The softrumbleof an engine idling nearby.
I froze.
Ben stirred behind me. “Is that…?”
“Truck,” I whispered, eyes flying open.
“Please tell me it’s yours.”
I slowly sat up, heart thudding, only to see a vintage red pickup parked twenty feet away in the clearing.
No.
No, no, no.
The door creaked open.
And out popped Millie.
My jaw dropped. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Ben jolted upright, yanking the sleeping bag higher. “Is that thebook club lady?!”
“Oh my God,” I muttered, dragging the bag up to cover my chest as Millie started walking toward us,smiling.
Smiling.
Like this was just a routine visit and not a full-frontal ambush of our very naked, very entangled selves.
She was holding something in her hand. A small gray box, and my eyes narrowed.
“Morning, lovebirds!” she called, her voice way too cheerful for someone witnessing what she was witnessing.
“Millie,” I squeaked. “What are you doing here?”
She stopped beside the truck bed and grinned up at us with the unholy glee of a woman whoknew.“Just thought I’d swing by and see how our little field trip turned out.”
Ben looked like someone had taken a shovel to his dignity. “This is not happening.”
“Oh, it’s happening,” I whispered, clutching the sleeping bag tighter.
Millie held up the gray box. “I realized I had this little gem rolling around in the back of my truck. I forgot I stopped by yesterday to check up on you two, but you were nowhere to be found. Anyway, no idea how this tool got there,” she said with mock innocence, her grin deepening, “but I thought it might help you two lovebirds get home.”
Shetossedit at Ben, who caught it on reflex, blinking in confusion.
“That’s… convenient,” he muttered, examining it. “What the—?”
Millie winked. “You’re welcome.”
Then she turned on her heel, strolled back to her truck, and shouted over her shoulder, “Life’s too short not to seize the day.”
And then she drove off.
Just drove off.
Ben stared at the dust trail behind her like he couldn’t quite compute it. “Did we just get bamboozled by a seventy-year-old woman?”
“Tryeighty,” I said, still trying to process the last thirty seconds of insanity. “And yes. Yes, we did.”
