Chapter Twelve #2
Right. Her family that was in California, all the way across the country. If she didn’t want to be involved with somebody who didn’t get along with them, she certainly wouldn’t get involved with somebody who lived so far away, she’d rarely get to see them.
But still, when he heard Brian’s truck turning into the campground, he looked over at her and grinned. “You want to go for a ride?”
Hannah should say no. It was only yesterday she’d had an entire conversation with her mother about how messing around with Rob wasn’t a good idea. Not that he’d invited her to mess around, exactly, but the more time they spent alone, the more inevitable it felt.
And the way he was looking at her now, with mischief and hope shining in his eyes? There was no way she could resist him in this moment. “A ride?”
“Yeah, in the truck, I mean. Not out on the ATV trails. Unless you want to, of course. They’re not open yet, but we can be a maintenance crew. But we can’t get to the spot I want to show you from the trails.”
She arched an eyebrow. “You and your brothers are convinced the campground must have a serial killer in it, but you want to take me on a ride to a secret spot somewhere?”
He chuckled, but then his forehead creased. “Wait. Are you implying I should be afraid to take you there, or that you’re afraid of going there with me? Which one of us is the murderer?”
“Well, I know it’s not me.”
“It’s not me, either.” He held up his hands. “I promise.”
“Oh. Okay, then.” When he laughed, she laughed with him.
“Meet me at my truck in ten minutes?” he asked.
“Okay.” She started to stand. “Do I need to bring anything?”
“Got trash bags, duct tape and a shovel?”
She laughed. “No, but I’ll bring water and some snacks.”
He grimaced and reached into his pocket to pull out a crumpled package of Oreos. “I forgot, I put your snack in my pocket and...they’re crushed.”
She took the package anyway. “That just makes them perfect for topping off a scoop of chocolate ice cream.”
After he drove off in the UTV, Hannah walked down to her camper. The Scotts were all inside, but Melissa saw her through the window and poked her head out of the door. “Thank you for watching the boys. Sorry about the boomerang.”
“No problem. Are you doing okay?”
“I’m fine, but I’m supposed to go to the ER anyway, as a precaution. We’re packing up to leave now, but we’ll see you next weekend?”
“I’ll be here,” Hannah said, and then she gave a little wave and kept walking.
By the time she put a couple of water bottles and some snacks in a small insulated bag and brushed her teeth—annoying herself in the process because she knew exactly why she wanted minty-fresh breath—Rob had his truck parked next to the store.
She caught him in the act of trying to clean out the passenger side.
She picked up a hardware store receipt that had gotten away from him and was being blown in her direction by the breeze.
“Thanks,” he said when she handed it to him, and then he gave her a sheepish grin. “Got a little lazy, I guess, but it’s mostly coffee cups and receipts.”
“You should have seen my dad’s truck after a few days on the road. Around Illinois, it reached the point I told myself I couldn’t buy any more coffee until I’d cleaned it out.”
After shoving the receipt into the pile of papers stuffed in the glove box, he brushed a few crumbs off the seat and stood back so she could climb in. She set the bag and cross-body purse on the floor by her feet and was going to reach for the door, but Rob was still standing there.
“You in?” he asked, and when she nodded, he closed her door for her.
Hannah smiled as she watched Rob walk around the front of the truck.
It was kind of sweet, the way he’d closed her door, especially since she couldn’t remember the last time she sat on the right side of a vehicle.
Whenever she and Erika went somewhere, she drove because her friend was the target market for those distracted driver PSAs.
Once Rob had climbed into the driver’s seat and they’d buckled up, he pulled onto the main road, heading north. The radio was playing the same station she’d chosen, and the volume was perfect—loud enough to fill an awkward silence, but not so loud as to discourage conversation.
It was strange, though, watching their surroundings go by without having to do the actual driving.
She’d never been a nervous passenger in the past, but she was definitely out of practice and her right foot actually twitched as if going for the brake when he went faster into a corner than she would have.
Not that he was speeding, but they had different driving styles, for sure.
“You okay over there?”
“What?” She looked at him and he gestured toward her hands, which were balled into fists on her lap. She laughed and flattened her palms against her thighs. “Yeah. It’s been a while since I was in the passenger seat.”
