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inadequate. Just like with Brad . Was he making fun of her? All the old insecurities came rushing back like an avalanche. Aimee squared her shoulders and held her chin up. She’d prove that she wouldn’t be a burden. She wasn’t going to fall into the same pattern all over again of kowtowing to a man.
    Standing in front of him, she wondered how he cut a crutch that fit her height so perfectly. She felt completely tiny in his presence. He was more than a head taller than she, and seemed to be at least twice as wide. At five foot one, she was used to being small around most of her friends. And while Daniel wasn’t overly tall, the proud and confident way he carried himself gave him an imposing appearance.
    Grabbing her backpack, she hobbled to the stream and sank down in the dew-covered grass along the bank. She removed her other boot and sock, and rolled her pant legs up to her knees. Lowering her feet into the icy water, she couldn’t suppress a gasp.
    Aimee rummaged through her pack, and took out an ace bandage, her mirror and brush. She laughed at her reflection. Caked-on dirt mixed with dried blood, and several nicks and cuts crisscrossing her nose and cheeks. Her wildly disheveled hair gave her the look of an Amazon woman.
    “If Brad could see me now.”  No, I’m not going to think about him. For once, I’m where he can’t hound me.
     She cupped her hands in the water and splashed it on her face, rubbing gingerly to get the grime off. The crystal clear water beckoned, but it was too cold for her to contemplate a full bath. Instead, she found her small bottle of shampoo, bent forward as far as she could, and let her hair hang into the slow-moving stream.
    “Sorry if there are any fish in here,” she mumbled. She made short work of lathering and rinsing her hair. The cold water gave new meaning to the term “brain freeze”. She wrung her hair dry as best as she could, and ran her brush through the long tresses, using the bristles to rake some feeling back into her scalp. She gathered everything into a ponytail with the spare scrunchy she kept wrapped around her brush handle. Her other scrunchy was long lost.  Some bangs and shorter side wisps of hair fell loose and framed her face. She hastily pulled her one sock and boot back on, then wrapped her ankle expertly with an ace bandage.
    Aimee slung her backpack over her shoulders, and pulled herself up with the aid of her crutch. Turning around, she spotted Daniel leaning casually against a tree a short distance away. His arms were folded across his chest, and he watched her with those intense dark eyes. He frowned.
    What am I doing wrong now?
    Some sort of contraption she had not seen before lay on the ground at his feet.
    “Okay, I’m ready to go now,” she called out. “I feel a bit more human again. Thanks for being so patient.”
    “You will ride on this travois,” he said curtly. His eyes roamed over her body, as if he was assessing her for something. His gaze lingered on her exposed legs, and she cursed silently that she’d forgotten to roll the pant legs back down to her ankles. Too late now .
    “You want me to sit on that?” She asked skeptically, trying to draw his attention away from what he was staring at. “And then what? You’re going to pull me?”
    “You can’t walk on your own.”
    “I really don’t want to inconvenience you like this.”
    “We need to be on our way. I want to reach my cabin before nightfall.” There was a definite note of impatience in his voice, and it was probably best not to argue with him further. She grudgingly obliged and positioned herself in the middle of the travois. Daniel picked up the two poles at the end of the contraption, and headed out without another word, setting a brisk pace.
    The ride jarred every bone and aching muscle in her body as the poles dragged over the hard and rocky ground, but she was determined not to complain. If her teeth would all be intact after this, she’d consider