She took the last angled corner and walked Ladybug out onto the sparse grass, turning in a circle to watch Ben complete the descent. Despite the fact that he was managing his horse and Bill and Ted, he still looked more competent than she ever would. He barely moved in the saddle yet was so in tune with Calder that it was like watching poetry in motion. He clicked to the mules, took the last turn with a dexterity that impressed her, and came down in a cloud of dust that briefly obscured him.
He pulled up beside her and silently offered her his water bottle. She showed him her own, and drank from that, still unwilling to share more than she had to with him.
He took off his Stetson and knocked the dust off it. “Jeez, it’s hot. Let’s find some shade, check the time, and have something to eat.”
She was more than willing to get out of the sun. When Ben suggested they pick up the pace and kicked his horse into a smooth sitting trot, she ended up bobbing along behind him like a demented whack-a-mole. She didn’t care. Gaining the shelter of the trees was such a welcome relief after the unforgiving glare of the sun. Ben had already stopped and was busy tying up the mules and his horse, his movements efficient with long practice. She dismounted and led Ladybug over to stand beside Calder.
“Give me five,” Ben said as he loosened Ladybug’s girth. “And I’ll get the fire started.”
“Fire?” Silver shuddered. “Like we need more heat?”
“We have to eat something.” He glanced over at her as he checked her horse, all business again. “And, until we reach the creek, we can’t catch any fish, so we’ll need to boil some water.”
The wall to the right of the wooded area was a mixture of crumbling red clay and rock through which a trickle of water made its way down to the valley floor.
Silver’s stomach gurgled as if to agree with him. “What can I do?” She was determined not to sit around and watch him work. If he and her dad thought she was a quitter, she would prove them wrong. This was part one of her independence campaign and nothing was going to stop her achieving her goals.
“Gather some wood for the fire while I set a bucket under the water to give to the horses and mules.”
“Okay.” Silver took off her fleece, wiped her brow, and went off into the wooded area gathering the plentiful dry, fallen wood as she went. It was peaceful within the shadowed shelter of the trees and, when a slight breeze picked up that ruffled her hair, almost pleasant.
She came back to find that Ben had unpacked the food and the pot and was lining a small indentation away from the trees and within the shelter of the wall with stones.
“Thanks.” He inspected her offerings, picked the ones he wanted, and arranged them in a neat interconnected pile over the stones. He added some grass and hunkered down beside the fire beckoning for her to join him. “When you light a fire, pay attention to where the wind is coming from so you don’t accidentally set the dry grass alight.”
“Good thinking.”
“If it’s high summer, always have a bucket of water or a fire blanket close by to douse the flames if they get whipped up by the wind.” He set the tripod over the flames and waited until the wood caught before setting the pan of water to boil. “Shouldn’t take long. The water in my flask is already warm.”
“Shall I check the horses?” Silver asked, getting to her feet.
“Yeah, sure, thanks.” He looked up at her, his brown eyes narrowed against the sun. “If the bucket is empty, fill it up again, and make sure the mules get their fair share. Calder’s a pig and too much water is bad for him.”
“Will do.”
By the time she’d completed her tasks, the water was boiling, and Ben was digging into the container of freeze-dried food. “Beef, chicken, or sweet and sour rice?” he called out.
“Chicken.” Silver sat down next to him, her back against the canyon wall. “You are going to put that fire out as soon as you can, right?”
“Absolutely.” He poured water into the two packs and handed her one. “Stir it and then leave it for a couple of minutes before you eat.”
Silver instinctively got out her phone while she waited for the meal and made a sad face at the screen. “The battery’s almost gone.”
“Good.” Ben met her gaze. “You know what really bugs me? When people come out here and spend their whole time looking at the view through their phones instead of experiencing it in real time.”
Silver hastily put her phone away. “That’s great, but now you’re going to have to talk to me for the next eight days, and that’s been going so well.”
“I’d rather talk than touch your boob again.”
“What was wrong with my boob?” Silver demanded. “Most men would give a million dollars to get to do what you did.”
“But I didn’t do it.” He raised his eyebrows. “You made me.”
“What are you, nine? I was trying to prove a point!”
He shrugged. “Seeing as I wouldn’t know what a fake boob felt like anyway, I’m not sure what you proved.”
“None of your girlfriends have had breast implants?” Silver asked.
“Nope, or nose jobs, or any other kind of stuff you celebrities get up to.”
“So trying to look your best is a bad thing?”
“Of course not, but morphing into a totally different person is just weird.” Ben mimicked a frozen face.
“I’m not planning on doing that,” Silver assured him. “But when your face is your business, you do have to take care of it. Even the male stars get work done these days.”
“Work.” Ben chuckled. “Like it’s hard to do or something.”
Silver opened her food pouch and vigorously stirred the contents. She didn’t know a single person who hadn’t had some kind of plastic surgery. Even her mom who tended to stay out of the limelight had had a tummy tuck and endured the occasional injection of Botox.
“Must be nice to be so perfect that you don’t have to worry about the lines on your face,” Silver muttered between mouthfuls.
“Lines build character,” Ben said. “Look at Mrs. Morgan. She’s going on seventy, and she’s still beautiful.”
“That’s a different kind of beauty altogether,” Silver argued. “And she doesn’t have to see her face magnified five hundred times bigger on a screen where everyone can tell if you have a pimple or a booger up your nose.”
He snorted a mouthful of food and started to wheeze. She couldn’t help but grin even as she passed him his water bottle and helpfully thumped him on the back.
“See? You’ve never thought about these things, have you?” Silver finished off her meal. “We live in very different worlds.”
“But yours is totally fake,” Ben protested.
“That’s very judgmental of you.” Silver wasn’t buying it. “Are you saying that my family aren’t real people with real problems just like anyone else?”
He studied her for a long moment. “No, I’m not saying that. I have no right to judge you whatsoever.” He sighed. “Jeez... I’m beginning to sound as bad as my father, so just kill me now.”
“Your dad runs the ranch with you and your brothers, correct?”
“Technically, it’s just my dad, Adam, and me who work full-time at the place.”
“So what exactly do you do?” Silver asked as he handed her an apple.
“It’s a cattle ranch.” His smile dimmed.