Evan moved back further under the large overhang and let his pack slide from his shoulders to the sand covered ground. Twenty feet in front of him the large drops of rain fell constantly, a little thicker now than even minutes before. It wasn’t a thunderstorm. That kind of rain would strike hard but soon be gone, often leaving bright sunshine in its wake. No, this was a slow, steady rain that promised to last for many hours, if not for a day or more. And the temperature had dropped rapidly with its onset. A slow, cold rain. Somehow it seemed quite fitting.

It was October and Evan Roberts was a senior business student at the university over in Lexington. He was a good student, loved his classes and in general had been quite happy for the previous three years and, in fact, for most of his life. He had grown up in a town some sixty miles distant where his dad had a good job as a mechanic with a car dealership. His family lived on five acres in the country a short drive from his dad’s work. They weren’t rich but certainly weren’t poor either. He had not been brought up to expect things for free and had worked summers to help pay for his schooling. That, along with what his parents could afford to pay, a small scholarship and a couple of loans, had been enough for an in-state school. He had been working summers and part time with a one man accounting firm in Lexington for a couple of years and the owner had pretty well promised him a full time job when he graduated the next spring. He was an only child but had always gotten along quite well and never lacked for friends, male or female. Since the previous May Evan had been going with Sarah, a nice girl, also a business major but a year behind him. He was beginning to think he was really in love with her and had started thinking about asking her to marry him. Yes, in September the world had looked quite good and the future bright and sunny.

Then a week ago the world clouded over and the storm began to form. First it was Sarah. They had gone out to dinner on Friday night and, with no previous warning at all, Sarah informed him that she was transferring to a school in California. He was shocked and when he pushed her to find out why, it was revealed that she had given in to an old boyfriend and decided to get together with him once more. She liked Evan, had had fun with him, but now she believed was the time to move on. Or maybe move back. Whatever one called it, Evan’s romantic world was totally shattered.

Then the next morning he had gotten a call from home. The car dealership was closing in another four months and his father’s job was going with it. There was almost no chance of finding another similar position anywhere nearby and they were seriously considering the possibility that they would need to sell the place and move somewhere else.

The saying is that such things come in threes. The following Monday when he went in for a few hours at his part time job, he found the office closed. It didn’t take long to discover that the owner had died of a sudden heart attack the day before and it looked like the business was going to stay closed forever.

Evan’s peaceful, hopeful world had dissolved almost overnight. Evan managed to make it through the next three days of classes, but on Friday morning the thought of attending his three classes was just too much. Whenever Evan had a problem that required thought he liked to get away from everyone else, to remove all distractions. He loved outdoor activities and one of his favorite getaways was backpacking. So this Friday morning he moved his pack into his car and headed out to the Boone National Forest to the east. There were a number of trails with which he was quite familiar and he headed to the trail head for one of his favorites. He left a note in his windshield saying where he was going and that he’d return on Sunday. As he wrote that he sarcastically thought maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe he’d just stay there and live in the woods. He gave a bitter smile as he placed the note on the dash, knowing full well that yes, he’d be back and somehow continue with his life. He just was no longer sure exactly what kind of life it was turning into.

Now he off loaded his pack and hurriedly left the overhang to gather some downed firewood before the rain could soak it. The limestone ridge rose sixty or eighty feet above him with the overhang at its base some thirty feet deep at the bottom and stretching upwards for almost forty feet at its front. It had a sandy floor, ideal for pitching his small tent without worrying about stones that would appear beneath his back when he slept. Fires were allowed in the forest unless there was a high fire danger and, with the rain, that certainly wouldn’t be a problem. Before the rain got too heavy he quickly found more than enough dry wood for his needs. In fact, he could probably keep the fire going all the next day and night, even if it was very unlikely that he’d need to do anything like that.

When he had left his car the temperature was in the low sixties, but now the air had begun to cool considerably. Usually when he went camping Evan was careful to check the expected weather but this time he hadn’t bothered. When he thought back to that omission he guessed it was probably because the weather had been nice - clear, sunny - all week and, besides, he had other things on his mind.

