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Phoebe muttered, “Okay, wiseass, very funny.”
“You can lick each other’s wounds,” Jo-Beth continued, mortifying poor Phoebe.
“All right, all right, point taken!” Phoebe sighed. Then, more earnestly, “And thank you.”
“Anytime,” Jo-Beth replied before throwing an arm around Phoebe and pulling her into a hug. “I’m just glad you’re alive.”
Jo-Beth pulled away, and for the first time that afternoon, I realized how bravely she’d been holding in her emotions so that she could put Phoebe’s safety first and foremost.
I said, “You’re a good friend, Jo-Beth.”
She flipped her blonde hair, still somehow in perfect shape. “I know!”
And we were back to joking, aloof Jo-Beth. That was okay. I’d seen her sweeter side and knew that she was more emotional than she let on.
I bent down to explain to Henry we’d be sleeping elsewhere, but he was way too tired to care. More likely than not, he would get back into the car, go horizontal and conk out in a minute. I doubted he’d even know I was gone.
Jo-Beth corralled Henry in the car while Phoebe and I picked our way to the tent rental station.
It occurred to me that, a couple of days ago, I would never have let Henry go off with someone I didn’t know. Hell, I’d barely hand him over to someone I did know. How had I become so open to relying on the help of strangers, allowing myself to believe that it really does take a village? How had I changed so much in such a short period of time?
The answer was standing next to me — Phoebe.
She was the worse for wear, but her spirits were still high. As she peered over the counter of the market, I watched her heels rise — she came to her tiptoes with ease. I shook my head. Just hours earlier, she’d been threatened with a knife by my ex-wife, and now here she was, ably picking out a large, two-person tent in a matte gray.
She had some bruising, and I could see that the old man, perhaps once a forest ranger, who was ringing up the tent for us, was inspecting the markings and shooting me concerned, suspicious glances. If only you knew, I thought. Though, of course, the shadows were my fault — I’d brought Meghan into Phoebe’s life. I had wreaked this havoc, and it would take a long time for me to move past my guilt. But I suppose you have to start somewhere, right?
“Thanks,” Phoebe said as the man laid the tent on the counter.
I scrounged into my pocket and pulled out a twenty, sliding it across the counter. “Here you go.”
The man took the twenty and rung it up, still eyeballing me like I might, at any moment, spring across the counter and give him a matching black and blue bruise. I was down to my last few dollars, but I would never tell her what I’d sacrificed. It was, after all, the least I could do.
“Let me carry this,” I said, picking the tent up and slinging it across my shoulder.
“Okay,” Phoebe smiled and held out a hand, which I clasped.
Together, we walked into the woods.
Trees soared around me, a million varieties — oak, red pine, on and on. Despite the recent fires that seemed to be relentlessly plaguing the state, the soil was thick and nutrient-dense.
I shook my head, trying to shake free thoughts of smoke and flames, but still, the images rose behind my eyes like ghostly overlays, tulle atop shimmering red.
“Phoebe?” I asked as we walked to the campground.
“Yes?”
I rubbed her back. “How do I get treatment for PTSD?”
“Oh, Carter, I can help you find the right resources,” she said eagerly, as though she’d been waiting for this for a while. “I’d love to.”
“Okay, thanks. I think… I think I need it.”
She smiled at me with pure, unadulterated love. Who needed Rough and Ready? Phoebe and Henry would be my home. And with her help, maybe I could finally begin to move beyond my past.
We walked down the trail to the campground, passing low mossy rocks and a few fat squirrels, and entered into a ring of trailers and tents.
“How’s this?” I asked, selecting a free space at random.
She shrugged. “Not very private.”
“You mean—”
“But that’s okay,” she laughed, immediately picking up on my worry. “I think I wanna be around other people right now including you, don’t panic.”
“How are you so calm?” I whispered, looking around to ensure that no one in the vicinity could hear me. “After everything that just happened?”
Phoebe’s brow furrowed for a moment before clearing. “I guess… I know the worst is behind us. I’ve just weathered something terrible, awful, that nobody else my age, from my background, could ever imagine. And I lived. I might feel a little weak right now, but inside… inside, I am stronger. I’ve grown up.”
