Payback and a Bottle of Merlot: Like Sisters Series Book One (15 page)

This is going to be great
, Mia thought, as she entered the camp and the boys began cheering her arrival. They had grown fond of Mia and accustomed to her joining them at this yearly retreat. There were thirteen boys, two senior camp leaders and a wilderness guide. They planned to do a hike beginning promptly at noon, after they finished lunch. The round trip, including activities along the way, would circle back to the campsite and end at six o’clock. They would go a total of four miles along trails in the woods. Mia had eleven year old Blake Reynolds help her carry her gear to the camp. The boys horsed around and the chatter was constant as they gobbled down their lunch of sandwiches, chips and sodas before heading out on the six hour expedition. Mia had several cameras around her neck and they all carried water, binoculars, bug spray and small survival packs. Using Aaron’s camera and telephoto lens on some of the wildlife would prove to be a good test of clarity and distance for the shots Mia was soon going to get of Jack and Sasha. But Mia promised herself this overnight getaway was going to be about the kids and capturing great shots of their adventures. A third of the way into their hike, Mia had already taken pictures of a number of birds high in the trees, several squirrels and even some wild turkeys. Of course, by now, she had fifty or more great shots of the boys using her digital camera. The group decided to take a twenty minute break at the two mile marker. They found a beautiful cluster of moss covered boulders among the pine trees that offered shade and a great place to sit and have a snack and water. Something caught Mia’s eye beyond the trees in a clearing about a quarter mile away. She brought her binoculars up and made some adjustments to see what it was that caught her attention. She twisted the focus back and forth to get a crystal clear image of a mother deer with a spotted fawn. “Guys, I’ll be right back. I want to get a few nice pictures of this mother deer and her baby. You can see them with your bino’s. Keep quiet so you don’t spook them. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

They all agreed to stay put and relax until Mia returned. She had to maneuver through a small pine forest before she reached the edge of the clearing. The mother and baby were feeding on grasses in the meadow just ahead of her. Mia took another look through her binoculars and they still appeared undisturbed.
Good, just a little farther, and I’ll have the perfect shot. It’s going to be awesome.
Mia took another step, still fascinated with the beauty of the deer. She didn’t realize there was a sharp decline that ended in a gully before the clearing. She stepped into thin air and suddenly felt herself tumbling with no idea of what caused her to fall. She hit downed limbs and rocks as she rolled, unable to stop herself until she landed at the gully’s flat bottom. Her only thought while rolling down the hill was to protect the cameras. With her arms wrapped around the equipment, she was unable to shield herself from injury. She didn’t remember screaming, but with the herd of counselors and kids running down the hill toward her, she must have done something to alert them.

“Ms. James… Ms. James… are you okay?”

The grunts one makes when the breath is knocked out of them was the only sound Mia made. Several seconds later, loud groans confirmed she was conscious and breathing. Dirt and leaves were embedded in her nose and mouth, and her hair resembled a bird’s nest. She had scrapes and scratches from her head to her toes.

“Oh… son of a bitch… ouch… oh my God,” were the first words the kids heard.

They stared, frozen in place, with nobody taking on the Boy Scout first aid responsibilities. In that moment, they were just boys staring at Mia with the “deer in the headlights” look on their faces. The counselors pushed their way through the group. “Boys, move aside,” they called out. “Ms. James… Mia, where does it hurt?”

“What? Ouch… shit… my head… my ankle,” she replied, while trying to spit dirt and twigs out of her mouth. “Sorry… I know I’m swearing, but I’m kind of in pain right now.”

Max Cole was the wilderness guide in charge. “Guys, help me lift her up. We have to see if she can walk,” he instructed the counselors. They lifted Mia and wrapped her arms around their shoulders. “Okay, Mia, see if you can put any weight on your feet,” he said, while bracing his body against hers.

Mia gave him a long deep look, being only two inches from his face. She felt his warm breath on her and noticed just how gorgeous he was.
What the hell is wrong with me right now? Shit, I’m in agony and I’m thinking about this hot guy holding me up.
“What… what did you just say?” she asked, still dazed and confused.

“I said, try to put weight on your feet. We need to find out if you have any broken bones or sprains.”

“Oh… okay… give me a second here.” She put her left foot down and pressed it into the ground. “That one seems okay,” she announced. She tried the same with her right foot and screamed out in pain while her ankle buckled under her weight. “Shit! That one hurts like hell… sorry,” she apologized again for her colorful language.

The youngsters ribbed each other and chuckled.

