Page 23 of Into the Mountains (Blue Grove Mountain #3)
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
ELIAS
A fter dropping off Ethan and the cats at George and Isabelle’s, I head back to the clinic to meet everyone, the familiar guilt that usually comes when I leave my son with anyone else only growing the further I drive away from him.
I constantly fight with myself inside my head, the rational part of me against the irrational part.
I know it’s okay to take a break; I deserve a break.
But I’m a parent and feeling like I need or even want a break from my kid feels wrong.
And it always ends up feeling like the wrong thing to do even when the rational side of me knows it’ll be good for both of us in the end.
Maybe.
This time, who knows if it’ll be good for me.
This isn’t some weekend getaway to the mountains or some run of the mill camping trip with friends.
This is a planning “work” trip to help us all bond as a team.
At least that’s how Sky is spinning it. And from a quick glance I was able to steal at her clipboard before I left the other day, I can fully assume she actually has some team bonding activities for us to participate in.
What she doesn’t know is activities like that are the perfect fuel to the fire for mine and Charlotte’s past rivalry. Current rivalry? I’m not so sure about it.
I pull up to the clinic to the one and only redhead slinging a duffle bag over her shoulder.
She spots me and watches me park. She takes a small step like she’s going to go inside and then second guesses herself, turning back toward my car.
Then back again. A dance with an invisible partner as her feet shuffle, trying to find the right pattern to follow.
Good to know she’s feeling as flustered about this weekend as I am, except there’s something else in her eyes.
Something tinged with sadness. I glance down and see her wearing a faded T-shirt that has a character I think is from Star Wars on it with the words “ Yoda best dad in the world” scrawled around the wrinkly green guy, in familiar looking font with dark green leggings to match.
A battered duffel bag blends in with her pants, the color only interrupted with a poorly patched whole near the top of it.
My mind wanders back to the conversation I overheard between her and Ethan and I think about the night I met her dad after our second date.
Both of her parents were waiting up for her on the porch this time.
Her mom had a medical book in her hand that she put aside as soon as we got closer to the porch and her dad had a puzzle book he was working on.
We had decided to take a walk that night after we got back to her house.
It was early and the summer night was cool enough to walk without sweating two minutes into it.
Charlotte’s movements drag me from my thoughts as she finally decides to turn her back on my car and go inside.
Getting out, I stand with my door open, arm slung over the top of it, my other elbow resting on the top, and all I can do is stare at the figure walking further and further away from me.
And the look of sadness in her eyes makes the pit of guilt I had before lessen a little bit.
Because now I have a goal to focus on this weekend.
I think I’m going to have to bring back some of our friendly rivalry.
Just a little bit.
“Figured you’d have had more than just the run down duffle, Charlie.” Her body jerks at the proximity of my body to hers.
“Asshole,” she mutters, which is exactly the response I’m looking for.
“Aw, I’m so happy to hear we’ve moved our friendship into the nickname stage, honey bunch,” I say, sarcastically.
This time she looks at me in disgust and I smile, because I’ll take this over the sadness I saw a few minutes ago. I’ll take anything over seeing that sadness again.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Okay, schnookums."
“You’re going to be insufferable this whole trip, aren’t you?” I open my mouth to answer her, but Sky comes through the door with that damn clipboard.
“And that’s exactly why we are taking this trip,” she reminds us. Right, this is completely our fault.
“Sky, why can’t we just do some team building stuff that doesn’t require us to go camping for a whole weekend?”
“Yeah, Princess Charcoal here doesn’t want to get dirty.”
“Oh, I’m the princess?” She challenges and a familiar fire lights in her eyes.
The one she’d feed when we would go against one another our senior year.
Except this one is brighter, hotter, making the freckles on her face stand out a bit more than usual.
They’re the little embers still hot and red when the rest of the fire has died down.
One thing no one should underestimate. You never know when they might spark.
I want to trace them to see what would happen if they did.
Where did that thought come from? I don’t want that. Do I? Nope, I’m not letting myself over analyze this right now. I don’t have the time or the energy.
