Chapter 30 Lucy
THIRTY
Lucy
I’m nervous as heck as we drive over the Santiam Pass. Miles drives like his car has the ability to fly, and there are enough switchback corners that I wonder if I’m going to be sick.
I’ve never been carsick in my life, but Miles has been such a sweetheart and let me experience every bit of pain that goes with it. Headache. Slow breathing. Begging to walk. Trying to leap from a moving car…
Okay. Maybe not all that, but I do finally open my mouth and beg him to pull over to the side of the road, which he immediately does.
“Are you all right?” he asks, but I don’t have time to look at him or even answer.
I leap from the car and run to the edge of the gravel pullout, lean a hand against the tree, and hurl my guts up.
It’s a steep hill, which means I can’t get any farther away from Miles than where I am.
“Oh no. I didn’t even realize you weren’t feeling good. I’m so sorry.”
That’s because you were busy pretending to be an F1 driver.
I can’t answer him yet because I still have to puke.
When I finally straighten, the world is looking a little better. The forest in front of me is beautiful. It helps distract me from the fact that I’m going to have to climb back in that car. Maybe I’ll live in this forest.
But I would miss Alexander too much.
Warm hands rest on my shoulders and begin to knead gently. Miles’s thumbs find the tight knots that have been bothering me for weeks.
“Are you feeling a little better?”
“Unnnghhh,” I mumble. I feel like I could melt into a puddle right here.
He keeps rubbing.
“I didn’t know you got carsick. I’m sorry. I’ll drive slower for you.”
He keeps rubbing my shoulders, and I wonder how it’s physically possible to go from the extreme of wanting to curl up into a ball and quit to thinking I’ve arrived in heaven.
“This. Is. Amazing,” I sigh.
Miles chuckles and moves his hands up to rub my neck, sending tingles all over my body. It feels like my head is so light that it might float off by itself.
“You have magic hands,” I murmur.
He doesn’t say anything; he simply moves his hands up to rub my head. His fingers are combing through my hair. I don’t know if my legs will hold me much longer; he’s doing such a good job of turning me into jelly.
“You ready to go?” he finally asks. “I’ll get you a Mountain Dew out of the back.”
“I don’t think I ever want this to stop.”
Miles laughs and drops his hands. I run a hand over my face and hope there’s no obvious drool before I turn around. “You brought Mountain Dew?”
He smiles sheepishly. “Not only for you. Turns out, you’re a bad influence, and I’ve started enjoying drinking it too.”
I grin at that. “Happy to be of service.”
“We’re only about forty-five minutes away. Only a few more curves, and then it will straighten out. I’ll go slow.”
“Thank you. Sorry. I don’t usually drive on such curvy roads.” I reluctantly follow him back to the car and climb in.
Miles reaches behind his seat and pulls out a bottle of Mountain Dew from an insulated bag. “Here, this’ll get rid of the taste.”
“You’re the best husband ever.” I crack the lid and take a long sip as Miles pulls back onto the road.
“I’m changing my name in your phone to that,” he says.
Luckily, Miles does slow down for the rest of the drive, and we ride with the windows down.
And I start to get suspicious that I might be falling in love with my husband.
When we pull into the campground thirty minutes outside of Sisters, I’m completely sold on the idea of camping.
“It’s gorgeous out here!” I exclaim as Miles parks the car next to a grassy area with some tents set up nearby. “No wonder you love camping.”
“We come here every year. Mom and Dad started the tradition when they were first married, and it slowly grew to include the whole family.”
I glance at the group of tents and see a woman who looks vaguely familiar barreling toward us.
“Um, should we brace ourselves?”
Miles glances over. “Yes, that’s my mom, Lillian.”
That explains why she looks familiar. We met on that video call. A big part of me would like to climb into the back seat and hide under the camping gear. The other part of me knows I need to meet this head-on. I hate having to do the right thing—especially when I’m lying.
I climb out of the car and hurry around to Miles’s side.
His mom doesn’t even greet him; she latches on to me and clasps my arms with her hands.
She’s misty-eyed and staring at me.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry we sprang this on you,” I babble. Because she’s her. She has kind eyes. Kind eyes turn me into a babbler. “You didn’t even get a warning, and then you had a daughter-in-law.”
“Don’t be silly! I had more than enough warning.
Miles has a tendency to know his mind and know what he wants.
He’s very like his father. Why, Andrew told me that he knew on our first date that he wanted to marry me!
” Lillian pulls me into a hug. “The way Miles talked about his roommate, I knew he was going to fall in love with you.”
This poor, sweet, delusional woman. She’s small but mighty with her crushing hugs.
“Thank you for coming camping with him. I know it can be overwhelming to meet a big family, but it just means so much to me that you would come spend the weekend with us. Miles told me how busy you are with the new clinic. I appreciate this so much.”
“Mom.”
“Yes?”
“Let Lucy go.”
She releases me, and I get my first deep breath in a couple of minutes.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Lucy. I just got too excited. I promise I’m not like this all the time.”
“Just some of the time,” Miles teases as he pulls his mom into a hug.
“Your dad is getting here a little later. He had to finish up at work. Ainsley helped me set up the tent already.”
An older gentleman walks over to us and introduces himself to me as Felix.
“This is my grandpa,” Miles clarifies.
“As in Goldie and Felix?” I ask.
Felix nods. “When she feels like claiming me.”
“It’s really nice to meet you.” I reach out a hand to shake his.
He pats the back of my hand. “It was actually Goldie who sent me over here to bring you to our trailer.”
I glance at Miles. “Oh, I should probably help Miles set up—”
“No, you should relax. This is your first year with us,” Lillian butts in. “Miles is a professional. You don’t have to worry about him.”
I look at Miles, but since we have an audience, it’s not like we can make faces or whisper a quick game plan to each other.
“All right then…” I say slowly and start to follow Felix toward a travel trailer parked on a concrete slab at the edge of the tent sites.
“Goldie’s told me a lot about you,” Felix says.
I groan slightly. “I’m afraid I didn’t make a very good impression.”
Felix smiles softly at me. “On the contrary. She’s so proud of you for being a veterinarian—you would think it was her idea. And the most important thing: you’re kind to Miles. That’s all we could hope for with any of our grandchildren.”
“Miles makes it easy to be nice to him. He’s a good man.” And I mean it with every fiber of my being.
Felix doesn’t get a chance to respond because the trailer door slams open, and Goldie is standing there in a purple velvet sweatsuit.
“Come in, dear! I’ve made us a drink! Are you coming, Felix?”
“I was going to go finish stacking the firewood first and split some for kindling. You two have fun.”
He walks away, and I turn back to Goldie. “He’s going to chop firewood? Should we be worried?”
She waves a hand through the air. “I’ve given up trying to remind him of his age. Now get in here. I brought some family albums to show you.”
I hesitate, and Goldie notices.
“There are lots of embarrassing pictures of Miles.”
I grin. “Lead the way.”