“Boys, that’s enough! Okay… we’re either going to send some of you back to the camp to get the crutches out of the van or we’re going to have to carry her back. We have water, aspirin and ace bandages in our survival kits. What’s it going to be?”

Gary Miller, one of the counselors, brought up the point that it would be way past dark before they made it back to the camp with Mia, if they could even carry her all the way back. It would be a dangerous effort. They needed to take the boys back to camp now so they could have dinner and get some sleep tonight. They had to reach camp before darkness and the cold night set in. They’d build a fire for Mia and Max, and leave plenty of firewood. There were rations and emergency blankets in the survival packs. They’d be back at first light with a rescue team. With everyone agreeing this was the safest and smartest plan for the kids, they assembled a makeshift campsite and left plenty of provisions for Mia and Max. Within an hour the rest of the team left, and headed back to the main campsite.

“Let me get you a few aspirin. It looks like your ankle is really swollen. We need to elevate that leg too. I’m going to look around and find something to rig up a type of sling to take the weight off of your leg. I’ll be right back Ms. James.”

“Max… please call me Mia. We’ve got a long night ahead of us. We might as well be ourselves, okay?” she said, as she winced in pain.

“Sure, Mia, give me a second.”

He reached in his pack and pulled out a bottle of aspirin. He dumped four of them into her waiting hand, then offered her a bottle of water. She swallowed the aspirin with a big gulp, and watched as Max headed into the brush to find something to make a sling with.

Chapter Twenty

Max returned about ten minutes later with an armful of green saplings, logs and limbs. With the assortment of wood Mia saw Max carrying in his muscular, tattooed arms, something should work as a sling. He stacked logs behind her back and placed an emergency blanket over them and under her to cushion the discomfort.

“Here, lean back. How’s that?”

“It isn’t too bad, thanks.”

“Okay… now I have to figure out how to elevate your leg.” Max jammed two Y shaped branches into the ground on either side of Mia’s leg, about a foot apart. He hung a sapling between them that was pliable enough to bend with the weight of her leg. He lifted her right leg and placed it on the sapling. “There, that should help reduce the swelling. Are the aspirins kicking in yet?”

“Yeah, I think so. My leg isn’t throbbing as much as before. I do have one problem though.”

“Sure, what can I do to help?”

“I have to pee,” she said, her face beginning to blush.

“Great. I have to figure out how that’s going to work. Give me a minute to envision how to accomplish this.”

“Well, I don’t want you to envision it too much,” she said, with an embarrassed laugh.

“Sorry… wrong use of words. Let me bring your leg down. I’ll carry you to a somewhat private area and leave you to figure out how to do your thing. You can’t squat since you won’t be able to balance on that foot. Oops, too much information… sorry again.”

“I’ll figure it out. Help me to a clearing. I’ll do the rest and call you when I’m done.” The blushing heat from her forehead to her shoulders made Mia glow a deep crimson red.
Here I am with a super-hot guy trying to figure out how to pee, for God’s sake. Could I be any more pathetic? Damn it all!

With everything accomplished, fifteen minutes had gone by. Back at the campsite, Mia reeled with embarrassment.

“I’m so sorry, Max, and definitely humiliated. I promise I won’t drink any more water or soda. I don’t need you doing this again in the pitch darkness. We could both take a tumble down some stupid hill.”

“Hey, everyone pees. Don’t give it another thought. Every year from now on, we’ll tell camp stories about your experience instead of scaring the crap out of the kids with ghost stories,” he teased.

“Don’t you dare!” she said, joining him in laughter. “This is going to be a long night. I mean we still have several hours before it gets dark. What should we do to pass the time?”

He gave her a long stare. Mia’s heart pounded harder.

“Wanna play cards?”

“Cards?”
Mia, get your mind off your loins and back into the moment… jeez.
“Sure, cards sounds like fun. What are you good at?”
There I go again, damn it. Enough accidental innuendos.

Max chuckled and returned the innuendos, “I’m pretty good at everything, Mia. What’s your pleasure?”

He did not just say that, did he? I’m getting lightheaded with desire for this hunk of manflesh. I’m going to be in so much trouble if we keep playing this cat and mouse game. Now he’s joining in. There’s too many hours ahead of us. How in the hell am I going to resist him?
“Let’s play Texas Hold ‘Em,” she suggested.

“Really?”

“Sure, why not?”

“You’re my kind of girl. You take the bull by the horns and buck up. I like that about you. Let me know when the aspirin starts to wear off. If we have to do one more bathroom break before dark, it isn’t a big deal either.”

