that she didn’t know if he felt the same way about her, but enough time alone and she could find out. If he didn’t return her feelings, well then, she could make a move from there.
She looked at her phone which was sitting on a duffle bag at the bottom of the closet. Without communications up, she wasn’t exactly sure what move there was to make. No Meredith, no family, and nowhere to go. There was a time in her life when she would have reveled in this situation, where it would have seemed like a huge adventure but now her body was just weary. She rubbed the dog’s head and laid back on the bed. There was almost no winning.
Chapter 14: Cort
Deep Creek Lake, Western Maryland
December 19, 2012
“A storm is coming,” Annalise said in the late afternoon hours as they walked through the woods surrounding the house. They had been walking for half an hour and neither of them had said very much. He didn’t know if it was because of his outburst earlier in the day, or if it was because they were really alone together.
“We should probably gather some extra wood while it’s dry,” she added, pointing to the branches on the ground.
Cort bent over and started to pick up some of the stray twigs on the path around them continuing to think. They had been out at the house for just short of twenty days by now and so far the weather had been mild enough that they hadn’t had to worry about keeping warm besides adding a few extra blankets to the beds at night. If Annalise was right, this might be the first test of their survivability in the area.
“We can put it in the kitchen,” she continued, picking up branches of her own. “We have to make sure we have enough to last us at least a couple of weeks because this probably won’t be the only snow storm. We should probably also come up with a plan to keep everyone busy if we get snowed in.”
The prospect of having everyone locked in the house they currently shared caused Cort to shudder involuntarily. The group dynamics had been strained since their arrival and the only thing that had provided release was the fact that every couple of hours at least two people were leaving the house on scout duty. If the storm was bad enough, it could cause scouting to be become damn near impossible with reduced visibility and strong winds. Out of the group that had made it to the rally point, the only person really equipped for that sort of scouting was Annalise. While he was thankful that she had the foresight to bring a considerable amount of her snowboarding gear, he didn’t know if he’d be comfortable letting her scout alone. Of course, she would claim she wasn’t alone because she would take that damned husky. They would probably argue about it for a while until eventually she would leave to scout on her own against his wishes. She was so stubborn sometimes.
“Cort, are you listening?” she prodded, shaking him out of his thoughts. He looked up at her with a questioning gaze. “I was saying, if the storm is bad enough I’m the only one with enough gear and experience to scout. I don’t want to argue about it in front of everyone so I figured we could just do it out here.”
“How do you know I’d try to stop you?”
She waved her hand dismissively at his question. “Because the rule is always to scout in pairs, but the only person who can fit in what little extra gear I brought with me is Katy and you said that she shouldn’t be scouting.”
“She’d be fine,” Cort replied curtly, knowing that Annalise could probably hear the doubt in his voice. It was true that Katy probably wouldn’t be able to handle the storm if it was as bad as Annalise thought. Hell, she couldn’t even handle scouting in good weather right now. Besides, he definitely didn’t want to put Annalise and Katy anywhere together without supervision of some sort. It wasn’t that Katy and Annalise were overtly rude to each
She looked at her phone which was sitting on a duffle bag at the bottom of the closet. Without communications up, she wasn’t exactly sure what move there was to make. No Meredith, no family, and nowhere to go. There was a time in her life when she would have reveled in this situation, where it would have seemed like a huge adventure but now her body was just weary. She rubbed the dog’s head and laid back on the bed. There was almost no winning.
Chapter 14: Cort
Deep Creek Lake, Western Maryland
December 19, 2012
“A storm is coming,” Annalise said in the late afternoon hours as they walked through the woods surrounding the house. They had been walking for half an hour and neither of them had said very much. He didn’t know if it was because of his outburst earlier in the day, or if it was because they were really alone together.
“We should probably gather some extra wood while it’s dry,” she added, pointing to the branches on the ground.
Cort bent over and started to pick up some of the stray twigs on the path around them continuing to think. They had been out at the house for just short of twenty days by now and so far the weather had been mild enough that they hadn’t had to worry about keeping warm besides adding a few extra blankets to the beds at night. If Annalise was right, this might be the first test of their survivability in the area.
“We can put it in the kitchen,” she continued, picking up branches of her own. “We have to make sure we have enough to last us at least a couple of weeks because this probably won’t be the only snow storm. We should probably also come up with a plan to keep everyone busy if we get snowed in.”
The prospect of having everyone locked in the house they currently shared caused Cort to shudder involuntarily. The group dynamics had been strained since their arrival and the only thing that had provided release was the fact that every couple of hours at least two people were leaving the house on scout duty. If the storm was bad enough, it could cause scouting to be become damn near impossible with reduced visibility and strong winds. Out of the group that had made it to the rally point, the only person really equipped for that sort of scouting was Annalise. While he was thankful that she had the foresight to bring a considerable amount of her snowboarding gear, he didn’t know if he’d be comfortable letting her scout alone. Of course, she would claim she wasn’t alone because she would take that damned husky. They would probably argue about it for a while until eventually she would leave to scout on her own against his wishes. She was so stubborn sometimes.
“Cort, are you listening?” she prodded, shaking him out of his thoughts. He looked up at her with a questioning gaze. “I was saying, if the storm is bad enough I’m the only one with enough gear and experience to scout. I don’t want to argue about it in front of everyone so I figured we could just do it out here.”
“How do you know I’d try to stop you?”
She waved her hand dismissively at his question. “Because the rule is always to scout in pairs, but the only person who can fit in what little extra gear I brought with me is Katy and you said that she shouldn’t be scouting.”
“She’d be fine,” Cort replied curtly, knowing that Annalise could probably hear the doubt in his voice. It was true that Katy probably wouldn’t be able to handle the storm if it was as bad as Annalise thought. Hell, she couldn’t even handle scouting in good weather right now. Besides, he definitely didn’t want to put Annalise and Katy anywhere together without supervision of some sort. It wasn’t that Katy and Annalise were overtly rude to each
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