With This Heart(19)

I snorted. “No. I was scattering the first bit of ashes.”

“ Ohhhh. Yeah, sorry about that. Do you want me to sing a song or something? Maybe say a prayer?”

I twisted the urn’s lid back into place. “You don’t know a prayer, Caro.”

“ I could make one up, Abs. Have a little faith .”

“ Oh my God. I see what you just did and it is so not funny.” I still laughed because it actually was funny. “How’s your bum liver?”


She sighed and I knew it was a bad prognosis. “They haven’t let me go home yet.”

“ You’re still in the hospital!?”

“ Yeah, the doctors don’t feel like I should go home anytime soon.”

I chewed on my bottom lip and tried to think of something to cheer her up. Instead, I said, “It’s not too late. I could come home. I really don’t want to be away from you while you’re stuck in there.”

“ You are the most stubborn person I know and I’m hanging up before you say anything else.”

“ Call me if you need me. Any time, okay?” I added quickly, knowing her threat about hanging up was real.

“ Yes. Bye, Abs.”

The moment I hung up and started heading back to the camp site, my phone rang again. Beck.

“ You know, we’ll be together for two weeks straight. We don’t also have to be on the phone while I’m in the bathroom,” I spoke, internally thrilled at the thought that he just couldn’t get enough of me. Oh, who was I kidding.

“ Where are you ?”

His tone was anything but playful.

“ What are you talking about?” I asked, thinking it was strange how dark the forest had become. When I’d left the restroom, twilight was still in effect, but now darkness was descending all too quickly. Suddenly, I started to panic. I hadn’t brought a flashlight; the only light was coming from my phone’s screen.

“ You’ve been gone forever. I went to check the bathrooms and you weren’t there.”

Oh, crap.

“ I’m sorry. I had to call my friend and then I guess I lost track of time.”

I heard him take a deep, calming breath.

“ Okay. No big deal, it’s just that you probably shouldn’t wander around by yourself at night.”

I wanted to clarify that technically when I began wandering, night hadn’t fallen yet, but he was right so I just kept my mouth shut.

“ Do you know how to find your way back to the restroom?”

I thought I did so I said, “Yes.”

“ Okay. I’ll meet you there. Don’t hang up until you see me.” I couldn’t tell if he was overreacting or not. It probably was scary when he went to restrooms and I wasn’t there.

I kept walking, angling the phone toward the ground so the soft glow would illuminate my path. If my wandering hadn’t been too erratic, I was pretty sure the restrooms were just a few yards in front of me. Unfortunately, I had no way to be sure.

“ I’m sorry, Beck,” I murmured softly, feeling foolish all of a sudden.

“ Hey, it’s no problem.”

Just then I saw a flashlight glow in the distance and a cell phone illuminating the cutest brown-haired boy in all of the woods. Unless, of course, Orlando Bloom was also camping there.

“ I think I see a big dork next to the bathrooms,” I joked, feeling an immense relief now that I knew I wouldn’t be lost in the woods forever.

He chuckled and I saw his face pop up to look for me. It didn’t take him long.

“ What a coincidence, I see a lost gypsy girl walking toward me,” he squinted through the darkness, “…in polka dot pajamas. And she has an urn in hand, so it’s hard to tell if she’s going for a good-girl or a gothic-type look?”

I burst out laughing as I stepped closer. He was too much.

“ You’re too much.”

“ Thanks,” he smiled.

I was only a few feet away from him then.

“ It wasn’t a compliment.”

He pressed end on the call as I stepped right in front of him.

“ You promised me s’mores,” I said with a smile.

He grinned and we started to walk back toward camp.

“ Yeah. I thought I was going to have to eat them all while you got dragged away by mountain lions.”

I hip-checked him, except our difference in height made it so that I ended up just hitting my butt on his upper thigh. So smooth.

“ You were going to eat them even though I went missing?” I asked, feigning shock.

He shook his head and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, bringing me into his side. “Oh, Abby. Of course I would have. What was I meant to do? Just leave the s’mores at our campsite? That’s ludicrous.”





[page]CHAPTER EIGHT





By the time we crammed ourselves into the tent, I was full of s’mores and thoroughly sweltering. Roasting by the fire hadn’t been the best idea in ninety-degree weather, but it was definitely worth it for melted chocolate. The last thing I wanted to do was crawl inside my sleeping bag, so I just lazily fell on top of it— making a big THUMP sound. My limbs relaxed out around me, and in the next moment, Beck mimicked my pose on top of his sleeping bag as well.