“There are no bears in those mountains?” he replies with a rather high-pitched voice.
“You’re not very convincing,” I growl at him.
He takes a couple of retreating steps into the garage as I continue to advance on him. “The good news is, I think you’re scarier than any bear right now. They really only attack people who wander away from the group.”
My jaw drops. “They really do attack people? You’re supposed to tell me that they’re more scared of me!”
Miles nods. “You don’t have to worry. My family has done a lot of camping in those mountains, and we’ve only ever lost one person to a bear attack.”
He presses his hand against his chest and blinks slowly, as though he’s remembering that poor lost soul.
I follow him into the garage and plant both hands on my hips. “You had me going there for a second!”
Miles breaks down into gut-wrenching laughter. “You should have seen your face!”
“Yes! I was imagining not being able to pee all weekend because a bear might be lurking!”
Miles is still cackling about his little joke as I march past him into the house and toward the shower.
“You’re a terrible husband, by the way!” I yell back at him. “Oh, and we’re going to Margaret’s for game night tonight!”
TWENTY-SEVEN
Miles
Lucy takes a shower while I put away my camping gear. Going to Margaret’s sounds fun…and risky. What if she accidentally says something to everyone? When Lucy showed up with Margaret as her maid of honor, I had concerns. The woman knows everything about everyone…I just hope shecankeep those secrets.
But I need something to distract me. I’ve spent too much time in the office and too much time staring at my ceiling, thinking about my wife sleeping down the hall from me.
A game night is just the thing.
I change shirts in my bedroom and reapply deodorant and a little cologne for the night. I still beat Lucy back to the living room. There’s a mountain of laundry on the couch, and none of it is mine. I didn’t even see Lucy bring that much stuff into the house. I don’t know how she can fill an entire couch with clean clothes.
“I’m ready!” Lucy calls as she enters the living room. She catches me staring at the clothes and cringes. “Don’t worry, I’ll fold those when I get back.”
What’s funny is that it doesn’t bother me as much since it’s not mine. I would feel guilty if it were my clothes there, but it’s not that the actual mess bothers me.
“Or I can do it now?” Lucy suggests.
I shake my head. “You’re an adult. You can fold your laundry when you want.”
She raises her eyebrows at me. “Oh, really? Who says I fold it?”
“Nowyou’re going too far,” I tease her.
Lucy walks ahead of me into the garage, carrying her makeup bag in one hand and her tennis shoes in the other. “Do you mind driving?”
“No, not at all. Were we supposed to bring anything?”
“Willa said she has us covered.”
She jumps into the passenger seat of my FJ Cruiser and flips down the visor.
“All righty then.” I climb in and start it up, closing the garage door with the button on my visor after I back onto the street.
“I didn’t know your garage was so messy,” Lucy says in a funny voice.
I glance at her as she’s contorting her face while applying some mascara.
