Week 419 – “Th-thank you s-s-so much!” Cara whispered, still shivering violently

“Th-thank you s-s-so much!” Cara whispered, still shivering violently, as he manoeuvred her out of her wrecked car.

There was something about the sincerity in her tone that was like a punch to the guy. When was the last time someone had shown him genuine gratefulness?

While he loved his parents, he and his brother, one older and one younger, hadn’t had an easy childhood. Both his mom and his dad were perfectionists and they expected their children to always be the best at anything and everything they did. From school to sports to chores, if something wasn’t done perfectly they were punished.

Likewise his girlfriend had complained constantly any time he hadn’t catered to one of her many whims. It had taken him a while to realise how spoilt she was, and by then he was convinced he was in love with her and that once they were married things would even out.

But when she cheated on him he realised, maybe he hadn’t been as in love with her as he believed himself to be.

“No need to thank me,” he assured Cara as he quickly backtracked out of the river before setting her on her feet. As much as he wanted to do a thorough check of her body for injuries, hypothermia was her biggest danger. He was out here alone, no team, no back up, not even proper gear. Add in the storm and he was feeling like this job was less and less doable.

“D-do we n-need to go b-ack up th-there?” Cara asked and he saw she’d tilted her head up to survey the ravine she’d just come down.

It was the quickest way to get back to his car, but he knew she was in no condition to climb, and honestly he didn’t think he could get her up on his own either. He was exhausted and without proper gear it made this rescue all the more challenging.

Quickly running assessments in his mind, Liam formulated a plan. The long way would take them several hours to get to his car. In the same time they could probably traverse the forest and make it to his cabin. His cabin would have proper medical supplies, warmth, shower, bed, food, water, everything he would need to take care of Cara until he could get a signal and call for help.

Mind made up, he shook his head. “We’re going to keep following the river until we get to my cabin.”

“Your cabin?”

“It’s where I was heading when I saw your car go over the edge. We won’t make it up there to the road, and if its going to take us hours to get out of the storm we may as well have a whole cabin waiting for us instead of my cold car.”

“Okay,” she agreed, trusting green eyes staring up him.

“It’s not going to be easy,” he warned.

Like he’d just issued a challenge, the small woman standing beside him, injured and freezing, straightened her spine, her expression turning fierce. “I can make it.”

Could she? That remained to be seen. But Liam had no doubt that Cara was going to give it everything she had, and he knew that he wasn’t going to allow her to fail.