Noah pulled out a map and unfolded it partway. “See if you can slip this between him and the seat. It’s the only paper I’ve got, but it should help keep his underside warm. Then you can throw the blanket over him to keep his body heat in.”
“Um, okay. You seem to know a little about outdoor survival. Is that why you’re not flipping out?”
He let out a mirthless chuckle. “Who says I’m not flipping out?”
“Not helping.” She arranged Rover on the map, and the dog barely whimpered.
“Seriously, it’s a necessity up here. Our parents, our teachers—hell, everyone—beat it into us from the time we could walk.”
“You grew up around here?”
“Yep. Our family goes back a way.” Before she could engage him in more conversation, he switched tracks. “How about I turn on the truck and we charge our phones? Then we can listen to aPirateepisode. Might as well keep our minds occupied with a little looting and pillaging.”
“Which episodes do you have downloaded?”
“Which epi—” Realization seemed to dawn on him. “Well, shit. None. And there’s no Internet. Never mind.”
“I might have a few older ones on my phone,” she offered. “I don’t mind listening again.” It would beat sitting in smothering silence.
Another backward look, and those thick brows of his knotted together again. “If you climbed up front, you’d probably be warmer. The vents back there are kinda wimpy.”
“I’m okay.” She rubbed her hands along her thighs.
“Suit yourself.” Noah turned on the wipers, and fluffy snow flew from the windshield, clearing a semicircle of glass. Snow fell more heavily than before, and Hailey’s hopes for an early exit plummeted.
He seemed to pick up on her distress because he offered her a sympathetic half-smile. “Why don’t we empty our go-bags and see what we’ve got between us?” He flipped down the front passenger seat so it was nearly flat, and together they emptied their packs, sorting supplies. Taking inventory, he declared they had enough to see them through for a while. Hailey didn’t dare ask how long “a while” was.
He lifted a worn paperback from the pile. “You like to read, I take it?”
“I like to switch realities.” When he shot her a questioning look, she added, “Reading helps me forget the real world for a while.”
He fanned the pages. “When we’re done withPirates, we can read this. What’s it about?”
“It’s a horror story by Dean Koontz.” A shiver traveled through her. “Under the circumstances, I’m not a big fan of that idea.”
“So you enjoy escaping real life by jumping into nightmares?” One side of his mouth twitched.
“I have a few alternate histories on my phone that aren’t too scary.”
He picked up a packet of meat sticks and lifted his chin toward Rover. “Wanna see if he’ll eat one? I bet he’s hungry.”
Okay, so the guy did have a heart under that armor. She broke off a small piece and handed it to Rover, who sniffed before licking it out of her hand. “Hey, he’s eating it!”
“Yeah, he knows what’s good for him.”
“What do you do?” She pretended not to know the answer as she fed bits to the dog.
He cracked the cap on a water bottle, tipped it back, and swallowed. “I tend bar at a hole-in-the-wall in Fall River.”
A hole-in-the-wall? Hardly! Unless he had switched jobs. “What’s the name of the place?”
“The Miners Tavern.” Before she could chime in that she’d stepped into the tavern once, he rushed ahead. “My turn. Where areyoufrom?”
“You mean here in Colorado or originally?”
“So you’renotfrom around here.” He seemed to derive a great deal of pleasure from this conclusion, the jerk.
“I live in Montrose.”
