The Other Side of Lost by Jessi Kirby

Author:Jessi Kirby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2018-08-07T22:01:44+00:00

She’s Not Here

WE SIT INSIDE the Mule House Café, soggy but ecstatic over the feast spread out on the table in front of us. Burgers, sandwiches, shakes, fries, sodas—you name it, we ordered it. The restaurant is packed with hikers seeking warm, hearty meals and refuge from the rain. The staff bustles around cheerfully, serving plates heaped with food that everyone inhales almost as quickly as it appears. A palpable energy dances around the tables of the tiny restaurant, and though we look bedraggled, we are a happy crew.

I take a bite of a thick burger dripping with cheese then wash it down with a gulp of Coke, and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. I can’t eat fast enough, and it makes me feel like some sort of savage, but I don’t care. I look around the table, and we’re all inhaling our food, manners be damned.

“You guys,” Beau says through a mouthful of cheeseburger, “this is the best goddamn thing I’ve ever tasted.”

“Favorite hiking day yet,” Colin says.

Jack sets his empty milk shake glass down and reaches for Vanessa’s. “Dude, that storm came out of nowhere. That was crazy.”

“Hey,” she says, reaching for it back. “Not crazy enough for me to let you have my shake too. Here—try this instead.” She hands him a piece of pie and slides her chocolate shake back so it’s in front of her.

Rain pounds on the windowpane next to us, and I watch the water stream down it, more thankful to be in here with them than pretty much anywhere in my life.

“Man, I’m glad we’re here,” Josh says, like he can read my thoughts. “Can you imagine being stuck out there in that?”

I take a sip of my own chocolate shake. “No. I would . . . I don’t even know what I would do.”

Beau reaches for the ketchup bottle. “You’d find some damn shelter and pray you didn’t get struck by lightning, that’s what you’d do.”

“And gear up,” Colin says. “You have rain stuff, right?” he asks.

“I . . . um . . .” I don’t actually know. “Yeah. I think so,” I say, trying to sound confident.

“What do you mean, you think so?” Vanessa asks with a laugh. “You packed some, didn’t you?”

I play with a straw wrapper on the table. This is a chance to be honest. To tell them about Bri, and this being her backpack, and her trip—all of it. I can lay it out on the table right now, and feel better for telling them the truth. But when I look at their smiling, happy faces, I hesitate. I don’t want to make myself and my story the center of their attention.

“I’m sure I did,” I say with more confidence. “I just don’t remember exactly where I put it. I was gonna go through my stuff later and find it. Make sure I can get to it easy next time.”

“Speaking of later, anyone wanna pitch in for a cabin tonight so we don’t have to put our tents up in this crap?” Colin asks.

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