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Chapter 8
Due to the lack of sleep, I was surly and annoyed the next morning.
Even after we’d had breakfast in the room, I went down and got a coffee to go for the road. I was going to need a major injection of caffeine to get through this last leg of our trip. Tonight, I’d be back in Castleton. Back in my bed, and back to my regular life. I had tomorrow off work, but then I had to go back the following day. I wish I’d taken more time off. I still wasn’t ready to go back to office bullshit.
Tonight, I’d be back to my regular life, but now Natalie would be part of it. I wasn’t sure how that adjustment was going to go.
It would be nice to see Paige and Linley and Esme. I’d missed them all. I needed their advice and wisdom about the Natalie situation, and if there even was a situation. Was I making a big deal out of nothing?
Natalie kept shifting and moving in her seat as we drove. As if she couldn’t get comfortable. It was really annoying me. My full focus was on the road, but I couldn’t ignore that she was in my peripheral vision.
“Can you calm down?” I asked. I didn’t need any more annoyance today. I just wanted to get this damn trip over. Once I dropped the truck at Natalie’s parent’s house, I would pick up my car and go back to my little cabin. Hopefully the roof hadn’t leaked while I was gone.
“Sorry,” she said.
I looked at the GPS on my phone to see how much was left in the trip. So many miles.
We were barely started for the day.
Our time at the lake was only yesterday, but it felt like it was a lifetime ago. I still had the bracelet on my wrist.
* * *
The miles crawled by. My only relief came when I got to go through the tolls. Exciting times.
“Can we stop?” Natalie asked, and I was relieved to get off at the next exit and find a place where she could use the bathroom. We’d learned the hard way to avoid gas station bathrooms if we could, but sometimes when you had to go, you had to go.
We found a fast-food place and I parked the van in the back so I didn’t take up a car spot.
Natalie was gone for a while and when she came back, she had ice cream.
“Peace offering?” she said as she handed it to me through the rolled-down window.
“Peace offering for what? Are we fighting?” I asked.
She shrugged. “It kind of feels like we are, but I have no idea why.”
“We’re not fighting,” I said.
“Okay. Good.”
I took the ice cream from her and we sat and ate so I didn’t have to worry about driving the truck and worrying about melting ice cream at the same time.
“What are you doing tomorrow?” Natalie asked.
“Probably a lot of sleeping,” I said. This trip had taken a toll on me.
“Want to go to the beach with me? I feel like I need to get in the ocean. We could look for shells.”
She knew that last part would get me. I was always up for shell hunting.
I could say no, but this was all part of the whole second-chance thing.
“Yeah, sure. Let me know when you want to go. And thank you for the ice cream.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, smiling.
“You can come hang out with us this weekend, if you want. Esme has Saturdays off now, so we usually do something with Paige and sometimes Linley.”