Now he opened his pack and pulled out a hooded sweatshirt before setting about pitching his tent. The tent was a small back packing dome and set up in only a couple of minutes. Much better than the old one his dad had used which required poles and guys just to erect it. These new ones used sectioned fiberglass rods to arch above the tent and hold it in shape. In the sheltered space beneath the overhang he didn’t even really need pegs.

He thought about it and then decided to add the rain fly, not that there would be any chance of getting wet here, but the fly would make the inside a bit warmer and with this cold rain he expected the temperature to drop a bit overnight. He looked again at the increasing deluge and, making a sardonic face, thought he wasn’t surprised at all.

By five o’clock it was already turning dark here in the woods. Especially with the overcast sky, night came early. Evan arranged some rocks in a circle and set about building a small fire. Not that he really needed the heat just yet and he would be making his supper on the small backpacking stove, but the thought of a fire did help a little to lift his dark mood.

The rain was coming a little harder now. Not a real downpour but a steady fall of cold drops. Evan sat just staring into the fire, trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to hold his dark thoughts at bay.

Suddenly he heard a noise in the bushes further along the trail which made a sharp descent just beyond his campsite. The sarcastic thought entered his head. “With my luck, probably a bear. No, any bear would have sense enough not to be out in weather like this.”

He watched for a few seconds as the sounds seemed to come slightly nearer and then suddenly another hiker appeared. The hiker saw his fire and suddenly stopped for a second but then moved in beneath the overhang. Evan saw that the hiker was about his age, female. She had on a hip length rain jacket and an old, worn cowboy hat. Despite this it was obvious she was soaked. Of course the rain jacket didn’t cover below her hips and she appeared to be wearing cutoff jeans. She had on hiking boots but the socks looked wet and Evan guessed so were the insides of her boots. She took off the hat and shook it to remove the water, revealing her shoulder length blonde hair to be drenched also.

She moved towards the fire and Evan could see her bare legs looked chilled, goose bumps covering the smooth skin. “Hi. I didn’t expect anyone to be here but do you mind if I stay a couple of minutes before I move on and leave you alone? Oh, my name is Sue Brown.”

Evan had stood and answered, “Of course not. Come over here and warm up a little. I’m Evan Roberts.”

She moved a little closer and took off the small pack she was wearing. It didn’t look large enough to hold a tent, more of a daypack, and they were still two or three miles from the trail head and anyway he hadn’t seen another car there when he left.

As she stood near the fire Evan could see that she was shivering. No surprise there. She was wet and the temperature had dropped, probably into the forties. For half a minute she just remained quietly standing while Evan studied her. She was actually quite pretty. Even wet and dripping she was still attractive. Although it was now soaked through, her blonde hair looked like the type that would be very fine and thick when dry. She was about five foot six, some four or five inches shorter than Evan. The firelight made for uncertain viewing, but Even thought her eyes looked to be a deep blue.

She unzipped the rain jacket and slid it from her shoulders, revealing a cotton shirt with short sleeves as well as the top of the cutoffs, confirming his guess. It also revealed something else. Her figure left nothing to be desired. She was not a double D, but Evan had never been attracted to women with overly large breasts. Hers weren’t tiny by any means and looked quite firm beneath the thin shirt. And her legs and ass were fantastic. She obviously got a lot of exercise even if now she appeared to have not quite been correctly attired for her hike in this weather.

Looking more closely at her face, Evan thought it looked a bit puffy, as though she had been crying. If so, she was trying hard to cover it up and had a smile pasted on her face. He suddenly got a thought and moved to his pack where he pulled out a small hand towel. He took the dry cloth over and handed it to her. “Lousy weather for hiking, isn’t it?”

The girl turned towards him and took the offered towel. Then with the smile still painted on her face, said, “Thank you. Yeah. Not my first choice of hiking weather.” Evan thought her voice seemed a little strained and the smile looked a bit more frozen than natural.

