“Whatever you want.”
They spend the rest of the day tangled together, watching bad sci-fi and eating leftover rice, half-dressed and relaxed. He’s never been more certain that all he needs for the rest of his life is her.
Chapter 35
A flat tire on the Range Rover has them on the bike again. It’s where Kara would rather be, anyway. It’s the first time she’s been curled around him like this since they went from friends tomore.
His hand covers hers where it’s curled up his chest and she feathers her lips across the back of his neck, smiling to herself when the bike jerks the smallest bit.
They had plans to stay longer, but she’s more than ready to leave. Carrie and her mother weren’t entirely alone. There are others. The more space they can put between themselves and that community, the better.
It’s become an unspoken rule that getting fully entangled in anyone’s lives isn’t something they’re interested in. They’ve done their good deed. Anything more is asking for trouble one way or another.
Now, it’s just her and Wade and the open road. More than ever, she burns to ask him her most important question. Especially after the harsh reality of how easily she could lose him was projected in crystal clarity the other day.
Carrie’s mother, sobbing on the ground as she mourned her husband, could be Kara one day. Wade almost seems like Teflon, but no one is safe in this world. She knows that all too well. She spent six years without him, after all.
What she witnessed at the cottage is another push to stop putting off the inevitable. She’s going to ask him once and for all if he’ll stay out here with her permanently. Deep inside, she already knows the answer. That doesn’t curb her desire to hear it spoken aloud, and it has to be after she confesses the body count she’s racked up since the world collapsed.
It isn’t like they made plans to turn around and go back. They have nothing and no one else to go back to. It is an implied thing already that they’ve run away together permanently, but there will always be doubt until every last hidden truth is out in the open. He could still change his mind after he knows who she really is.
Until then, she’s left to stew in anxiety and distract herself with an impending hunting lesson in the desert. That’s their mission today, as they put miles and a state line behind them.
She’s falling in love with the West nearly as much as she’s fallen in love with him. Each park they visit is prettier than the last. This one is no exception with its curved red rocks and winding trails. There’s something magical about the land out here, she thinks as they pass the main entrance and keep an eye out for overnight accommodations. The more she sees of it, the more it feels like coming home to a place she never knew could steal so much of her heart so easily.
Doesn’t take long to find an RV park just a mile up the road with what she assumes will be an amazing sunset view.
“What do you think about this for tonight?” Wade pulls to a stop beside the smallest trailer she’s ever seen.
It’s barely taller than him, tiny enough to be pulled behind an SUV. “I think there’s just enough space for two.”
When they pop the lock and break in, there’s only room for a single bed and not much else.
“Can’t stand up in here,” he grunts. “Sure you’re okay with it?”
“We won’t be doing much standing up, anyway.”
Her wink says she’s serious, and the waggle of his eyebrows in return makes her laugh. His confidence is returning, along with the smirk on his lips and innuendo on his tongue. She has missed that version of him more than she’d ever admit out loud. Every tidbit that creeps through his armor just for her is a welcome thing.
They’ll work on clearing these other trailers once they get back. All that’s left to do is make good on that lesson offer.
Finding anything worth hunting is a challenge after they’ve looped through a few arches, and she suspects that’s only going to get worse further west. Not many forests out here. The desert is a harsh landscape, but it’s not impossible. If anyone can make it work, it’s them.
Finally, a cluster of small rodents scurry across the worn path, bigger than squirrels and fatter, too.
“Groundhogs?” she says.
“Prairie dogs? They have those out here?”
She shrugs. “I dunno, but they’re cute. I sort of feel bad about this.”
“We’re running low on supplies anyway. The more we can hunt, the better off we’ll be. Nothing’s going to waste. Probably save more meat with a bow, though. The rifle is overkill.”
He’s right, and she knows it. They don’t have the luxury anymore of relying on trade from other communities. Can’t go to the pantry in Paradise Falls and pick whatever they like for a meal, so she ignores her reservations and focuses on what they need to survive.
“Lesson one.” She hands him the rifle. “Show me how you’d hold it and aim.”
He’s taking this seriously, so she does too, though it instantly feels odd to be on the teaching end of something that’s always come so naturally for her.
