Not Too Tall to Love Read Online Free

only be the gap between
those hills. It has to be there.”
    “Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. We’ll be able
to see the track when we get down again.”
    “Oh, God. Down,” whined Corey. “My legs have
only just recovered from up.”
    Laughing once again they drank some water from
their bottles, then attacked the downward slope of the
mountain.
     
    * * * *
     
    Going down was just as difficult as the ascent
had been. Again the path wasn’t clearly marked but at least this time it was
easier to see in advance the best way to follow and from time to time they
diverged and went by their own routes, meeting up a little farther down. Once
they reached the tree line, however, they decided to stay together, although
this led to some heated discussion about the best track.
    Finally they came to where the paths diverged
and Andy turned right to go to the Little River Falls.
    Derek called out to her. “Hey,
Andy, over here. The camp site’s to the left.”
    “Yeah, I know, but the falls are this way.
We’re going to the falls first.”
    “It’s too late for the falls. It’ll be dark in
a couple of hours and we need to have the tent set up before dark.”
    “There’s plenty of time. This is a standard
day’s walk. We started off in good time this morning and we haven’t wasted time
during the day. We can easily see the falls first.”
    “Howard said we had to stay together. He said
I’m the most experienced hiker among us and he gave me the emergency beacon.
That makes me the team leader and I say there’s not enough time. We’re going
straight to the camp site. Now come on,” ordered Derek.
    “No,” replied Andy flatly.
    Derek looked into her obstinate face and knew
he had a problem. She looked so adamant and he just didn’t understand why.
She’d heard Howard’s instructions. She knew the dangers of being alone up here.
So why was she refusing to come along?
    “There’ll be other waterfalls tomorrow. As we
come down Haggity’s Mountain tomorrow afternoon,
there are a couple of waterfalls there and a river we can swim in.”
    Andy appeared unimpressed. “You don’t have to
come with me––the track’s marked. You go ahead, set up the tent and start the
fire. I’ll take the beacon if that makes you feel better. But I want to see the
Little River Falls. All the guidebooks say it’s far and away the most
spectacular thing on this walk. It’s one of the reasons why I wanted to come
here.”
    “No! You can’t do that. You’re under my care.
I’ve been put in charge and we’re going on to the camp site. There’s not enough
time to go to the waterfall and get to the camp site properly before dark. Now
come on and stop arguing.”
    “No!”
    Andy swung on her heels and headed at a brisk
pace toward the right-hand path. In seconds she’d turned onto it and was out of
sight.
    “What the hell?” Corey stared at Derek.
    “Dammit! Doesn’t that woman understand she could
go off the track in the dark? Get hurt—injured—fall and break a leg. What the
bloody hell does she think she’s doing?”
    “You don’t think you may be over-reacting a
little? There’s more than two hours of daylight left and we can set up the tent
in the dusk. We’ve done that heaps of times before.”
    “ Over-reacting? Of course I’m not. She’s being willfully stupid.” Derek stomped along the track
and went to push past Corey, but Corey held out his arms.
    “Listen to yourself, buddy. You sound like a
screaming shrew. Get a grip on yourself. What are you thinking?”
    Derek took a deep breath and realized he’d been
shouting. Lucky there wasn’t anyone around to hear him. And of course Corey was
right. In fact, Andy had said it herself. The day’s walk was meant to include
the side trip to the waterfall. That was planned in the time allowance. Nowhere
had the map said they needed to start extra early to fit everything in. Howard
hadn’t said anything like that to them. They’d made good time. They were