Page 69 of Clearly Charmed

‘Lee, I have no idea. I’ve never put that to the test. Animals, they just find me.’

Without another word, she turned for the trail. I followed quickly, keeping up with her steady pace. More than once she stopped and tugged me to the side of the path. Her expert hearing tracked the movement of the four-wheelers before I could see them coming our way.

Once they passed us, we continued to climb up the steep terrain. ‘Never thought I’d say this, but it’s a good thing Aster bought us those stupid coveralls, because it’ll be easy to spot you on the trail.’

‘Don’t ever say that to her or she’ll start buying us matching clothes for holidays too.’

She flashed me a brief smile but it faded as soon as the blond guy jogged down the trail toward us. A few days’ worth of scruff covered most of his chin, and his arms rivaled the size of some of the local tree trunks.

‘I’ve asked Darren to stay here like you instructed. To keep his phone on in case we have to contact him. I’m on radio channel four if you need to call for EMS.’

‘Thank you, hopefully it will not come to that.’ She said the words so stiffly I thought her jaw might crack in two.

The big guy shot out his hand toward me. ‘I’m Aiden Pelphrey.’

Lia tensed as I shook his hand. ‘Dani McGuire.’

His eyes sparked. ‘Your sister, Lee? The vet?’

Lee? Well, that’s interesting.

‘Yep, that’s right,’ I said when Lia did not bother to respond.

‘It’s a pleasure. I’ve heard a lot of good things about you.’

Lia fisted her hands at her sides. Oh, there was definitely history between them.

‘Really? Are you from around here?’ I pushed, which made Lia grit her teeth harder.

‘I grew up in Ouray. Went to CU Boulder for undergrad. Been working in Wyoming for a while.’

‘How long have you been volunteering with search and rescue?’ I said.

‘Ten years.’

Huh. Same amount of time as my little sister.

‘I work with a different county. I’m in town because, uh, well, I know a few guys… people.’ He gave a shy glance to Lia, who I swore was doing her best to hide the blush on her cheeks. ‘I mean I know some folks here.’

Lia pointed at the crew heading farther up the north trail. ‘Enough with the twenty questions. Let’s go,’ she said, tugging me forward.

‘Nice meeting you,’ Aiden said.

‘You too,’ I called over my shoulder.

Lia moved up the path like a soldier on a mission, and I chased after her.

‘Lee, he’s cute. Why haven’t you—’

‘Not another word, Dani. I swear.’

Her fists clenched again, and I bit my tongue. I definitely wanted more details about Aiden, but for now we had to focus on our one job: finding Mara and Banjo.

There was no need to speak as we ascended the trail. Lia and I both knew our roles. She dropped her shoulders, tipped up her chin to scent the wind. Her gaze focused on the ground, picking out small changes in the terrain, broken branches, overturned soil, anything to determine if Mara came this way. Every few paces she’d stop, turn her head left and right as if she could hear the woods speaking to her. ‘Wind is picking up from the east at twenty-one knots. It’s going to get worse as the sun sets.’

Her steps continued at a brisk pace, and I tried to keep up. The muscles in my legs stretched and pulled. I used my peripheral vision to track the animals in the brush for odd behavior, but nothing was unusual. A few squirrels raced to the end of the branches on the high trees. Deer edged closer to the trail’s edge and clocked my movement. If Banjo was close, these animals were not aware of it.

‘Lee, anything?’