Page 86 of Love in Tandem
Zach reached for his water bottle. Soon as he got his first paycheck, he planned to reimburse Ben for covering Charlotte’s plane ticket. The swanky hotel. The cab ride that had gotten them from the gas station down the interstate to the swanky hotel. Oh, and let’s not forget shipping the bike back to Illinois.
Yeah, it might take more than Zach’s first paycheck. Good grief, would there ever come a time he didn’t feel like a failure compared to his brother?
Zach paused long enough to squirt a stream of water into his mouth, then shoved the bottle back into the side pocket of his backpack. Beneath a gray misty sky, the Pacific Ocean crashed into white foamy sprays against the rocky shoreline flanking his left.
Would there ever be a time Zach got things right? He picked up the pace as the voice in his head started to answer with a resounding ‘No.’ Then another voice drew his attention.
“Oh, praise God from whom all blessings flow, there you are.”
Zach stopped so suddenly the weight of his backpack nearly tipped him forward. He had to be seeing things. But the closer the man came, panting and mopping sweat off his bald head, the more Zach believed it must be real. “Rick? What in the world are you doing here?”
Rick propped his hands on his waist. “I came to see you. Make sure you’re doing okay. Goodness, that’s a view, isn’t it?” He swung a hand toward the shoreline. “All those waves and water and whatever.”
“That’s pure poetry.”
“Isn’t it?” Rick cracked a smile as he wiped off his head with a bandana. “So how are you? You okay? I can’t stick around. Kate, you know . . .” He propped both his hands way out in front of his stomach. “She’s reaching beached-whale pregnancy size. Starting to have those fake contractions and everything. I keep telling her it’s all that salsa. Either way, the baby’s getting close. I figured I better make sure you were okay before things got crazy. So are you? Okay?”
Waves smacked against the shoreline, filling the silence, as Rick continued to mop his sweat and Zach continued to stare. “Are you telling me you seriously flew all the way out to California, hiked two miles—”
“Ah jeez Louise, that was only two miles?”
“—just to ask me if I’m okay?”
“Well, you don’t have to make it sound like this is some sort of Fatal Attraction scenario. I’m your best friend. And it’s sort of in my pastoral job description, that whole being a shepherd and all. Plus you aren’t answering your phone. Why aren’t you answering your phone?”
“I guess I didn’t think it would matter if I fell off the radar for a bit.”
“Of course it matters. I got worried. Everybody got worried. Okay, fine. Mostly just your mom and me got worried, but isn’t that enough?” Rick pointed to Zach’s backpack. “You got any snacks in there or is that just for looks?”
Zach shrugged the pack off his shoulders and dug out a bag of trail mix. “You’ve never been worried before.”
“Well, nothing like this has ever happened before. The challenge turning out to be some sort of weird premarital counseling sham. Mrs. Carter turning out to be pregnant. Charlotte going into some sort of coma according to Sophia, who tends to exaggerate, so I’m sure Charlotte’s not actually in a coma. But even so, I hear she’s not doing good. Which makes me wonder why she’s not doing good and what happened on that trail and are you doing good.”
“I can’t believe Mrs. Carter is pregnant.”
“Believe it.”
“I can’t believe you flew here just to check on me.”
“Believe it.”
“I can’t believe you already inhaled that entire bag of trail mix.”
“Hey, the altitude makes me hungry. I’m not used to it.”
“We’re literally level with the sea.”
“Well, I’m not used to that either. Now can we get back to the real issue. Are you okay? Like I said, I don’t have much time. Kate’s probably got Nita at gunpoint this very second forcing her to make another bucketful of salsa, and believe me, I wish I was kidding. So start talking. Did something happen on that trail?”
If Rick had flown across the country on his tiny preacher’s salary with a pregnant wife due any day just to see if Zach was okay, the least Zach could do was be completely honest with him. “Something happened on the trail. I fell in love with Charlotte. Charlotte fell in love with me. I found my faith. Charlotte lost hers.”
Rick lifted his finger, as if pointing to each of Zach’s sentences on an invisible chalkboard to make sure he followed all of it, then dropped his hand with a groan. “Ah, crud. So you’re saying I went after the wrong lost sheep? I tell you, this shepherding gig never gets easier.”
Then Rick tugged Zach into a tight hug and pounded him on his backpack. “But man, is it worth it. Now tell me the War and Peace version of what you just said.”
They hiked back to the resort and Zach spent the rest of the day telling Rick everything from the trip. Everything from before the trip. Everything from before they roomed together in college. Everything from his life he could think of.
By the time Zach dropped Rick off at the airport to make his red-eye flight back to Illinois that night, Zach knew two things. One, he had the greatest best friend in the world. Two, Rick wasn’t the only one who could fly across the country just to make sure someone was okay.
