“A river of ice that moves slowly.” River seemed amused. “That sounds familiar. This River is iced up and moving slowly, and we’re only a little higher than eleven thousand feet. I feel like the air in my lungs isn’t a full breath.”

“High altitude sickness is real, River,” Easton told her, folding his arms across his chest. “If you start feeling bad, you tell me.”

River winked at him then turned back to the camera. “Our guide, Easton. He looks like the scariest guy in these mountains, but he’s a big marshmallow.”

“Oh, he’s the scariest thing in these mountains by far.” Jessie’s quip was met by laughter throughout the crew. From across the campsite, Ben had stopped working to watch their filming. He shot Easton a smirk.

“You all have never gone through the Veil,” Ben told them. “You’ll think East is all peaches and cream when that happens.”

They turned the cameras off, although Jessie still had the handheld tucked under his arm instead of putting it away.

“So, what do you think?” River rose to her feet and joined Easton where he was standing.

“I think we need to take it easy, maybe stay here an extra day. You’re not the only one having trouble catching your breath. Jessie was looking winded too.”

When she didn’t argue with him, Easton gave her a searching once-over.

“I’m pretty sure my eyes are up here.” Despite the humor in her tone, Easton could hear an underlying grumpiness.

“Your eyes are gorgeous,” Easton told her, willing to flirt a little to see the resulting smile on her face. When she swayed on her feet, he put a hand on her hip. “The rest of you is starting to drag. Why don’t you take a nap while the others finish setting up camp? I’ll have Ben wake you when dinner is ready.”

“Is it that obvious I’m beat?”

“Only because I pay attention.” When she waggled her eyebrows at him, Easton added, “You pay me to pay attention.”

“And here I thought I paid you to be a large human-shaped resting spot.” She leaned into his shoulder, giving Easton an excuse to wrap his arm around her waist. River turned to gaze out at the mountain range rising like jagged teeth from the earth thousands of feet below. “I can’t get over how gorgeous it is up here. If this view doesn’t convince people to come to Moose Springs, nothing will.”