Page 82 of Love in Tandem
Ten miles. Charlotte reached toward the sky in another long stretch, imagining another tower of pancakes waiting for her at the end. Why not?
She’d saved the town’s music program. Saved her job. Her mom. And to think she’d done it all by spending a ridiculous amount of time outdoors. Crazy.
Even crazier—this budding hope that maybe she and Zach could figure out a way to make their relationship work. Maybe with his half of the two hundred fifty thousand dollars, he’d consider staying in Illinois with her. Anything was possible on a glorious day like today.
“Zach?” Charlotte called out. If he took any longer, she’d be due to use the restroom again. Maybe she could pop a squat behind one of those bushes just to add on to her impressive list of accomplishments. Though making it through the trip without resorting to those means probably deserved more recognition. At the very least an extra pancake.
Okay, since Zach was taking forever, she would use the bathroom one more time. Sure it reeked of urine and was overrun with spiders, but who cared on a glorious day like today?
She started into the restroom, then backtracked for the bicycle. Losing the bike again at this point would not be glorious.
After taking care of business, she returned to find Zach waiting for her out front.
Dark shadows hung beneath his eyes when he looked at her with a sigh of relief. “I know women don’t like to go to the bathroom alone, but did you really have to take the bike with you?”
“I didn’t want it to get stolen again. We’re too close. If anything stops us now, I’ll die. Literally drop to the ground dead. Not exaggerating. And by the way, you took forever. Everything okay?”
Zach ran a hand over his disheveled hair, then his bearded face, looking rather dead himself as he nodded.
“You ready then?” Charlotte asked.
He nodded again as he reached for the stinky backpack containing the stinky tent. “I’m ready. You ready? Got everything?”
Charlotte made a show of patting herself down. “Let’s see, got my feet, my knees.” She flapped her elbows. “Arms are attached, that’s good. Yep, think I’ve got everything.”
“You’re really hilarious this afternoon.”
“Well, that’s ’cuz I made sure to pack my sense of humor first thing.” She patted the back of her shorts as if it had a pocket.
Swinging the bag around his back and sliding his arms through the straps, he looked at her with a blend of annoyance and affection. Man, she loved that look. She pointed to the bike, needing to keep her focus on these last ten miles. Once they crossed the finish line, she’d dwell on that look and what to do about it. “Shall we?”
“After you.”
She settled onto the back seat and clipped her helmet in place as Zach got situated on his seat.
“Actually . . .” He slid the bag off his back and tossed it onto the sidewalk in front of the restrooms. “I don’t think we need that anymore. But maybe the next person who comes along will.”
“Wow,” Charlotte said as they began pedaling. “We’re finishing this challenge with nothing but the clothes on our backs, aren’t we? I can’t believe it.”
“What? You, not believe? Where’s your faith?” Zach said with mock astonishment.
Charlotte playfully smacked him on the back. “Don’t give me a hard time or I might just stop pedaling.”
“And that would be different . . . how?”
She smacked him harder, and he turned his head enough for her to catch his smirk beneath his grizzled scruff.
Glorious. Everything, glorious.
Horrible. Everything, horrible. Two miles was all that separated them from the finish.
Zach could feel Charlotte urging the bicycle faster, probably wondering why they weren’t clipping along. The roads were flat. The weather perfect. Not an ill wind blowing anywhere. They should be able to cover these two miles in a snap.
But he just couldn’t bring himself to speed up.
“Everything okay?” Charlotte asked for the dozenth time after they had plodded another mile slower than an elderly snail with a walker.
He lifted a shoulder, shaking his head noncommittally. “Right knee. It bothers me sometimes.” This wasn’t one of those times, but Charlotte didn’t ask for details.
