Page 35 of Timeless Pages
"We aren't outdoors people, Dom!" Nate shouted as I walked away.
He was being a big baby about this. We'd be fine. How hard could camping really be? It would do us all good to become one with nature and slow down. I reached the swimsuit section and immediately found a sexy little string bikini that Isa would look smoking hot in. I was already fantasizing about taking it off of her. I grabbed what I thought would be her size, and then, because I ultimately wanted her to be comfortable and have a good time, I went to look at the more modest one-piece suits. It never hurts to have options. I purchased the suits and ran the bag out to the car, then went back inside to catch up with them.
I found Nate and Evan in the snack aisle arguing over whether to get the regular marshmallows or the square ones, but Isa was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Isa?"
"Very funny," Evan replied, turning to where he thought Isa was. They both spun in a circle, horror creeping into their expressions.
"She was just here two seconds ago!" Nate exclaimed.
My heart thundered in my chest as we tore out of the aisle to search for her. She couldn't have gone far, and there was no way Morris could have made it out of the store with her because they would have had to go past me. I reached the end of the aisle and scanned the cold area for her. I nearly collapsed with relief when I saw her deliberating over hot dogs.
"She's over here," I shouted, catching her attention.
Isa looked over at me and smiled as I approached. She was utterly oblivious to the scare she just gave us. I wrapped my arms around her from behind and held her tightly as I willed my heart to stop pounding. Isa was here, and she was safe. She hadn't been in any danger.
"There you are," Isa said, leaning into me, holding two packages of hot dogs. "What kind of hot dogs do you guys like? Or do you prefer cheeseburgers?"
Evan and Nate rushed over to us, and as Nate opened his mouth to lecture Isa about wandering off, I shook my head in caution. There was no point in yelling at her when she had no idea she had made us panic. Especially since it had been their job to keep an eye on her to begin with. In my opinion, the blame for the scare was entirely on Evan and Nate's shoulders.
Nate, of course, didn't heed my warning. "Isa! You scared us half to death. You can't just run off without saying anything. It isn't safe."
I felt Isa stiffen in my arms as she slowly turned toward Nate. "I'm sorry," she said softly, "what?"
"I said—"
"I know what you said," Isa snapped, cutting him off. "I told you both that I was going to go get hot dogs when you were arguing over marshmallows. You both responded. You knew where I was."
"None of this would have happened if the two of you hadn't been fighting over marshmallows," I stated, "so why don't we let it go?" I snatched the pack of non-beef hot dogs from Isa's hand and tossed them back into the case. "All beef, Beauty. Always all beef. And no rule says we can't have hot dogs and cheeseburgers. Why choose? Am I right?" I kissed her neck and linked my fingers through hers, tugging her toward the frozen section and leaving Evan and Nate to follow us or continue their monumental debate over fluffy confections.
The rest of the shopping trip went off without a hitch, and I didn't want to attribute it to the fact that I didn't leave Isa's side, but who was I to say whether it was a coincidence or not? While we were unboxing the gear, Evan had gone online and found an open campground up the mountain near the lake. The grassy clearing, nestled among the trees with the sparkling lake in the background, was the perfect setting for our first camping trip.
Chapter nineteen
Isa
Setting up camp should have been simple for four intelligent adults. Tell me why we had such a hard time getting everything together? That damn tent monstrosity Dom had ordered boasted that a single adult could easily set it up. Easy Peasy. It took all four of us and damn near an hour to do it. We were now drenched in sweat because we chose one of the hottest days of the year to go camping. Looking at the tent now, I didn't have the urge to sleep in it; I wanted to burn it down.
We still had the damn canopy tent to set up and needed to figure out the fancy camp stove.
"Does anyone else have the urge to set it on fire?" Evan asked.
I looked at him in surprise. "Get out of my head," I laughed. "I was just thinking that."
"For the record, I did say this was a bad idea," Nate grumbled.
"Would you cut it out already?" Dom bit back. "We know. You don't want to be here. Let. It. Go. Now come on, guys. Now that we know what we're doing, the canopy is bound to be quick!"Dom was trying to be cheery for his own sake as much as mine, but I could see the edges had started to fray.
Nate looked at Dom with genuine surprise. "I didn't say I didn't want to be here."
"Then come help me," Dom replied as he stomped toward the bag containing the canopy.
"While you guys do that, I'm going to set up our beds," I announced as I headed for the car to grab our bags.
"Want help?" Evan offered.
I shook my head and nodded toward Nate and Dom, who already looked a bit lost. "I think your assistance would be better suited over there."
Evan groaned good naturedly as he lumbered over to help them.