When she made no further comment, Evan asked, “Just where are you headed now?”

For just a second the smile dropped and she replied, “Nowhere.” Then she shook her head, repasted the smile, and added, “I’m trying to get back to my car. The weather wasn’t bad when I came out yesterday.”

Evan glanced at the small pack but before he could say anything she spoke. “A lot of times when I go camping I just take a sleeping bag and sleep outside. Just the bag and cold trail food lets me get by with a small pack. Last night was fine. This morning was, too. I stropped for lunch and must have fallen asleep just leaning back against a tree. The rain woke me. I thought maybe I could stop under the overhang here, but you’re already here so I’ll just go on back to my car.”

Puzzled, Evan asked, “Where is your car? I didn’t see any others when I parked at the trail head this afternoon.”

“It’s not at the Gorge trail head. About two miles or so along the road, but this is the shortest way out. Just let me warm up a bit and I’ll be on my way. I don’t want to disturb you.”

Evan gave her a quite skeptical look. She appeared to be quite serious. She wasn’t trying for an invitation to stay. He slowly shook his head back and forth. There was no way he’d let her start back out for a four mile walk in this cold rain, especially dressed as she was. “Look, you can’t go back out in that. Hypothermia is a real danger in these conditions. There’s plenty of room under the overhang and I have enough dry wood to last.”

“Thank you, that’s very kind.” Her smile dropped once more and she said, “I’m afraid I would be lousy company tonight. I don’t want to spoil your stay.”

“You won’t. In fact, it might improve my mood. I just hope I won’t be too bad company for you. Seriously, I can’t let you go back out into that.”

For just a second, there was a flare of temper and she almost snarled, “You won’t LET me? You can’t tell me what to do.” Then just as quickly her expression changed and she said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. I’ve just had some problems along those lines lately. Please forgive me.”

“There’s nothing to forgive. I shouldn’t have said it like that. I just meant it would be really dangerous to try walking another four miles in this stuff, especially dressed like that. You’d chill immediately and I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you that I could have helped prevent.”

For long seconds she looked at him. Then quietly, almost to herself, she said, “I believe you.” She looked around at the heavy, cold rain falling just outside the overhang. At last she turned to Evan and said, “All right. I can spread my sleeping bag on the sand here and stay until morning.”

Evan wisely made no replay, but just slightly nodded. Sue went to her pack and moved it towards the rear of the cave like area. While Evan watched she opened it and first pulled out a piece of plastic which she spread, obviously as a ground cloth. Then she reached inside and drew forth a rolled sleeping bag. To Evan it looked like a mostly warm weather bag but it wasn’t going to be below freezing or anything that night.

Then there was a sound of dismay from the girl. Even moved over by her and immediately saw the reason for her distress. The bag was goose down filled. Down si an excellent insulator and down filled bags are light weight. But this bag was quite wet and would provide almost no insulation until it was dried, a process taking a very long time. Sue turned around and he saw a look on her face that said she was not surprised and resigned, almost as though she expected nothing else. At last she said, “Well, I guess I can spread it out over your pile of firewood and let it dry somewhat.”

Even didn’t think that in this weather it would dry much at all but said nothing and helped her spread it open over the dry branches. When that was done Evan said, “I don’t suppose you’ve had a chance to eat any supper yet, have you?”

She shook her head and said, “No. I’ve go some nutrition bars and some trail mix. I can eat anytime.”

“Well,” Even said, “I haven’t eaten either and I have plenty of freeze dried and can give you a nice warm meal. Chili or stew. Much better than a cold meal on a night like this.”

Startled, the girl exclaimed, “You can’t be giving me your food.”

Evan put on a mock stern look and firmly said, “You can’t tell me what I can do with my food.” He followed this with an obviously fake glower.

It was too much and Sue finally laughed and broke into a real smile. “All right, I had that coming. Thank you.”

Evan joined her laughter and said, “That’s much better. I was beginning to wonder if you could really smile at all.” He saw the sudden look which crossed her face and quickly added,