I grabbed a second bottle from the mini-fridge and popped the top, sitting back on the bed. I smiled at the bottle. “This is good. I like this.”

“Yeah?” Zeke said, a new light in his eyes.

“Yeah. What are you doing later this week?”

Zeke seemed deflated. “I’m on the mountain tomorrow. We’ll be up there for about ten days then cycle out, take a few days off, then we’re back up.”

“Oh. Well, that’s unfortunate.”

Zeke pressed his lips together, struggling with whatever he was about to say. “Becca and I broke up not long after I took this job. I tried dating a flight attendant hoping she would understand my schedule, but I think us both being so busy made it worse.”

“We’re not dating.”

“I didn’t mean that, I just meant…”

“I know what you meant. And it’s cool.”

“Just text me when you’re back.”

“You don’t have do that, you know. I mean … I like that part of you. But it’s just one part of you.” I offered a half smile, and relief softened his features. “I’m going to text you,” he said.

“Good.”

He leaned forward, holding out his bottle. I clinked mine to his, and we drank with a smile.

chapter thirteen

fire

Zeke

“W

ipe that grin off your face, Zeke, it’s creepy,” Tyler said, digging just ahead of me.

The sun was beginning to set. We were hungry and tired, and all we had waiting for us was sleeping bags on the ground and some MREs. Tyler had been sullen all day, but we were twelve hours in, and he was still hacking at the ground like it had insulted his mother.

His girlfriend, Ellie, had been following us around different fires with her camera doing an ongoing story for the local magazine. She was talented and didn’t complain about the hikes, the cold, or the dirt—a nice surprise for a girl whose dad regularly dined with politicians and went to business meetings with people like Elon Musk and Bill Gates. Tyler was still nursing a bruised ego after she unleashed her wrath on him when she was denied access to the mountain.

Ellie wasn’t high maintenance, but she wasn’t used to being told no.

“You still pissed about Ellie?” I asked.

Tyler swung his Pulaski, the sharp end landing just a few inches my from my boot. I jumped, glad to still have ten toes when I hit the ground.

“I was just asking, Maddox, damn!”

“I wasn’t even close, stop crying.”

I shifted. “It’s not right what they did. We all think so. She earned her red card. If she was a dude she’d be up here.”