His wet, sticky—“Did you just put queso in my ear?”
I spin back and find him dancing away from the picnic table, laughing so hard he can barely bolt in a straight line.
I grab napkins and rub at my ear—oh my god, I need a shower—and take off after him, laughing too. “I know where you sleep, you jerk!”
“Not if I leave you here.” He dodges around a tree, his entire face split in the widest, happiest smile I’ve ever seen. Eyes glowing.
Having fun.
I chase him all over the picnic area and finally dive into him when I leap over the picnic table.
Heoofs as we both tumble to the ground, but when he rolls so he’s on top of me, he’s still smiling.
He brushes a loose strand of hair back from my face, and then he lowers his lips to mine and kisses me until I can’t breathe.
“Forgive me?” he murmurs against my neck after he pulls out of the kiss.
“I’m so proud of you,” I murmur back. “And you owe me a thorough ear-cleaning.”
He snickers.
I crack up too.
Who would’ve guessed that he had this in him?
Certainly not me.
But I’m thrilled to be the one with him as he discovers his playful side.
31
HAPPINESS ALWAYS HAS A PRICE
Oliver
This road triphas changed my life in ways I never could’ve seen coming.
Having Daphne along has been the gift I didn’t know I needed, and now, as I’m waiting for her to return from the shower facilities at the state park where we’re camping tonight near the mountains somewhere in North Central Colorado, I’ve firmly decided I’m changing my plans.
I won’t find a home in any town we travel through between now and the end of my two weeks. Absolutely positive.
There’s a frizzy-edged panic around my heart at the idea of where I want to go—it’s too close to my family—but I also know panic doesn’t mean it’s wrong.
It means this is complicated and I have some work to do.
But if this is what Daphne’s regular life is like—weekend camping trips to disconnect and soak in the world that she wants to save, days spent making a difference and seeing the family she’s made with her friend Bea, trying new things, diving intothe unknown while having a safe place to go home to—how could I not want to be there with her?
Not because she has the life I want.
Lots of people have the life I want.
It’s that I want to experience itwith her.
And only her.
I’m shaking my head as I lie on my back and stare up at the wide-open sky when she returns.
“My ears are cheeseless, and now I’m hungry,” she announces. “What’s with the face? I’m not looking where you’re looking again. Never let it be said I don’t occasionally learn from my mistakes.”