“Do you want to drive?”
It took her a few seconds to realize he was serious. If it made her more comfortable, he’d actually let her drive him around in his own truck. “No, I’m fine. And I’m enjoying the scenery.”
She’d driven this road already, since this was the way to the grocery store, but since she wasn’t driving, she was able to appreciate the views more. Then they reached town and he took a right turn, diverging from the route she’d taken.
“It’s not much farther,” he told her.
“It’s so pretty here. And very green.”
She was taking in the pops of spring color when they drove by a sign at the edge of a lawn. She didn’t get a chance to read it, but she got the impression it had more than one curse word on it. Probably protesting something, she thought.
“What did that sign say?”
Rob chuckled. “I don’t remember what that particular sign says and I didn’t see it, but people are pretty opinionated around here.”
When he flipped on his turn signal to indicate a right turn, Hannah was confused. They were in the middle of nowhere, and for a few seconds, her imagination—fueled by thousands of hours spent obsessing about true crime—ran away on her. Then she saw the waterfall.
It was just a pull-off on the side of the road, with a gravel parking lot and a grassy area that sloped down to the edge of a brook fed by a cascade of water over an almost hundred-foot drop.
By the time Hannah unbuckled her seat belt and tucked her bag under the seat, out of sight since she wouldn’t need it here, Rob had gotten out and was walking around the truck. Sure enough, he opened her door and offered his hand to steady her as she stepped down.
It was funny—she got in and out of her own truck all the time without a guy’s assistance—but she didn’t reject the gesture. He’d probably been raised to do it, and she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Mostly, she didn’t want to miss out on a chance to hold his hand, even if only for a moment.
His fingers grasped hers for a few seconds after her feet hit the ground, and then his hand fell away.
Hannah was disappointed, and she wondered what she would have done if he hadn’t let her go. Or if she’d threaded her fingers through his instead of letting his touch slip away. Maybe they would have walked hand in hand, and she wouldn’t have minded that at all.
“My mom took so many pictures of us here over the years,” he said, heading toward the waterfall. “We even came up here in the winter once because she thought it would be a good Christmas card photo, with all the ice.”
“What happened?”
He laughed, looking sideways at her. “I’d ask how you know something happened, but you’ve met all four of us, so not hard to figure out, I guess.”
“Well, you said your mom thought it would make a good Christmas card picture.” She chuckled. “And yes, I’ve met all four of you and heard some stories. There is that.”
They reached a small wooden bridge that crossed the water and led to a path that followed the brook to the bottom of the waterfall. He stood aside and gestured for her to go first.
“We were all dressed in red sweaters and jeans,” he told her. “Dad didn’t like it when she made us dress up in matching outfits, but she insisted it was festive and the red would really pop against the snow and ice.”
“Especially with the dark hair.” She could almost picture it—four handsome boys with dark hair, blue eyes and red sweaters, all lined up with the frozen falls as the backdrop.
“So the first thing that went wrong was my mom watching the weather at home, but forgetting it can be a lot colder two and a half hours north of home. We were all bundled up because it was maybe twenty degrees and that didn’t count the wind chill factor.
Mom decided we’d all get into position, and then we’d take our coats and hats off just long enough to take the picture. ”
“And somebody’s coat went in the water?” she guessed. Even with heavy ice, brooks like this one rarely froze over completely.
He chuckled, shaking his head, and Hannah realized they’d both fallen into a walking pace so slow it could barely be considered walking. And while it would be even better if they were holding hands, she didn’t mind at all.
“Somebody’s coat did go in the water. Or rather, my dad fell in while holding all of the coats.”
“No!” She covered her mouth with her hand. “It’s not deep, though. Was he okay?”
“It’s not deep, but it was damned cold at the time, and while slipping and sliding on the ice and floundering in the open parts, he managed to soak all four coats. Plus his own clothes.”
“Did your mom at least get the picture?”
“Oh, it’s not over yet,” he said, giving her a grin that made her pulse quicken.
“Danny grabbed for Dad, but he missed. He was off balance, though, so with his other hand, he grabbed Joey. Joey stopped Danny from going in, but it was icy and in keeping their balance, they knocked Brian into the brook with Dad.”