Leaving Blythe River: A Novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Author:Catherine Ryan Hyde [Hyde, Catherine Ryan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503934467
Published: 2016-05-23T16:00:00+00:00

Sam emerged from the tent not long after sunrise. Ethan was standing twenty or thirty feet away, wearing his jeans again even though they were still wet in the seams and the waistband. He’d been standing there for some time, scanning the valley with binoculars, hoping to see Marcus and Rio. Because to see them would be to know they were okay. To convince himself they were safe, so he could stop worrying. Or . . . well, at least so he could stop worrying about that.

But there were too many dips and gullies and hills to ride around and behind, and the pair might even have crested the pass by then.

In any case, he never saw them.

“You been up long?” Sam asked.

“Since about three,” Ethan said, without lowering the binoculars.

“Yeah. Well, that’s the problem, I guess, with going to bed at four p.m.”

Ethan looked around to see that Jone was up as well, and had begun firing up the camp stove for coffee. And hopefully breakfast.

“What are we having for breakfast?” Ethan asked. “I’m starving.”

“We saved you some stew,” Jone said.

“I know. Thanks. Marcus showed me where it was. But I was afraid to open the bear vault. I was afraid it might draw one into our camp. I know that probably sounds really stupid.”

“It doesn’t sound stupid at all,” Jone said. “I always try to get my food packed up and put away bear-proof by dusk. By the way. Where is Marcus?”

Ethan opened his mouth to answer, but Sam cut in.

“Probably out looking for a place to relieve himself. Like I’m about to do.”

“No,” Ethan said. Simply. When he realized they were both staring at him, waiting for him to go on, he added, “He’s gone.”

“Gone where?” Sam asked, impatiently, as though he’d expected just this kind of trouble.

“Home.”

“Why?” Jone asked. “Did he say why?”

“Yeah. He did. He said people who can’t get along are bullshit.”

“Can’t get along with him?” Sam asked. “Or with each other?”

“Either. Both. He said he used to be the peacemaker when he was a kid, but then he got sick of it. So now when people can’t get along he just walks away.”

“Shoot.” Sam spat the word down toward the dirt.

Then he wandered out of camp, probably for the reason he’d previously stated.

“To answer your question,” Jone said, “we’re having pancakes and scrambled eggs. But don’t get your mouth all set for something heavenly, because these are dehydrated eggs. You know. Powdered. They look like the real thing once you get them rehydrated and scrambled, but they don’t taste like fresh. But it’ll get some protein in you and fill up your stomach.”

“I’d eat anything at this point,” Ethan said. “I’d just rather not eat another energy bar if I can help it.”

Sam came stomping back into camp from behind a tree, as though something back there had angered him.

“Walked away? Or did he ride away? On my pony?”

“He rode away,” Ethan said. “He told me to tell you he’d put Rio in the pasture with your other horses.

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