“What about you? You’re the one who always had the problem with germs. You used to carry a bottle of hand sanitizer everywhere and use it after you touched anything. For a jock, I’m surprised you even knew how to shower.”
“Oh yeah, because jocks are sooooo dumb. Good one. I haven’t heard that one a million times before. And I liked to keep my hands clean. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”
Out of the corner of my eye I can see Jacob and Sky look at each other in confusion. While I think Charlotte filled in Avery on some aspects of my past, it doesn’t look like the others were kept in the loop.
“Anyone care to fill us in here?” Sky tries to ask.
“No!” Charlotte and I both yell back not bothering to turn our heads.
Jacob leans down to his wife’s ear and mutters, “I don’t think this is all just about their working relationship.”
Neither of us bother to confirm or deny what he’s saying, we just continue to stare each other down. Another contest the other refuses to lose.
Avery and Hudson pick that moment to walk into the clinic, the bells above the door breaking the silence. Their voices immediately fall quiet.
“Whoa,” Avery looks between the four of us before turning back to Hudson. “Let’s go wait outside while whatever this is,” she gestures to Charlotte and me. “Wraps up.”
I don’t break my stare from Charlotte. “It’s fine, we were about to head out. I was just looking for some hand sanitizer.”
Charlotte narrows her eyes at me so much they are practically closed as she crosses her arms. Finally, I break my stare away from hers and I catch a smug smile tug at the edge of her lips. I’ll let her take the victory for now. As long as she’s smiling.
A few minutes later, everything is packed into the bed of Hudson’s truck and it isn’t until I see Avery snuggled into the bench seat at the front that I realize we are all going in one vehicle.
Charlotte realizes this at the same time I do. “We aren’t actually all squeezing in one car, are we?”
“Yep,” Sky answers without bothering to explain further.
Hudson moves around to the driver’s side as Sky and Jacob file in behind his seat. “Shotgun!” Charlotte yells at the same time I do and we are back at it again as we race to the front seat like teenagers fighting for the prime roadtrip spot.
“Really? You two are going to fight over that?” Avery asks, already sounding tired of our antics.
“HAH!” Charlotte boasts. “You lose again, Eli.”
“Since when does anyone call you Eli?”
“Since never,” I answer Sky as I squeeze my almost six foot frame into the back seat behind Charlotte, my senses consumed by whatever floral perfume she put on her skin before she came.
The image of her rubbing it on her wrists shouldn’t have as much of an affect on my body as it does.
It smells sweet, but with an earthy undertone to it.
Maybe the hour-long trip to the campsite won’t be too bad.
The crackling from the radio fills the cab as Hudson tries to find some music.
“Here, just let me hook up my phone.” Charlotte wastes no time connecting her phone to the truck’s bluetooth and instrumental music sounds through the speakers. It takes me a second to recognize the music, but surprisingly, I do.
“Charlie, we are not listening to movie scores the whole way there.”
She sighs. “Why not? They’re better than what most people listen to.”
“I’m not disagreeing with you, but I also don’t need to hear The Hobbit soundtrack played on repeat. Especially considering Ethan has had it on repeat for the past couple of weeks in his room and he doesn’t bother with headphones.”
“Killjoy,” she mutters loud enough for me to hear as she scrolls through her phone for another playlist. The opening notes of “Style (Taylor’s Version)” starts playing and as I expected, Hudson starts singing along, not missing a beat.
I can see Charlotte’s head whip around, her hair moving with her, to stare at him in utter shock.
One thing about Hudson is he’s a big ‘ole Swiftie. Both him and Sarah were. Sky used to hate her music, but she’s come around over the years and soon she’s singing along with the rest of us.
Charlotte just looks around the cab, mouth agape as all her friends, and me, are singing along to one of her favorite artists that I don’t think she expected any of us to like by the look on her face.
The rest of the hour is filled with a mix of songs from Midnights, Reputation, 1989 (my favorite), and a few from her debut.
We pull into the campgrounds and pass the lodge as we make our way to our campsite and I glimpse canoes and kayaks, which I expected.
One of the fun facts I learned from Sky’s nifty little clipboard.
It’s also one thing I’ve never been very good at.
Something about me and the water doesn’t mix very well.