted to hear answers, not more questions.

      She held herself perfectly still, looking at the flapping material of the tent and hoping this thing could withstand what felt like hurricane strength winds and rain lashing against it. “What if they don’t even know we’re gone?”

      “Com knows when to expect us at the pickup location. Even he will miss us after a while,” he said, fiddling with the lantern he’d brought in with him. “As long as it doesn’t interfere with the Deadliest Catch marathon he planned to watch this evening. Besides, someone will spot an empty raft eventually, and hopefully notify the Forestry Department.”

      The light flared to life and it wasn’t until then that Charlotte realized how dark it had gotten outside. “So they should show up any time?”

      “Well...” Alex wasn’t looking at her and the pit in her stomach sank deeper than she had into the Sugar River.

      “Tell me.” She might be nervous, but it wasn’t like she was some emotional basket case who couldn’t handle the truth. She’d certainly weathered worse figurative storms than this and knew it would be best to arm herself with all the facts.

      “When we don’t show up, or when someone finds our raft, they’ll realize we got stuck out here and ground crews will start looking for us on the left side of the river because that’s the easiest for them to access. Since we’re on the right side, it might take a bit longer.”

      “But they should be able to see us from the water, right? This tent is bright orange.”

      “Nobody will be on the river with weather conditions like this. Even a rescue crew.” She tried not to shudder at the word rescue. That made things sound so much more dire. “If the lightning does move on and the wind eventually calms, it’s still too soon to tell how much rain has already dumped down, which means there’s a risk of potential flash flood conditions. Then, when you add debris and falling trees and rocks to the mix, it makes the river way too dangerous. And that’s just during daylight.” He looked at his watch.

      She felt the curves of her fingernails dig into her palms. “So, level with me, Alex. How long do you think we’ll be out here?”

      “Honestly, it just depends on the storm. But the good news is that we have plenty of supplies out there, hopefully not getting too wet. And we have shelter. Things could be a lot worse.”

      His attempt at a positive sentiment matched her own, but with more confidence. She flexed her fingers. They would be perfectly safe. Just like her daughters were perfectly safe back in Sugar Falls. And as long as she didn’t think about how this was the first time she’d been away from her girls, perhaps she could think of this as a working vacation. What a great story she’d have to tell her children, and her blog followers, when she got back.

      “Are you cold?” she asked, seeing that his flannel shirt was soaking wet. Focusing on someone else distracted her from worrying about whether she’d remembered to pack Audrey’s multivitamins or Elsa’s miniature neck pillow.

      “I’ll be fine once I get dried off a little bit.” He began tugging at the buttons and Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut, knowing that once she saw him shirtless, she’d never be able to forget the image.

      Maybe she shouldn’t be focusing on him. She racked her brain for something to take her mind off the man undressing a few feet away from her, then remembered the pan of food sitting beside her. “I don’t suppose you grabbed any dishes or silverware?”

      “Nope,” he said. She looked up at his bare torso, but her gaze didn’t go any higher than his chest, the golden skin taut against the contours of his muscles. Yep. Looking at him had been a big mistake. Before she made things worse by lifting her gaze to his face, her eyes shot away and focused on the baseball cap he’d tossed to the corner. She hadn’t seen him without the thing on and found herself desperately hoping that he was bald with some sort of misshapen skull that would detract from how stupidly attractive he was from the eyebrows down.

      Charlotte peeked up to see a head full of thick, brown hair, damp and slicked back from his forehead. Hell. The guy was completely perfect. And she was trapped in tent with him and her own racing heartbeat.

      Actually, she wasn’t trapped at all. She could unzip this thing and walk out any time she liked. As long as she didn’t mind getting electrocuted or pelted in the face with icy water. But a bit of fresh air would clear her head. “I’ll just run out and grab some plates and utensils real quickly. Do you know which box they’re in?”

      “I don’t think leaving shelter right now is a good idea,” Alex said. “I know you probably take table settings and all that fancy dining stuff seriously, but maybe your readers would be interested in how good campfire meals taste when eaten straight from the pan.”

      “You mean with our fingers?”

      “That’s how people used to do it before they invented silverware.”

      “Right.” The last thing she wanted was for him to think she was some sort of stuck-up princess.

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