With This Heart(15)

“ What?” I asked.

He shook his head, but his grin never faltered. “Nothing. Just trying to remember this moment.”

I furrowed my brows in wonder and tilted my head. The sun shone through the windshield of the Camper, highlighting the green details in his eyes. Beck wasn’t movie-star good-looking; he was boy-next-door good-looking— the kind of guy that might not know the full extent of his effect on the female population.

“ Why?” I asked.

“ Because our lives will never be the same.”

A small dimple formed on the corner of his mouth before he turned toward the steering wheel and pulled out of my apartment complex.

That dimple was the first thing I told myself to remember about the road trip.

Just as we turned onto the entrance for the highway, I peered over at Beck. “Just so you know, my faith in humanity is dangling by a few threads. If you murder me, I’ll pretty much lose all hope.”

I couldn’t keep the hint of a smile from my lips.

He nodded. “And if you murder me?”

I shrugged. “That would just be a good plot twist.”



We watched the Dallas landscape disappear behind us to the tune of Vampire Weekend. Beck thumbed the steering wheel to the beat of the song and I propped my feet up on the dashboard. It felt like the first day of summer, too good to be true. It was like the world might say “just kidding” and I’d wake up in my bed back home with nothing to look forward to except visiting Caroline.

I snuck glances in his direction every now and then, wondering what he was thinking about as he steered us toward our first destination.

“ There’s a campsite about three hours from here. What if we stayed there tonight?” he asked as we weaved through the rolling hills of Central Texas.

“ Sounds good.”

“ We just need to stop for food before we get there.”

I thought about my organic peanut butter and jelly sitting in my bag. “I brought some food with me.”

“ Supplies for s’mores?” he asked with a dead-serious tone.

“ No… Do we need those?”

He shot me a pitiful look. “Oh, sweet, naive, Abby. Camping without s’mores is not camping at all.”

“ What is it then?” I asked, peering over at him from the corner of my eye.

“ Unadulterated torture,” he offered deadpan.

I let out a soft laugh. “Wow. Alright, then we’ll make s’mores.”

…



Chocolate, graham crackers, and marshmallows, in quantities that could feed a small country, spilled out of my arms as we headed toward the camp ground. I’d assumed, you know, one package of each ingredient was enough, but Beck insisted we needed to stock up. “We never know when we’ll need s’mores during the trip.” I wondered if he planned on subsisting on them for the remainder of our travels.

“ Do you think they’ll still have campsites available?” I asked as we pulled into the state park.

“ Hopefully. It’s hot so I doubt there will be too many people.”

He had a point. The sun was setting soon, but the temperature was still hovering in the nineties. He pulled up toward the ranger’s cabin and a friendly redheaded woman poked her head out of the side window.

“ Evening, you two.”

I reached for my wallet to pay for half of the camping spot, but Beck beat me to it.

“ Here you go, I have a Texas State Park Pass for the summer,” he said, handing over the card to the woman. I thought about protesting, but I didn’t want to annoy the Park Ranger. “Are there any good camping sites left?”

She nodded emphatically. “Oh yeah, there’s hardly anyone in here today. It should pick up a bit tomorrow, though.”

She handed over a park map. “You’ll want to pick a spot near the lake. The temperature’s a little cooler near the water and it’s pretty during sunset.” She gave me a suggestive smile and I wondered if she thought we were dating or something. We aren’t going to get it on in your park, lady .

“ Is it near a restroom?” I asked.

“ Yes, there are a few restrooms placed sporadically throughout the park, but make sure to close the door when you go in so that wildlife doesn’t sneak up on you.”

I chewed on my lip, thinking about a bear following me into the restroom in the dead of night. Are there bears in Texas?

I was still mulling over that fear by the time we arrived at the campsite the ranger had circled on the map for us. The site was tucked in among tall cedars and pines and the lake she’d mentioned was only a few yards away. It was calm and quiet in the late evening. We positioned our tent so that the opening faced the lake. Actually, I should say Beck positioned our tent while I handed him the rods.

“ Do you want to throw our pillows and stuff in the tent while I start to get a fire going?” he asked, stretching his arms out above his head so that a sliver of his torso peeked out beneath the bottom of his shirt. Toned with a hint of a tan. I ended up not really being able to form a coherent sentence after that, so I just nodded and started laying out our sleeping bags. The tent was a really tight fit, so I put our backpacks in one corner. Our sleeping bags ended up right next to each other.

Ten minutes later, Beck was adding bigger logs to the fire and I was arranging camping chairs a few feet back from the smoky flames.