“Tell me what you’re thinking first.”
She blinked at his quick counter.
“I’m thinking that you’re a puzzle I can’t work out.”
He gave a small, incredulous laugh, his reaction unsettling her even more.
“What?” she demanded.
He looked up when the waiter arrived to clear their dinner dishes.
“It just struck me as funny,” she heard him say quietly. “I was just thinking the same thing about you.”
twenty-nine
Twenty Years Ago
They made a careful return to the front entrance of the cave, Jake guiding Harper step by step on where to stand and walk so as not to leave a trail. After they’d returned, he went back into the second cave and the cliff ledge to retrieve the clothing they’d left there before their dive. When he returned, Harper had pulled their extra shirts out of the pack.
Once they’d dressed again in dry clothes, Jake insisted on checking Harper’s abraded wrists beneath the plastic bandages she wore. He was pleased to see the signs of Emmitt’s cruelty healing. He thought of suggesting that he doctor her again, cleaning the cuts in the waterfall and applying the ointment and bandages that he’d brought. It was a good excuse to touch her. But she stood close as he inspected her wrists, and he could smell her skin and the soap they’d used in the river, and his body was again reacting like it had a mind of his own. Instead, he gave her the ointment and bandages, and told her to go and wash and dress the cuts. When she returned, he’d steeled himself.
“I’m going out for a little bit, just to look around,” he said.
“Let me go with you. Please?” she added when she noticed his stern expression at her request.
“I’ve got to sweep our trail from the river, just to make sure.”
“But we were so careful coming back up!”
“I know, but . . . if you come with me, it’ll just cause the problem all over again,” he stated in a rush of frustrated honesty.
“Oh. You mean because of my lead feet,” she sighed, looking hopeless.
“You’re getting better,” Jake offered, to ease the sting. She was looking around the cavern anxiously. The early morning sun no longer streamed into the opening between the rocks, making the large chamber shadowed and dark. He knew she was probably scared of being alone, but would never want to admit it.
“If you want, I’ll build you a little fire. You can find a stick and toast some Pop-Tarts over it for our breakfast. But you’ve got to be real careful so they don’t burn or fall in the fire ’cause we can’t waste the food. Want to do it?”
She nodded eagerly. He built a small fire in the stone enclosure he’d fashioned years ago when he first discovered the cave. He left satisfied that she was less anxious with something to occupy her.
He returned after a twenty-minute scout, reporting to Harper that he saw no obvious indication that Emmitt was in the vicinity.
They spent the afternoon holed up in the cave, talking nonstop the whole time. Jacob wouldn’t have believed he had so much inside him to say. Even though they came from very different worlds, they had their school life in common. They entertained each other by describing kids from school and who liked whom. They gossiped about their teachers. He listened with fascination to the activities of a city girl: going with her friends to the mall or to the movies, eating Thai or Italian takeout on Sunday afternoons and watching a movie with her parents, traveling around the DC area and suburbs for swim meets and lacrosse matches. He didn’t tell her he didn’t even know what lacrosse was.
Despite their differences, he was happy to learn that kids in Georgetown weren’t all that different from kids in Poplar Gorge. There were nice ones, smart ones, jocks, populars, nerds, and loners. Then there were the crack babies and basket cases, names that mean kids called kids that just couldn’t seem to function in the world.
“I know which ones you are,” Jake said at one point, standing to gather some sticks for the fire. He kept a stash of fuel in the cavern.
“What do you mean?” Harper asked him from where she sat.
“You’re a popular. And a brain. A nice one, too,” he added, ducking his head to hide his embarrassment.
She laughed, and he thought her cheeks had turned pink.
When he returned, he carefully laid some dampened twigs on the fire to keep it smoldering versus burning high. He was thinking of the animal scat he’d seen in the second cavern. He needed a good fire ready at a moment’s notice. He kept a pretty decent store of fuel in the cavern, but he’d still gather more before nightfall.
“I think I know which one you are, too,” Harper told him smugly after several minutes, and he knew she was talking about the kinds of kids at school. His stomach sunk a little.
“A loner?” he mumbled, averting his face as he tended the fire. He hoped she didn’t think he was a crack kid, given what she knew about where he lived and Emmitt’s many crimes.