CHAPTER 110: HIKING WITH ANALISE (6)

As Jack continued to look at Analise, she fidgeted, then asked, "What? Is there something wrong with my face?"

"No," he said with a chuckle. "I’m just enjoying the view. For some reason you look cute like that."

"What? No, I’m all sweaty and..." she held out her dirty hands.

"And glowing with exertion and the pride of accomplishment. It’s cute."

Then he grabbed his backpack, lifted it, and held up the tube for the water bag. "Here, hold out your hands."

She did, and he dribbled some water on them so she could rinse off the dirt. He always hiked with a full three liters of water, so he could afford to waste a little rinsing off her hands.

When she was done, he said, "I’ll take over from here. I don’t want you to get blisters on your hands."

"Okay."

He grabbed the shovel and set to work, carving out the path around the rhododendron. He was almost done when two women appeared on the trail and stopped near Analise. They looked like a mother-daughter pair, with the daughter being close to his age. They were both fit and reasonably attractive, but were rather plain compared to Analise.

"Oh, my," said the older woman. "Such industrious young people. So young and already working for the forestry service."

Analise snorted in laughter. "Ha! I wish we got paid for this."

"I’m not with the forestry service," replied Jack. "I nearly fell the last time I came through here and decided I’d rather spend the time fixing it."

Analise gave him a "why didn’t you tell me?" look.

The mother said, "So you just decided to fix the trail all on your own?"

"Yes," replied Jack. "I like hiking this trail and since I plan to come here often, it made sense to fix the trail rather than risk my neck trying to climb through a homicidal bush."

Then he turned and resumed work on the trail. He was looking forward to a nice cool dip. That, and he wanted to see Analise in her swimsuit. Though he wasn’t sure she’d brought one, because he couldn’t see any outline of one under her tight, stretchy shorts.

While he worked, the two women talked quietly and chatted with Analise. When he finished, he banged the shovel against a rock a few times to knock any loose dirt off before folding it and putting it into a plastic bag.

He was getting ready to stuff it back into his backpack when Analise said, "Here, let me carry that. No wonder you were so winded, climbing earlier. You were carrying an extra-"

Then she stopped when she looked into his backpack and saw what else was in it. She grabbed the top handle and grunted in effort when she finally lifted his pack.

"Damn, dude. That’s heavy! I thought this was a day trip, not a weekend trip. What do you have in there, anyway?"

"Emergency kit, blanket, floaty, towels, spare clothes, shovel, clippers, food," he rattled off what he had packed.

"Um, I only brought a few snack bars and a towel. Do you want me to help carry some of that?"

"Sure, that would be great," he replied. He felt no shame in letting her carry some of his load.

Besides the shovel and clippers, he also dug out the fuel canister for the portable water heater. He’d packed some freeze-dried food packets that were actually tasty and had a lot of calories. It was better than food bars and would be great after swimming in the cold water of the lake.

As Analise put the items he handed her into her backpack, the daughter of the pair muttered, "I want to carry his load."

Her mother snorted a quiet laugh. From the way the daughter had said, ’load’ he was sure she was not referring to what was in his backpack.

Once Analise was finished, they put on the packs and started down the trail. Jack asked over his shoulder, "It’s not too much for you, is it?"

Analise replied, "No it’s fine, I’ve carried more."

They hiked in silence, the mother-daughter pair following behind just out of earshot. He looked back a few times and each time; the daughter was looking at him, while the mother was looking at the daughter. The mother looked surprised, and the daughter looked at him the same way as Wendy from Club Velvet.

Just Great, he thought. He hoped the girl kept it to herself because he didn’t want his time with Analise marred by drama.

Eventually, they reached the edge of the lake valley and began the downhill portion of the hike, and soon the lake came into view.

"Oh wow, that’s beautiful," exclaimed Analise.

She pulled out her phone and took a few pictures. Then she turned to him and asked, "Take a picture of me?"

"Sure," he said, taking her phone.

He half expected her to want him to take a bunch of pictures so she could make poses, but she only stood and smiled. And as soon as he snapped the picture, she reached out to take her phone back.

At this point, the mother-daughter pair arrived, and the mother said, "Oh, how lovely. Would you two like me to take a picture of you two together?"

"Yes please," said Analise and handed the woman her phone.

Then Analise grabbed Jack, positioned him, then snuggled up next to him. She grabbed his left hand and put it on her side, just under her left breast, then stuck her right arm under his and grabbed his waist. Then she looked up at him and smiled.

The woman started snapping pictures while Jack was still looking at Analise. When he looked up to smile at the camera, he noticed the daughter looking squint-eyed at Analise. He didn’t like the look she was giving Analise and frowned. The girl’s mother stopped taking pictures, glanced at her daughter, caught the look she was giving Analise, then handed Analise her phone. The daughter opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but her mother glared at her.

When the mother turned to whisper something to her daughter, Jack grabbed Analise and gently pushed her down the trail. Analise gave him a questioning look, but he just shook his head. He’d answer her question in a few minutes.

Once they were out of earshot of the mother-daughter pair, Jack said, "I think the daughter might be a problem."

"What? Why? They seem like decent people."