Smoky Mountain Sweethearts. Cheryl Harper

conditioning won’t solve, AA.” Sam squeezed her tight and made it up over the last hard climb. “That’s all.”

      This time, her sniff had to be tears.

      “Aim the flashlight down, farther out.” Sam had so many questions, but the ground team was waiting, and he wasn’t sure he was ready for all the answers.

      “AA. Nobody’s called me that in a long time.” She sniffed again. “Probably because I haven’t seen you in a long time. I can’t believe I missed it.”

      He could see the lights of the rescue vehicles as he rounded the last curve in the path. “When we get to the bottom, I’ll hand you off to the medic. She’s going to recommend you go to the hospital for a checkup.”

      Her immediate gasp made him add, “But I’ll call my mother. She can bring Janet up to get you. That’s what you’d prefer, right?” He almost offered to drive her home, but the report wouldn’t write itself.

      Besides, he needed time to reconcile himself to the fact that Avery Abernathy had come back, but she was so different from the girl he remembered, she might as well be gone.

      She used to be fire; this woman was fog or mist, something too delicate to last for long.

      “Yes. Thank you.” She squeezed his shoulders and added, “Always the hero.”

      When the medic met him at the edge of the trail, Sam handed her over and waved his cell. “A hero? You said it. I’m going to hold that over your head, AA.”

      Her smile was shaky but she gave it her best shot. Here in the lights, it was easier to see how thin she was and the dark circles of fatigue on her face. Whatever she’d been through, she was lucky to have come out on the other side.

      He wouldn’t sleep tonight because he’d be filling in those blanks in his mind.

      “And happy birthday.” Her mouth dropped open in shock. He’d surprised himself. Remembering that today was her birthday suggested she was more on his mind than even he knew.

      As he turned his back on the group and called his mother, Sam stared up at the pieces of night sky he could make out through the trees. Whatever he’d expected this shift to hold, carrying Avery Abernathy in his arms had never figured into his plans.

       CHAPTER FOUR

      IF SHE’D KNOWN how much trouble searching for this particular epiphany would cause, Avery would have stayed in her room and taken a nap.

      But naps had gotten her nowhere.

      Telling her story to the law-enforcement ranger staring down at her was also getting her nowhere.

      “Honestly, Officer Hendrix,” Avery said as she exhaled loudly, “I’m not sure what part of ‘I waited too late to start my descent and got caught in the dark’ is so difficult to understand.” As Sam tipped his head to the side, Avery realized her tone might not have been as conciliatory as it should have been. “Sir.”

      “Actually, it’s ‘Ranger,’ although I am a law-enforcement officer here at the reserve.” He rested one hand on the gun holstered on his belt. “Your story matches Sam’s, so I’ll take you at your word.”

      Before she could argue that taking her at her word had nothing to do with anything Sam might have to say, Sam waved his cell. “They’re already on the way. No one answers, so Mom’s—”

      The loud rattle of a large Cadillac cut him off as Sam and all the other reserve staff on hand turned to watch a yellow Cadillac lurch to a stop in the parking lot.

      “Yeah, I figured it wouldn’t be too long.” Sam sighed and offered his hand to Avery. “If you’ve got everything you need in the incident report, I’ll help Avery to the car.”

      Avery waved off his help. “I can walk. It’s an easy walk. Even I can manage that.”

      Sam nodded as if he’d expected her to say exactly that.

      Ranger Hendrix raised both eyebrows. “I hope you’ll come back and take the climb when you’re...better.” He tapped his pen against his notebook. “Climb like this, it’s good for mental health.”

      She wanted to demand to know what the pause was about, but she wasn’t going to do it here with this crowd watching her.

      Eleanor Rivera, the medic who’d checked her blood pressure and temperature, said, “I still think an ER visit might be a good plan.” She pointed down at the rip in Avery’s jeans. “You did take a fall up there.”

      Rolling her eyes would get her nowhere, so Avery gritted her teeth and muttered, “I have had worse scrapes in my own front yard.”

      “She has.” Sam raised his hand as if he’d testify. “Uglier bruises, too.” Then he shrugged. “Doesn’t mean having a doctor examine you would be a waste. You aren’t as young as you used to be.”

      For a split second, Avery had to replay his words in her head. “As young as I used to be?”

      “It’s her birthday,” Sam said as he turned in a slow circle to address the crew assembled there. “It wouldn’t be polite to tell you how many candles AA has on her birthday cake, but...”

      The return of the Sam Blackburn who’d used the same tactic to force her to take dares she knew better than to attempt helped Avery settle in.

      “And if I ever hear you insinuate another woman is old,” his mother said from behind his shoulder, “I will give you the birthday spankings I still owe you, young man.”

      Regina Blackburn had the kind of good looks that made her ageless. She could still be watching their race to the top of the old oak next door as she stood there with both hands propped on her hips. “I’d force him to apologize, but...”

      “We’d both know he wouldn’t mean it.” Avery finished the phrase Regina had said often enough when they were kids that it brought on another flash of homesickness.

      “I suspect he was trying to infuse steel in her backbone,” Avery’s mother said as she tightened the belt on her robe. “Dragging an older woman out into the night because you needed a walk in the woods, Avery Anne Abernathy? I do not know what’s gotten into you.”

      Sam’s mother tried to calm Janet Abernathy with an arm around her shoulders, but Avery’s mother brushed it off. “And poor Regina here, she insisted on driving because I was too upset.” The shrill last word echoed in the small parking lot.

      It was funny to watch the search-and-rescue crew take a unanimous step back. Annoyed mothers brought out the same response the world over.

      “Let’s get out of here,” Sam said as he wrapped a hand around Avery’s elbow. “She’s not going to the hospital.”

      “You going to take these ladies back down the mountain?” Hendrix asked in his official lawman’s voice. “Because we are dangerously close to closing time. I’ll complete the incident report and leave it in the commander’s office for your review.” He tipped his head to Avery, who stood next to her mother. “I hope we’ll have a chance to meet each other at a more social spot.” When he smiled, his whole face lit up. Dour, official Officer Hendrix made her want to stutter and promise to never speed or jaywalk again, in a national park or anywhere. Smiling Officer Hendrix sent a small flutter of the old familiar feeling through Avery, the one that said a man found her attractive and in a totally nice way. It had been so long since it happened, she wasn’t sure what to do with the flutter, but if Officer Hendrix had given her a business card with his phone number, she would have taken it gladly and held on to it until she made up her mind.

      “Thanks, Hendrix,” Sam said as he put his hands on Avery’s shoulders and turned her toward the cars. “I’ll make sure they get home.” His mother jingled his keys and Sam nodded.

      When