Dad shook his head. “Tell that to my Jeep you wrecked junior year when you and your friends decided to try mud wakeboarding on our property.”
I winced. “I worked off every repair expense.”
Grae’s mouth pinched. “I bet that wasallCaden’s idea.”
As much as I would’ve loved to throw my friend under the bus for that one, I couldn’t. “It was a joint project.”
“You’re lucky one of you didn’t get killed,” Dad grumbled. “I noticed Maddie was missing for that.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. “She never would’ve gone along with it. I think she was working that day.”
“Hey,” Dan barked from across the trailhead. “Are we gonna get going on this or what?”
“There’s no way that asshole is making the team,” Lawson muttered.
Roan just grunted in agreement.
I gave the guy my best charming smile. “First exercise is patience. Lots of hurry up and wait in SAR.”
That much was true. You’d have to hurry to grab your gear and get to the search point, then wait for the rest of your team to gather. You might have to wait out the weather or for instructions from whoever was running point.
Dan sneered at me. “I don’t gotta take orders from you, Hartley.”
Holt straightened from where he’d been leaning against the tailgate of Dad’s truck. “Actually, you do. Nash will be running our field exercises today.”
Dan’s mouth snapped closed, and I had to fight a laugh. It took him a couple of seconds to speak. “I thought you were in charge of this thing.”
“I am,” Holt said. “But I give members different leadership responsibilities.”
Kevin moved alongside his friend. “And, of course, you give that to your brother. Typical.”
“Yes, all my siblings and my dad are volunteers on the team. But they don’t get preferential treatment.”
“Usually, it means we get the grunt work,” I mumbled.
Grae chuckled. “I do like it when you have to play the injured hiker. I could punch you this time. Make sure it’s authentic.”
I grabbed Grae and put her in a headlock, giving her a noogie for good measure.
She shrieked, twisting so she could pinch my side.
“Careful,” Dad snapped at me.
Grae and I froze. She pulled out of my hold and sent our dad a withering look. “I’ve got diabetes, Dad, not brittle bone disease. I’m not going to break.”
She stalked off toward a gathering of some other locals.
I winced as Dad watched her go. We’d all been there, overstepping where we shouldn’t. It was hard not to. Almost losing someone had a way of marking you.
“Okay,” I called to the group. “Who wants to play victim first? And what’s your injury? Severed arm? Explosive stomach issues?”
Several people in the crowd laughed, but Dan and Kevin just glared.
Lawson shook his head as he stepped forward. “I’ll play the victim this time. But you’ll have to keep the explosive stomach issues to yourself.”
I chuckled and slapped him on the back. “Okay, let’s get this show on the road, people.”
And that wasn’t just for their benefit. An energy hummed beneath my skin. The need to get back to Maddie. To check on her. To just be in her presence. Because after living without her for so long, I wasn’t wasting another second.
