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The only thing that would make it even more perfect would be Lily on the bike behind me.
I’ve been ignoring the fact that I kissed her and so has she. But I want to do it again. And again. And that desire just grows worse and more unbearable the more I stare at her face.
I went there and now I’m like that wolf that tasted man or whatever.
There’s no going back to holding it in anymore.
Friends? Yeah, we can still be friends. Just the kissing kind.
But it’s easy to make those plans in my head. Out in the real world, she’ll have the last word, like she always seems to, no matter how hard I try to turn the tables.
But even that mess in my head is soon swallowed up by the fresh, untouched world around me. Even my fear that we made a huge mistake coming here soon gets swallowed up in the perfection of it.
By the time we reach the campground, a large clearing right by the still river, consisting of a large wooden building and a couple of trailers no one’s used in decades, I’m willing to bet. There’s even a full-size b-ball court and a covered area for outdoor parties or whatever.
There’s hope and light in this place. Everything that’s missing at the Rez.
“What do you think?” Lily asks me excitedly as I park my bike next to her truck and dismount.
I take off my helmet and look around, the untouched, beautiful world trying to suck me in. That’s the only way I can describe it.
“It’s damn near perfect, right?” she says and points up at the slight ridge. “I’m thinking the tipis that the kids will sleep in can go along there and maybe down by the river too.”
I nod along as she walks into the center of the space and kicks at something in the ground. “I think this used to be the bonfire space. We could build one too. Just imagine that, sitting by a fire listening to tales and legends from the past.”
“I can think of—“ I stop myself before finishing that sentence, which would’ve been that I can think of a couple of better things to do with our nights here.
I clear my throat. “Yeah, sounds great. Do we get a tipi too?”
Tina chuckles. “That depends, can you erect one?”
I shake my head. “Then we’ll have to wait. A few volunteers from all over are coming to help next weekend. If we’re lucky and we really get to work, we can maybe get our first group of visitors in time for the Harvest Holidays.”
I look around skeptically. “When’s that?”
“In a month, give or take,” she says.
“Come on, let’s start unloading the truck,” I say. “Then I’d like to take a walk, see more of this place.”
Lily is beaming at me. “You love it. That’s because it’s in your blood.”
That’s not why I want to take a walk. I want to see what there is in all directions just so I can know where all the entry points are. Being in the middle of nowhere, there’s no way I can cover all of them, but if the road we drove on to get here is the only one leading to the campground, and the rest is just prairieland, then my job will be easier. To find that out is the reason I want to take a walk.
But Lily looks way too happy to tell her all that. And she so rarely looks happy. Coming here, to the reservation she was born on, was supposed to make her happy. But I don’t think it has, not until this moment.
I still think we’d be better off going home, but I’m not gonna be the one to dash her happiness with that. Even if it means staying up all night, every night making sure none of the gun toting idiots bent on getting street justice followed us here.
As for those sleepless nights, I know exactly what would make them perfect. And I mean to try and get her to see that my way.
15
LILY
The weather heldand the sun even turned hot on the second day we spent patching up the camp HQ building and making the two trailers habitable.
No one had been in the buildings for years and the cobwebs were so thick they’d turned to black slime in the years. The fact that the roof had been leaking in so many places for so long, didn’t do wonders for the interior either. But we have the roof patched up now, Eagle proved invaluable in that. I never knew he had so much carpentry experience, but he said he helped his dad and the rest of the brothers build and later fix up the clubhouse in town when he was young and some things just stay with you. His dad had been a construction worker before he joined the Devils so he knew a lot, and clearly Eagle had listened to him intently.
And him sharing all that when I jokingly asked him where and when he got so good at building things, was the only time we spoke of his father. Or the missing women. Or the scene Ariana caused.
