“I love you too, Drew,” he said, smiling through tears. Erik wiped his eyes, grabbed my hand, and turned to Julie and the cameras. “We have each other. Win or lose,” he announced.
The crowd erupted for a minute as pandemonium broke out on stage. The director yelled “cut” from the side of the stage. “Commercial break, everybody,” he announced to everyone. “Four minutes, folks. Four minutes,” he repeated. He walked over and leaned into Erik and me. “That was fucking amazing, you two. Congratulations.”
I squeezed Erik’s hand, trying to reassure him that I was with him. I would never let him go ever again.
“I hope you win,” the woman I’d read had barely survived the experience, said. The same woman who got pulled out of the challenge with us and was one of two remaining teams.
“Do you want to win, handsome?” I asked Erik when I leaned closer and spoke into his ear.
“I don’t care as long as I’m with you,” he said. He wrapped his arms around my neck, pulling me down for a kiss.
“Are you sure?” I asked after our lips parted.
“I’ve already won,” he said. “I won you. And I love you so much.”
“Let’s go then?” I said. “Let’s leave and never look back. Can we do that?” I asked.
He looked at me like I’d lost my mind but nodded in agreement. “Yes,” he said. “I trust you.”
We stood and kissed one more time just as the show came back live. The other teams rushed back to their chairs and we remained standing, holding hands.
“Why don’t the two of you sit back down so we can get the rest of this story,” Julie said.
“I think we’re at the end of this chapter, Julie,” I said. “As long as that’s okay with Erik, I think we’re ready for the next one.”
“But what about the results of the vote? What if you win?” she asked, frantically looking to the director, perhaps looking for guidance.
“We’ve already won,” Erik said. “If we do actually win, please give it to a children’s charity that supports and encourages outdoor opportunities for underserved kids. We’d like to encourage the discovery of love for the outdoors and for one another.”
“I guess we’re done, everybody” I said, beaming at the love of my life. “I’ve got a new life to lead now, and I hope you’ll all join me on my journey.”
* * *
As things turned out, we did win the show and donated the one-million-dollar prize to Kids & Kamps, an organization that helps get children out and into the wild outdoors.
I kept my job at ESPN and Monday Night Football. My husband is also my dentist.
My smile has never looked better.
THE END
II
Hate at First Sight
By Michael Robert
CHAPTER ONE: Blake
Igazed through the bug-splattered windshield of my Subaru wagon at the Forest Service pickup truck parked at the end of the logging road. I hadn’t expected to see signs of humanity this deep in the Cascade Range. I’d driven about sixty miles northeast out of Seattle and into the Cascades via the North Cascades Highway, down an off-limits gravel road, to get away, and another vehicle wasn’t what I’d wanted to be met by.
The Forest Service road was hard to spot from the highway, but I knew it was only a quarter mile past mile-marker 66 heading east. After sixteen miles of gravel road and dodging potholes and large rocks strewn across it, I arrived at the end where I spotted the vehicle. The dark-green Dodge, with the official Seal of the State of Washington stickered to the side of the dusty door, was empty but someone had to be near or in the thick woods beyond.
My dad worked for public lands so I was able to get one of their special permits that allowed someone from the general population to hike and camp on state property, usually forbidden in government-controlled forests. These forests had zero services and were untouched for hundreds of years. Where I was going was primitive and, as far as I knew, the only sign of humanity was a forest-fire search tower located near the peak of the mountain, about a four-mile hike in. It wasn’t fire season in Washington yet; in fact, the weather had been damp and cool, but perhaps the tower occupant was there getting set up for the upcoming summer season.
For some reason I remained seated in my car, looking around the perimeter of the small circle of cleared land. Five to six vehicles could fit but the space was tight. I wondered if my old beat-up wagon would be safe overnight. A weird concern considering I’d purchased it with over two hundred thousand miles on it for less than a thousand bucks. The car was used for my outdoor adventures, and this trip was no different with a collection of gear in the back. There was no way I’d drive my new BMW X5 into this type of territory, even though I assumed it would do fine. At least, that’s what the salesman said when he’d convinced me to stroke a check for eighty-five grand to buy the SUV.
I was cautious for some reason and turned over my shoulder, looking through the rear glass window at the tree line six feet away from the rear hatch. I turned around. “You sure you wanna do this?” I asked the guy in the rearview mirror, exhaling slowly.
