Smoky Mountain Sweethearts. Cheryl Harper

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СКАЧАТЬ that not everything would go according to her plan was when she’d collapsed, panting, on the first bench along the trail, the one she and her friends had always called “Better Off Dead.”

      Because anyone who had to stop there to rest already had one foot in the grave.

      She and her friends had been punks, obviously.

      The hike that had taken her half an hour at seventeen took four times that long now, and she’d made unscheduled stops at every bench and flat rock she could find along the way.

      None of that mattered once Avery reached the clearing, because she’d managed it. All by herself. Even two weeks ago, walking into the grocery store had been too much of a physical challenge.

      “But either all that gasping for air has killed brain cells or the realization of what I’m supposed to do with the rest of my life isn’t coming today,” Avery muttered and pulled her phone out to check the time. She’d sat there, legs folded under her, for so long that they might have frozen into position. She hadn’t seen a bear or an otter, the two main draws, other than the panoramic view of old, dense woods, a wispy waterfall and the sparkling waters of Otter Lake in the distance.

      Avery inhaled slowly and forced herself to stand. At least it was easier to breathe here. The cool, dry air flowed in and out, something that she’d learned to never take for granted again after too long inhaling canned hospital air and feeling the crushing panic that came from watching someone she loved dying.

      “Forget the revelation. You have another problem.” Avery raised her cell phone higher, hoping to find a signal, without any luck. The sun was dropping quickly, and the climb down, while it would go faster, wasn’t going to be as quick as she’d expected, either.

      Her mother would be worried.

      In an effort to hurry, Avery stretched her legs, grabbed her long-empty water bottle and started back up the first small rise that led back down to the trailhead parking lot. The unseasonably warm breeze had been perfect while the sun was up. Now a jacket would be nice.

      Thanks to the shadows of the setting sun, it was harder to see all the rocks and tree roots that bumped across the trail, so halfway down the second long rise, Avery stubbed her toe, stumbled and landed on one knee with an ugly curse.

      The urge to sit down and sob over the injustices of life welled up almost as quickly as she realized she wasn’t hurt, but banged up. The fact that her emotions ran away with her before she even knew where she was heading was twice as irritating as a scraped knee.

      “You can’t sit in the dirt and cry like a baby, Avery. People will be searching for you.” The last thing on this earth that she wanted was to be the subject of a manhunt, and if she didn’t get to the bottom and her mother’s car and cell phone service soon, she’d have to move, leave the country and change her name.

      She’d brushed off her jeans and tightened her shoestrings in the effort to convince her feet to get with the program when she heard someone yelling. Whoever he was was still a distance away and she couldn’t make out what he was saying, but there was no denying that her search party was already on the hunt.

      Annoyed at herself and at her mother, Avery cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, “Here. I’m here.” Then she pulled her cell phone out and checked again. Still no signal.

      Determined to save the poor guy headed her way as many steps as she could, Avery marched up the next rise and had to catch herself on a fallen tree when she tried jogging over rough rocks.

      “Avery.” This time she could make out the word clearly.

      “Here. I’m here.” Her voice was breathier than it should be, thanks to the pang in her side that made it easier to stay hunched over for a second.

      Then her rescuer appeared over the rise and trotted down to meet her.

      “Sam Blackburn. It’s been a long time,” Avery said with a lame attempt to convince him she was perfectly fine and had everything under control. They might not have seen each other except for brief flashes whenever she’d made it home for Christmas, but she’d pick him out of a sea of faces. They’d once moved in the same crowd, the previously mentioned punks. She and Sam had either been friends or vicious competitors growing up, but his grandfather was the first one to bring her here to see the falls. Sam and his mother had lived with Gee next door to Avery’s family forever. After Avery’s father’s death, he’d showed her and Sam all the trails she’d ever explored in the Smoky Valley Nature Reserve, as a way to save Janet Abernathy’s sanity. When the weekend rolled around, she and Sam were dogging Gee’s steps. And Sam had been the cause or the witness of most of her teenage stunts until she’d graduated from high school and moved to Knoxville to go to college.

      While Avery was one more hike up to the cliff away from death, Sam was as strong as he’d been at seventeen. She was also in need of a rescue while he was barely breathing fast. Life was unfair.

      “Have a seat.” He wrapped his fingers around her wrist to test her pulse and handed her the flashlight. “Hold this for me.”

      Avery eased down to the rocky path and turned on the light as Sam pulled a handheld radio off his utility belt.

      “Blackburn to base.” Sam handed her a canteen. “Drink.”

      Avery wanted to argue but he wasn’t ready for that yet.

      Whatever he made out through the static prompted the answer: “I found her, headed back down to the Yanu trailhead. Good condition. Pulse is fast but steady. Hold the second group. We’ll walk out.”

      When he turned back, Avery tipped up the canteen, took three good swallows, wiped her mouth and offered it to him. “Are you the Otter Lake ranger station’s arm of a county-wide manhunt?”

      Sam eased down beside her and ran a thumb over the tear in her jeans. “I’m it. Your mother called me instead of 911. Once she told me you were headed to the park, I had a feeling I knew where to find you. The fact that she couldn’t reach you on your cell phone was another good clue. Worst cell reception in the area here.” He waved the canteen. “Drink.”

      Avery snatched it back. “You know, it was a couple of hours on a beautiful fall day, not the desert at high noon.” She took three more swallows to make him happy and then capped the canteen and slung it over her shoulder. “I’ll hold on to this in case I need it, okay?”

      “Good idea. It doesn’t take long to get dehydrated, especially as dry as we’ve been lately.” Sam checked her pulse again. His warm fingers reminded her how much she wished she’d brought a jacket. The shiver that shook her shoulders was impossible to ignore.

      “Sorry,” he mumbled as he grabbed the backpack he’d dumped on the trail. When he pulled out a balled-up windbreaker with a flourish, it was easy to remember every sword fight they’d ever had across her front yard. “Slip this on, and we’ll get moving.”

      She was taking a mental walk down memory lane; he was planning his rescue. Did he remember any of those times? They hadn’t been the best of friends, but they’d been more than acquaintances.

      Ignoring the spear of disappointment at something else she’d lost before she even realized it was gone, Avery slowly stood and did her best to swallow the groan that bubbled in her throat. Sitting was murder. If she didn’t stay in motion, her muscles would leave her here to die.

      Before СКАЧАТЬ