Chapter Twenty-Two

"I need to take Duncan out for a last run," Cam said half an hour later. "It usually helps him settle down for the night."

"I'll go with you," Jess told her. "I could do with some fresh air before calling it a night.:

The two friends grabbed jackets from the coat tree in the hall and went out the front door with the Border Collie pup frolicking at their heels. It was a clear cold night with innumerable stars winking in the black velvet sky and a bright white moon. Enough of a breeze was blowing that both Cam and Jess turned up their collars.

"Sure is a pretty night," Cam said.

'Yeah. Cold though. Winter's comin' too soon to suit me," the Texan replied.

"Cold? You call this cold/" Cam scoffed.

"To me it is. I ain't ever gotten used to the weather up here."

"Hah. Texas boy thinks a Wyoming winter is cold? What about those blue northers they get down there in your old stomping grounds?" Her eyes twinkled. "Or when certain parties used you - and Slim - for target practice with snowballs last winter?"

"I still owe you for that," Harper growled playfully.

Cam just smacked him on the arm and started running which got Duncan running and Jess got left behind as they headed in the direction of the creek where the fallen tree locals used as a bridge was located. He caught up with them at the fallen tree that served as the means for crossing over without wading.

Seeing the creek Jess stopped up short. He had vivid memories of his first visit to Evergreen and the dunking he had taken.

"Come on slow poke," Cam said. "We have to cross over so we can circle back through town before we go back to the house."

"I don't think so," Jess said. "It ain't safe to cross at night."

"It's just as safe at night - a night like this with the moon and stars out - as it is in daylight," the teen told him.

No." Jess was adamant. He wasn't crossing the creek on that tree again.

"Suit yourself," Cam hopped up on the tree and started across with Duncan right behind her. The sight of his young friend and her half grown dog crossing the creek so easily shamed him. He felt like a coward.

"I ain't so sure I can do this with my bad ankle," he tried to make her feel guilty enough to come back to his side of the creek and just double back the way they had come. It didn't work.

"Your ankle isn't that bad, Jess. Uncle David said it would be fine if you took it easy tonight and tomorrow morning before we go to the fair. Now quit being such a scaredy cat."

"I ain't a scaredy cat!" I just don't think it's safe to cross over on that log at night." Jess wasn't about to give in if he thought he could talk her out of making him do this.

Cam wasn't about to give in. Like her Scottish forebears and relatives she was very stubborn. She saw no reason why Jess shouldn't cross over on the log like she and Duncan had. He wasn't clumsy or anything. The log was plenty wide enough for him to place his whole foot on. It was easy enough for her, her friends and Gordon to do.

"Come on Jess," Cam coaxed. "It's not that hard. Besides Aunt Hannah and Uncle David will be sending Gordy out to look for me if we don't get back in the next ten minutes or so. You don't want him to know you're afraid 'cause he'll tell Slim and you'll never hear the end of it."

That got the Texan moving. The last thing he wanted was to listen to Slim kid him about refusing to cross on the log. He remembered all too clearly the first time. He'd lost his balance, fell, and pulled Slim in with him. Cam had stood on the oppose bank laughing her head off at them. Even worse was having had to admit that his only other pair of denims had a rip in the knee that Hannah hadn't had time to fix yet. Or so he believed. Slim made him tell the whole story of how he had tripped on a tree root while playing hide and seek with Cam and some of her friends. Only then had his pard shown him the clothes Hannah had told him to buy.

Taking a deep breath to try and calm himself, he stepped up onto the log and carefully made his way across.

"Come on, Jess. You can do it. Keep your eyes straight ahead." Cam called to him encouragingly.

Slowly, bur surely, the dark haired cowboy made his way across and finally got himself safely to the other side where Cam and Duncan waited for him.

"I've heard about how you climb on rocks and buildings. I can't figure out why you had so much trouble with crossing over the creek on that tree."

"I don't know either," Jess admitted as he looked back.

They walked a little farther before Cam took pity on Jess and his somewhat sore ankle. "Here, sit on this boulder while Duncan takes care of business. He's apt to be twenty minutes finding the 'perfect' place to go. He should settle down when he's done."

So saying she turned Duncan loose and joined Jess on the boulder to wait for the finicky pup so they could go home.