I pushed to my feet and raked my fingers through my hair, considering it for a moment before I shook my head. “That sounds great, but I really should get back so I can relieve Frieda of her babysitting duties, and I want to get some work done at the house this afternoon.”
“I’ll come with you,” he said a beat later, already standing up and draining the last of what must’ve been very cold coffee at this point. “Is it okay if I get a ride back with you instead?”
“Of course.” My stomach fluttered again. “You don’t want to stay for breakfast?”
He grimaced. “Honestly, I could barely handle the coffee. I think it’s better to wait a while before I attempt eating anything solid.”
“That bad, huh?”
He nodded slowly. “Worse, actually.”
I chuckled. “Alright, then. Get your stuff and we’ll get out of here?”
“Let’s do it.”
We walked back through camp together, watching people collect scattered belongings while Luis was trying to coax a fire to life to cook breakfast. Avery was already loading gear back into the boat, but he looked up, and when he saw us together, his features wrinkled a little bit.
I narrowed my eyes at him in warning.Please don’t ruin this for me.
He grinned. “Good morning. You two look nice and cozy again.”
I sighed. “We’re also leaving. Good luck packing up and don’t forget to collect all your trash. It looks like it might take you a week to gather all the beer cans.”
He groaned. “I know. We’re on it right after breakfast. Don’t worry.”
“I’m heading back into town with Raquel,” Theo said. “I’ll pack up the tent and come help you load the boat before we go, though.”
“Sounds good.” A quiet beat passed between them, and I suddenly had a sneaky suspicion they were at the silent communication part of their bromance already.
Vowing to ask Theo about it later, I decided to make myself useful and help collect some of the garbage while Theo went to pack up his tent. Avery watched us pretty closely as we worked together to gather everything that belonged to either Avery or us. Then I helped them strap it all down on the boat. A few minutes after we were finished, Theo and I were finally alone in my truck heading back to Quartz Pass.
He sat in the passenger seat, one arm resting against the door and his head dropped back against the seat. Mountains rolled by past the windows, but he didn’t seem to see them. In fact, I was quite sure his eyes weren’t even open.
Eventually though, curiosity got the better of me. “Does Avery know?”
He lifted his head off the seat and turned to face me. “Does he know what?”
“You know what.” I pushed my sunglasses into my hair and glanced at him. “That we slept together, Theo. Does he know that we slept together?”
Heat crept into my cheeks as I asked the question. It was the first time either of us had said it out loud, but he didn’t look embarrassed at all. He just sighed and rested his head back against the seat again.
“Yeah. He knows.”
“Awesome,” I whispered, groaning before I dropped the glasses back over my eyes. “You’re still in one piece, though. That means he can’t be too upset about it. Unless he’s how you got that bruise on your jaw.”
“Nah, it wasn’t him.” Theo chuckled. “That honor belongs to a particularly slippery rock in the creek. Don’t worry about Avery. He’s okay. He just wants us to be sure we’re on the same page.”
“The page where you’re from out of town and won’t be in Quartz Pass forever?”
“That’s the one.”
“Okay, well, we’re on the same page,” I said quietly. “Feel free to tell him that I’m well aware of that.”
“I didn’t tell him anything, actually. All I did was run into him yesterday morning when I got back from your cabin.”
“Right. I bet he loved that.”
“You’d think he would’ve at least given me shit for it, but he loves you. He just wanted me to know how much.”