“Thanks, Max. Let’s cut for the deal. What should we use as money?”

“I’ll break up some twigs. We can start with thirty twigs each. How does that sound?”

“It sounds like fun.”

They played cards for several hours before they both tired of the game. Max beat Mia, but she didn’t care. He did warn her in advance about being good at everything. Mia’s imagination ran wild when Max left on his own bathroom break and to gather more firewood for the night.

She remembered seeing him last year on one of the summer outings. Max led a group of older kids on a week-long excursion. All the Boy Scout troops gathered for the opening announcements and introductions. They had lunch together as a whole, then split off into age and rank groups. She exchanged hellos with Max that day, and remembered his good looks. He had a sweet, sincere disposition too. The thing that really stuck with Mia was how much fun Max had with the kids. He was in his element. Some woman would be lucky to snag him for a husband.

Wow… there’s Max and Aaron, two of the hottest and sweetest men I know. So why in the hell am I married to such a loser? I can’t believe how Jack sucked me in, and how I fell for it. No more. From now on my eyes are going to be wide open. The next man for me is going to have to pass my bullshit meter, and they better bring everything they have, good or bad, to the table before I give them a second thought.

The idea of being single and available again within a few months was exciting to Mia. She needed to change her life and the choices she made. Sure, Jack was a jerk and a liar, but somehow Mia allowed it to get this far. She had to cut her losses and move on, after Jack got paid back in spades.

***

Mia and Max talked until the late hours of the night. Another round of aspirins and a bathroom break would have Mia in good shape until morning. The fire crackled as Max threw another log on it. Mia watched the hypnotic fire glow bright orange, sending sparks and wonderful scents into the black, starry night. The campsite was cozy, and they had enough granola bars, apples and beef jerky to hold them over until morning.

“So how long have you been a photographer, Mia?” Max asked, interested in learning more about her. He seemed to enjoy her presence, and didn’t appear to mind the hiccup they encountered in the plans due to her fall. He was a guy that went with the flow, calm and able to adapt to any circumstance without getting riled up.

“I’ve been in photography for eight years. I studied botany in college and hoped to become a field botanist. I love plant life and find myself so at peace in the outdoors. I could live outside if I had to. But after some thought, I decided taking pictures of wildlife, whether it be animals or plants, was wonderful too. My creativity could shine through in pictures. Now, I make a living as a professional photographer. I do weddings and family portraits most of the time, but the real me comes out when I’m alone in the woods looking for some natural wonder to capture in a photo. That is, when I’m not rolling down into a gully. I guess Grace isn’t my name for a good reason.” Mia smiled at Max and noticed the twinkle in his eyes. “What’s your story?”

“Me? I’m just one of those rough and tough outdoorsy guys. Why not get paid to play outside,” he said, chuckling.

“Yeah, right. There’s more to you than that, Max Cole. All those tats on your arms are telling me something quite different. You used to be someone else, didn’t you?” Mia asked, with a teasing smirk. Max’s demeanor changed unexpectedly. He became somber and quiet. “Max, did I cross a line somewhere? I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to pry. I was just making conversation.”

“It’s okay. Some things are hard to let go of… hard to forget. You don’t know my past, don’t apologize. Years ago I was in a biker gang. We were hell raisers and up to no good most of the time. I was trouble with a capital T, always causing grief for people and thinking it was funny. I was a hard ass, and I liked the image. Regular folks avoided me and the gang I rode with. I wasn’t a thug or a criminal, until I caused a car accident and ran a family off the road one night. The driver of the car pulled out in front of us as we rode down the highway. There were twenty bikers, so it wasn’t like the guy didn’t see us. The lead bikers skidded sideways to avoid hitting the car and a few of them wiped out. Thank goodness they weren’t killed. Like an ass, I had to make it right. I had no idea there were two kids in the back seat when I ran the car off the road. The car flipped and landed on the roof. Mia, I heard the sound of kids crying. I’d never been so scared in my life. When I realized there were kids, I took off, but not before the dad caught a glimpse of my license plate number. The next day the cops arrested me. I’m so thankful they weren’t seriously injured, but that night turned my life around. I realized what a jerk and a horrible human being I was. Why would making people fear you ever feel good? What a moron. Anyway, I spent a year in jail because of it. That was fifteen years ago, and I’ve tried to make it up to that family every day of my life since that night. Scaring people that way, even though I didn’t realize kids were in the car, is inexcusable. You know Gary Miller?”