Page 30 of The Office Games

“Any luck on finding a hotel?” I ask.

“Just motels and very questionable Airbnbs.”

“Define questionable.”

“Well, one house is offering the use of a room with two beds, but we’d have to share a floor with four other people, and everyone has to walk through our room to use the bathroom.”

I shake my head, doubting that she’ll find something much better soon.

“We’ll park and wait out the night then.”

“You mean, we have to sleep in the car?”

“You can do that if you’d like. I plan on sleeping outside.”

“What?” The look on her face is priceless.“Are you serious?”

“Extremely.” I pull onto a side road and park in an open field that’s far from trees.

Popping the trunk, I pull out all my emergency camping gear.

Taryn watches with wide eyes as I set up small heaters and prepare a small emergency flame. After I spread out the tent over the ground, she rolls down the window.

“Do you keep camping gear in all your cars?”

“Yeah.” I nod. “My brother and I used to camp with our dad every Christmas. It’s a bit of a habit to stay prepared.”

"So, you'll sleep in that tent, and I'll sleep in the car?"

“If that's what you want.” I hook a tube to the tent and turn on the air pump.

Air whooshes through the lines, and a large globe dome takes shape within minutes.

I stake it down as fast as I can, and the concern on Taryn’s face deepens.She looks like she’s never been camping before.

How cute.

“I’ll set up a small water pump and some other things within the hour,” I say, checking my watch. “If you plan to sleep in the car, that’s fine, but you’ll need to?—”

“Change of plans.” She flings the door open and rushes into the tent.

Good choice.

FOURTEEN

TARYN

On the side of a random road

Wind whistles against the tent’s fabric while the embers from our bonfire hiss and submit under the falling snow.

James is lying on his back while reading a book, and I’m rocking back and forth.

“It’d be a lot easier to get some rest if you lie down,” James says.

“That’s okay.” I shake my head. “I think we should take turns sleeping, too. If we get attacked by a bear, I can alert you and vice versa.”

“There are no bears out here, Taryn.”

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