Page 55 of Lady and the Camp
I positioned myself beside her. With the flowers behind us, she held the phone up and out. She clicked, then checked the image. “Look. You seem at ease. Content. Dare I say happy?”
A low sound came from my throat.
“Do you grumble when you’re happy?”
“Alright, I’m leaving.”
She didn’t comment again until we reached a point in the trail that edged the water. No sand here, only rocks and rough terrain leading out to the lake.
“I don’t think I appreciated lakes like this when I was a kid,” she said.
I stopped next to her. “Yeah, it hits different. When I was younger, I only cared about diving in. Or tubing behind a boat.”
“That sounds fun.” She shaded her eyes with her hands, though she had on sunglasses. “Those houses across the lake are gorgeous. I’d love to live in one of those.”
“That’s a far commute from California.”
She lowered to sit on a large rock overlooking the lake. “I’m not going back.” She shook her head. “I mean, I’ll go back because I have things there, but I don’t…I don’t want to live there anymore.”
Her words came almost as a whisper. Almost like she was saying them out loud for the first time.
I found my own dry rock to sit on. “That’s a big decision.” I wasn’t sure what else to say. Her famous ex lived out there, so I guess she wanted to steer clear of him. Couldn’t blame her for that. “Where do you think you’ll go?”
She stared at the water. “Maybe I’ll travel. There are so many places to choose from. What about you? Where would you go if you weren’t here?”
“Easy. Colorado.”
“Oh, I’ve heard it’s beautiful. Lots of skiing, if you’re into that.”
I shrugged. “Not my thing.”
“What’s the draw for you?”
Only the highest-tier, premier outdoor adventure company, aka my dream job. I hesitated, but something told me Hudson wouldn’t laugh at my dream. “It’s kinda my big goal. To live and work out there leading expeditions into the wilderness. Survivalist trips. Moderate to advanced hiking. That sort of thing.”
Sure enough, she didn’t laugh. “That sounds incredible. It sounds perfect for you.”
“Yeah?”
“You must feel cramped in that old camp office.” She looked over the gentle waves marking the lake. “You want to be out there, leading.Living.”
She could have plucked those words out of my own brain. “Exactly.” How was it someone so different from me understood so completely?
“Sounds like my nightmare.” She snickered. “The survivalist part, at least. I’m sure the mountains are pretty.”
Right. Just because she understood my dream didn’t mean my interests were anywhere near what she’d want herself. Proof wewerecompletely different.
“Anyway, I’m sure I’ll figure out something.” She let out a nervous laugh. “That’s what this summer is supposed to be. A time to figure things out.”
Funny, I looked at my own time at camp as a stepping stone to bigger boulders, so to speak. Instead of fishing lakes, I’d hike near mountain streams. Do solo quests with the land as my companion.
She gathered her knees and wrapped her arms around them. “Do you mind if we sit here for little while? To just…be?”
I couldn’t think of anything I’d like more. But I didn’t say that. Those were the kind of words I thought but rarely made audible. “Yeah.”
So we sat. I didn’t count the time or look at my watch. I wished I could say I didn’t peek at Hudson every few seconds, but I’d be lying.
She closed her eyes and breathed in a gentle in and out. Moments like this, where obligations didn’t demand attention, were few and too far between. I decided to give her privacy and left my spot to walk along the shore.
