Angel

Page 58

 

  “I do. ” He leaned back in his seat again, stretching his legs out. Deliberately, he changed the subject. “Do you want to stop and grab something to eat soon, if there’s a drive-through?”

  “OK,” said Willow after a pause. Then she gave him an arch look. “It’s time for a coffee break. That’s what you’re really saying, isn’t it? You need your caffeine fix. ”

  The urge at that moment to reach across and touch Willow — to link his fingers through hers as she rested her hand on her thigh, or stroke her bright hair back from her temple — was almost overpowering. He crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Yep, definitely time for a coffee break,” he said, closing his eyes. “You see right through me. ”

  THEY SLEPT IN SHIFTS that night, driving steadily northwest. The states changed from California to Nevada and then back again as they danced with the border, leaving the desert behind them and entering the mountains — the Sierra Nevada. By around six a. m. , the route had grown so steep that Alex had to keep changing gears as he steered the truck up the twisting roads. He knew that hidden in the predawn shadows, there was a drop of several hundred feet to one side, with only a flimsy guardrail between it and the truck. In several places, the sweep of their headlights showed skid marks, where cars had crashed into it.

  Finally, on the mountain side of the road, he spotted the hard, rocky scrabble that he remembered from the camping trip with Jake, when they’d first found this place. Engaging the four-wheel drive, Alex steered them off-road and the truck obediently started up the hill. A minute later, they’d rounded a bend, taking them out of view from the main road.

  Willow stirred, lifted her head. “Where are we?” she asked sleepily, her blond hair tousled. Glancing at her, Alex found it hard to take his gaze away; she looked so soft and vulnerable.

  “Not there yet,” he said. “Go back to sleep if you want. ”

  Instead she stretched and sat up, peering out the window. “The place is up here?”

  “Yeah, about fifteen miles back in the mountains. ” He concentrated as he drove; the way was even worse than he remembered, even in a truck like this. They moved slowly, rocking from side to side as the 4x4 crawled upward.

  After more than an hour, they finally came to a high, stony valley, with grass and shrubs growing resolutely between the rocks. Alex parked the truck. They were in a sort of bowl in the middle of the mountains; around them, the morning sun tinged the peaks with a golden light, making them appear to glow from the inside.

  “This is . . . beautiful,” said Willow, shaking her head with awe. “Are we camping?”

  “Kind of. ” Climbing out of the truck, Alex suddenly felt happier than he’d felt in a long time. The air was so fresh up here that it hit you like a rush of adrenaline, waking you up and making you feel alive. He grinned at Willow. “Come on, it’s time for the hiking boots. ”

  They got their boots on, and Willow pulled the bright red sweater over her head. He had been right; it looked great on her. “This place is gorgeous,” she repeated softly, taking in the early morning mist that curled about the valley and the evergreens that spiked toward the sky. Then she glanced at the truck. “Wait a minute. Do we have to carry all this stuff?”

  “Yep. It’s not far. ” Alex grabbed one of the boxes, and Willow did the same. There was a thin deer trail leading steeply up through the rocky underbrush to the north. They started climbing, winding their way through the pine trees.

  About a hundred yards up, they came to a clearing with a stream running through it. A small, dilapidated cabin sat nearby, leaning slightly to one side. “Oh!” gasped Willow, stopping short. “Alex, what is this place?”

  Shifting his weight to open the door with one hand, Alex entered the cabin and dumped his box on the table. Willow followed him, wide-eyed. “Jake and I built it, sort of,” he said.

  “You — really?”

  He nodded. “Sometimes we used to go off camping on our own for a couple of days, on the way back from a hunt. When we found this place, it had half fallen down. We came back here a couple of times, fixed it up some. ” Glancing around him, Alex realized that he’d forgotten how basic the cabin actually was. There was greenish moss growing on one of the walls, and the ancient camping bed looked like something had been nesting in it. Still, it was better than being shot at.

  Willow’s eyes were shining. “You’re a genius,” she said fervently, dropping her box down beside his. “Nobody will ever find us here. ”

  He smiled. The cabin was pretty much their only option, but he was glad that she didn’t mind it. “Just don’t breathe too hard, or the roof might cave in. ”

  They started moving the rest of their things inside, hiking back and forth from the truck. Willow took her sweater off, tying it around her waist. “I wonder who used to live up here, anyway?” she said as they started up with another load. Her cheeks were pink with exertion.

  “Probably a prospector,” said Alex. He was carrying a box on his shoulder as he moved up the trail. “There’s a sort of wooden contraption behind the cabin, like you’d use to pan for gold. ”

  “What, like the forty-niners? Do people still do that?”

  “Yeah, I guess . . . just drop out of life and go off panning. ” Out here in the middle of nowhere, with only the mountains and the sky around them, Alex could see the appeal. If there weren’t any angels in the world, he’d be tempted to do something like that himself.

  When all their things were finally in the cabin, Alex got the camping ax from one of the boxes and they went back down to the truck, where Willow helped him camouflage it so that it couldn’t be seen from the air. First they hacked off slim, prickly branches from the surrounding pine trees, then wove them into a screen on the truck’s roof and hood, securing it all in place with twine.

  “Look at us: we should start a camouflage business. Do you think it’ll hold?” said Willow finally, taking a few steps back and studying their handiwork.

  Alex replaced the ax in its leather case. “Should be OK. We’ll keep checking on it to make sure. ”

  She shook her head, her green eyes admiring. “You know, I really don’t think disguising the truck would have even occurred to me. ”

  He laughed. “Yeah, but if it breaks down, you’re the one who gets to fix it — I bought you a tool kit, just in case. ”

  They climbed back up the narrow trail to the cabin. Inside, the small space was overflowing with boxes and bags. Alex started shifting them into some kind of order, glad to have something to do. All at once he was very conscious of the fact that he and Willow were out here alone together, sharing the same small, intimate space.

  Willow helped him stack the food boxes at one end of the cabin. She had fallen silent since they’d gotten inside, and he saw her give him a troubled glance when she thought he wasn’t looking. After several minutes, the quiet felt like it might choke him. He cleared his throat. “I got a camping stove and some gas for us to cook with . . . I mean, it won’t be great, but —”

  “No, it’s perfect,” said Willow. Her eyes flashed to his and then away again, her face reddening. She turned quickly and put her clothes bag in the corner, rolling down its plastic top. Alex started to say something, but stopped as the realization thundered through him.