Page 55 of Love in Tandem
“Look, I’m sorry to be a nuisance,” Sophia said, climbing out of the car so D’Artagnan would stop trying to get to her. She made sure to avoid the broken glass as she joined Joshua on the narrow path. “But you said you’d call soon, and it’s been over twenty-four hours. Can you blame me if I wanted to make sure you hadn’t taken the money and run?”
She crouched down to pet D’Artagnan the same moment Joshua did. When he sighed, his soft breath fanned her cheek, and a pleasant shiver rippled down her spine. “Sorry to disappoint you,” he said, “but I’m not nearly as exciting as that.”
Continuing to pet D’Artagnan, she leaned closer for another cheek tickle. “You kidding? You’ve been the most exciting thing to happen to me in years. All the thrilling stuff usually happens to my siblings. Prison. Broken engagements. Contests.”
He cracked a quick smile and straightened. “I’m sorry I don’t have an answer for you yet about the contest money. But I promise I’ll let you know soon.”
“Soon, like in the next twenty-four hours? Or soon like ‘I have no intentions of ever calling you again, but at this point I’ll say anything just to make you leave’?”
“Soon, as in I won’t rest until I find it.” This time a full-fledged smile broke through, leaving Sophia no choice but to back away with a nod before she said something silly. Like “Man, you’re so stinking cute.”
Which might have snuck past her lips anyway based on the quiet chuckle she heard chasing her back to the car.
As crazy as it sounded, Charlotte might be adjusting to this bicycling gig. Maybe she had gotten into shape. Maybe cardio was her thing. Or maybe snoozing all day yesterday, then not having to pedal the majority of today made her feel like she’d gotten into shape and cardio was her thing.
Despite Charlotte’s assurances that her foot was fine, Zach had insisted on taking yesterday off. Granted, he didn’t have to work that hard to convince her once she popped the two Benadryl tabs the ER nurse had suggested to help keep the poison ivy rash at bay.
Then today, despite more reassurances that her foot was fine, Zach insisted on doing all the pedaling on the right side to keep her from putting pressure on her foot. Which would have been a great plan if she was coordinated enough to use her left leg and not her right. When she quickly proved she wasn’t, he insisted she stop pedaling all together.
Then he insisted they take frequent breaks so she could elevate her foot—and no doubt so he could recover from lugging her weight in the midst of a heat advisory. Which is probably why he insisted they call it a day here, sixty miles down the road, at Davis Lake Campground.
Fine by Charlotte. That bicycle seat hadn’t gotten any more comfortable. Even less comfortable, though, was the weird silence going on now between her and Zach.
She slid off the back seat of the bike and stretched for her toes. Ever since their argument after the ER, everything had felt awkward. Polite. Like they were tiptoeing around each other. But honestly, she’d prefer they were at war.
“Foot okay?”
“Yep.”
“Getting enough water?”
“Yep.”
And she was sick of it. Sick of the pleasantries. Sick of the small talk. And most definitely sick of the scenery. The cow pastures and hay bales held a certain level of tranquility the first couple dozen miles. The last couple dozen? As boring as their conversations this afternoon.
“Breeze feels nice.”
“It does, doesn’t it?”
“Not too hard, not too soft.”
“Just the right level of breeziness. Foot doing okay?”
That’s when she had started to wish for a fight. Something to stir things up. But every time she tried, Zach hadn’t taken the bait. He shrugged. Or worse—agreed. No way she could survive the rest of the trip like this. She liked Zach better when he acted more like . . . well, Zach.
“That looks like a good spot to set up the tent for the night.” Charlotte rose from stretching her legs and pointed toward the bottom of a hill at the campsite.
He followed her gaze, casting a quick glance to the sky filled with pregnant rain clouds, and shrugged. “Sure. We can set up camp down there if that’s what you want. Foot doing okay?”
See? Setting up a tent at the bottom of a hill when an oncoming storm was brewing was a horrible idea. And he knew it. And for the love of Pete, would he stop asking about her blasted foot already?
But if that’s how he wanted to play the game, fine. She smiled and grabbed her set of handlebars. “Foot’s great. Lead the way.”
“Lead the way,” he said with a fainthearted laugh. “Good one.” Then he grabbed his handlebars and pushed the tandem bike down the hill as she suggested.
She could throttle him.
Thunder rumbled in the distance. She watched the back of his head and waited for him to acknowledge it. Nothing. He kept leading the way.
