Today was going to be fun, Rob thought while he waited by the big, four-passenger side-by-side. And by fun, he meant torturous and agonizing. But also wonderful. Apparently that’s how days spent with a woman one was falling in love with but would have to let go next month went.
The small cooler strapped in one of the back seats was stocked with cold drinks and snacks. There was a line of helmets on the picnic table, waiting to be tried on. His camera was in its ruggedized case and stowed in a bag hung between the front seats, as safe as he could make it. It wasn’t his best camera, which was still in the house, but it hadn’t been cheap. All he needed now were his guests.
“You look like you’re waiting for your prom date to come down the stairs,” Brian told him as he paused on his way to the tractor. “And like maybe you’re afraid she stood you up.”
He chuckled. “I think I’m fifty-fifty on getting stood up. Hannah would back out in a heartbeat because she prefers walking to the machines. And Erika was very excited about it, but I got the impression from Hannah that the outdoors isn’t really her thing. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to get a text message canceling.”
“That machine’s bigger than you’re used to,” Brian said. “Donotroll it up in a ball with guests inside of it, please.”
“If it’s got wheels, I can drive it.”
“Pretty sure Dad’s riding lawn mower had wheels. And Joey’s dirt bike.”
Rob snorted. “Yeah, remember how Mom and Dad bought that old compact pickup for all of us to learn to drive in and to use until the next kid’s time to learn and by then we had to have our own? I seem to recall you wrecked it right before I started driver’s ed class, so you have no room to talk. It was supposed to go to me and I would have gotten to keep it, being the youngest.”
“I wrecked it because the wheel fell off because it was a piece of crap when they bought it, and by the time it went from Danny to Joey to me, it was held together by duct tape and zip ties. You should be thanking me.”
When Hannah and Erika finally emerged from the tree line where the dirt roads intersected, Rob’s pulse kicked up a notch.
“Huh,” Brian said. “My money was on you being stood up. I’ll leave you to it. But seriously, Bobby. That four-seater’s obviously longer, but it’s also wider, so watch the corners. I don’t want any of you getting hurt.”
Usually when one of his brothers called him Bobby, Rob bristled, but this time he could hear what Hannah was talking about.The people who really love you call you Bobby sometimes.
Sometimes they did it to annoy him, but this time, he felt as if Brian used it because to him, the little brother of their formative years and the one he shared all those memories with would always be Bobby. It was Bobby that Brian helped right the riding lawn mower and fix the mower deck the best they could. Then when Brian jumped in to keep Joey from actually hurting him when he crashed the dirt bike he wasn’t supposed to be riding, he was doing it for Bobby.
It was a perspective he hadn’t wrapped his head around until Hannah pointed it out, but now he could see it and he clapped his hand on Brian’s shoulder. “I’ll be careful, especially in the corners.”
“I’ll leave you to it, then.”
Brian didn’t actually walk away, though, because Stella wanted to say hello to Hannah and her friend. Erika was tentative about petting her, which confused the dog, but Hannah dropped to one knee in the dirt road to give Stella a good thorough belly rub.
When Stella got up and shook—sending dust from the road flying—Erika made a squeaking sound and stepped back, and Brian’s snicker drowned out Rob’s groan.
“Yeah, you have fun with this,” Brian said. “Come on, Stella.”
It took them almost fifteen minutes to find a helmet for each of them, but he finally found two that would work. Most of the helmets belonged to the women in the family, and they’d all been thrilled to have another garage to store stuff in. Since they primarily rode in that part of the state, they’d dumped ATV stuff off on the campground.
“I’ve never worn a helmet like this,” Hannah said. “I don’t know if I can figure out the buckle.”
“I’ll help you,” Rob told her, trying to sound nonchalant. Being so close to her made him feel anything but nonchalant, but he had to fake it because he wasn’t sure what—if anything—she’d told Erika about him.
He did notice, however, that Erika’s helmet was already fastened, which meant she’d figured out the buckle. And yet she made no move to help Hannah, but left it for Rob to do.
Interesting.
He had to pop the door panels open because they couldn’t figure out how and then Erika climbed in the back seat.
“You should sit in the front,” Hannah protested. “It’s your adventure.”
“I might be too scared in the front. You sit up there.”
Rob pointed at the cooler. “I can move that to the front seat if you want to sit in the back together.”
“Hannah gets carsick if she rides in the back seat,” Erika said before Hannah could speak.
He looked at her and she nodded, so he stood back to let her climb into the front seat. That was something he hadn’t known about her, and he added it to theHannahfiles in his brain. Not that it was a piece of information he’d ever use, in all likelihood, but he wanted to know everything about her.
Once they were in and had figured out the seat belts, he checked to make sure they’d fastened them correctly. It was slightly awkward—especially with Erika—but he wasn’t going to take any chances with their safety.
