Not that this kid liked him much. His tiny body went stiff when Hugh reached to take him out of Amelia’s arms. Now Joshua had relented enough to hold on to his shirt in fists still sticky from downing a banana. Joshua had to be tired. His head even bobbled every now and again, but the stinker held tough about not resting his head on Hugh’s shoulder as the sound of crashing waves lulled him.
Amelia swatted her way past fronds poking out of the jungle. She jabbed and poked ahead, checking for the snakes he knew terrified her, but she just kept jab-jab-jabbing. He couldn’t bring himself to mention that one could fall out of a tree on top of her.
She would edge closer to the water and get fried by the sun beating down on the beach.
Jab, jab. She walked ahead, branches snagging on her scrubs and shoelaces. “Are you sure I can’t carry him for a while? You both look rather, uh, uncomfortable.”
“If you get tired, you’ll slow us down, and that’s not good for the kid.” He studied her fair complexion, already turning pink. He needed to start keeping an eye out for aloe plants.
“That Superman thing again.” She laughed hoarsely. “You’ve got the most endurance, the fitness required, an extra twenty pounds wouldn’t faze you. And you’re right. I’m sounding like a wheezing asthmatic, which just proves your point.”
“You should drink some water,” he said, even knowing she would ignore him. Again.
A rustle sounded in the underbrush. Amelia tensed. A raccoon-like creature scampered past and she exhaled hard. “How far do you think it will take us to get back or at least find people?”
“I’m hoping before dark.” He scanned the horizon, frustrated as hell that they still hadn’t come across some signs of civilization. “But if we do have to stay out here in the wild, I have the training to build us adequate shelter.”
“Does that training have any tips on how to fashion a diaper in the wild?”
“We’ll make this work.” Yeah, he already had a warm wet spot in the middle of his back, but he’d mucked through a helluva lot worse. “You’re doing good, hanging tough.”
Better than he would have expected, even though he’d already learned not to underestimate this woman. Still, she and the boy had been through too much.
Eyes watching the trail for wild boars, he spotted a pigeon plum hanging low. He tugged it free and polished it on his pants leg. The dark fruit offered a natural cure for diarrhea. The kid hadn’t shown signs of any such problem, but that wasn’t a risk Hugh was willing to take.
He started to pass the plum back to Joshua—then stopped. He cut the fruit in half, pried out the pit so the toddler wouldn’t choke on it, then gave him both halves.
Old parenting skills returned in a snap, bringing too many memories rolling back. All the more motivation to haul his butt out of here as fast as possible.
Amelia gripped a walking stick she’d started using about two miles ago. “I’m not going to let you down. I will hold up my end of things.”
“I believe you.” And he really did.
“I’ve never failed at anything in my life, you know. I made straight As. I behaved in school, always did my homework.” She stabbed the sand with the stick again and again. “The only time I ever got a detention was for reading a romance novel behind my history textbook in class. I already had an A in the class.”
“Of course you did.” A smile tugged through his frustration. The sound of Joshua’s contented chewing even felt right, despite the fruit juice dribbling on his neck.
“I brushed my teeth four times a day no matter what—well, except for that earthquake incident and today. Do you happen to have toothpaste in that vest of yours?”
“I have gum.” He reached into one of the pockets on his vest, glad he could do something to help this stubborn woman.
“I would kill for a piece of it.”
“No need. It’s yours for free.” He tossed her the pack.
Leaping forward, she caught the gum in midair with two hands, struggling for a second not to drop if before holding it up victoriously. He thought it was probably best not to tell her she’d just hopped right over a pygmy boa constrictor.
She peeled off the wrapper and pulled out a piece. She tossed the pack back to him and unwrapped her stick. Popping the gum into her mouth, she chewed slowly, sensually, taking so much obvious pleasure from that bit of spearmint, he found his mind zipping uncomfortably back to the cleaning closet. He forced his attention back onto her words.
“My parents taught me that if I worked hard enough, anything was possible.” She trailed her fingers over a bush, her fingers snagging on the bloom of a yellow elder, the national flower, which bloomed year-round.
“I sense an until coming.”
“My marriage.” She shot him a thumbs down. Joshua threw the pulpy remains of his plum into the bushes as if to punctuate Amelia’s anger. “Big fat F. Failing grade. But you already know that.”
“His fault, his failing grade, not yours.”
She blew a small bubble with the gum, popping it. “I know that now. Still sucks though. I tried so hard to do everything right. I ran an organized house. Even my spice cabinet is in alphabetical order. I read relationship books, went to marriage retreats, shopped at Victoria’s Secret.” She shook her head, twirling the stem of the yellow elder between two fingers. “And still the rat bastard cheated on me. He left me for a totally disorganized, lovely person who couldn’t balance her checking account if you implanted a calculator into her palm.”>Rachel swapped into professional mode in a snap—as if she hadn’t already been all business. Disco’s loping manner morphed to sleek attentiveness. Rachel unwound a lengthy leash, about thirty feet, attached to his harness, different from when he’d run freely on top of the piles of earthquake debris to locate survivors. She held the shirt out for the dog.