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The dog fits perfectly in Kara’s backpack.

They tie a leash found in the trailer to the inside just in case, but she seems content to sit there with her head peeking out.

Kara says it’s only temporary. Wade knows why she’s so against keeping this dog. He can’t blame her. He feels it, too. That hidden ache stuffed down deep at the idea of another heartbreak, even if it’s a dog they’ve only recently befriended.

Their traumas have settled and begun to scar, but there isn’t much room left for more branches on those trees.

It’s not the dog that worries him today.

It’s the fact that she’s been distant. Part of him wonders if she’s grown tired of how close they’ve been, not emotionally but physically.

They’ve practically tangled up together at every opportunity.

He tries to tell himself it’s just the change of finding Cherry that makes her uneasy.

She isn’t clinging to him like she normally would on the back of the bike and he hasn’t been granted a kiss to his neck even once. Trivial as it may be, that scares the shit out of him since he has plans to ask her the big question once they reach the end of this journey.

To stay out here permanently. It has felt implied, but they’re at a point where implied things need to be said out loud and confirmed.

They began this journey with a slim possibility that he might remember their original plan with Cole and want to return to find him.

Much as he wishes he could see his friend one more time, the reality is that those memories are never coming back.

Even if they did, he would pick a life with Kara rather than risk a second cross-country trip.

When they pull up to a desert diner complete with tumbleweeds in the parking lot, he blurts something out hastily, making himself cringe. “Are you okay? You’ve been different today.”

She frowns, letting Cherry out of the pack to find a spot to pee. “I’m good. Why?”

“I dunno, you just…don’t seem okay.”

How does he say, why haven’t you been climbing me like a tree anymore, when it’s only been a day since they last slept together, without sounding like he’s lost his mind?

“I’m fine, Wade. Really. Are you?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“Alright.”

Well, that was unproductive. He scratches the back of his head and veers away to bang on the diner door, grateful no occupants greet them before he breaks in.

“Have you thought about where we should set up out here?” she asks, while the two of them examine a framed map of the area on a wall.

“Somewhere with a water source. One of these lakes, maybe?”

“We can see if Cherry knows how to swim.”

The dog is busy sniffing every available surface. Before he can reply, she darts past them into the kitchen, cueing a commotion of clattering pots and pans that ends with Cherry proudly staring at them in the middle of the mess with a fat rat in her mouth.

She happily trots over to show them her prize, wiggling in a victory dance before dropping the rodent at their feet.

“She’s a better hunter than both of us combined,” Kara jokes. “Should we let her eat it?”

“Don’t see why not. Can’t buy dog food out here.” He bends down to praise the dog who’d been waiting for a compliment on her hunting prowess and then nudges the rat back in her direction to let the circle of life run its course. “Maybe we can teach her to catch something tastier for us.”

“If we find any pint-sized chickens, she’ll be the first one we call.”

“What about this lake? Alpine. Higher altitude, so fewer rotters. Doesn’t look close to any commercial areas, and it feeds into a stream.” He points to a spot that looks promising.

“It’s as good a choice as any.”

With their next stop on the schedule written into the game plan, they putter around the diner, lazily searching for anything useful when Kara breaks the silence with a familiar offer.

“PG thirteen twenty questions session?”

He nods. “Hit me with it.”

“Where’s the happiest you’ve ever been? Not counting this trip.”

His answer is almost as quick as her smile. “That shitty little studio apartment we rented right after basic training. Remember it?”

“It was good there, wasn’t it?”

“First time everything felt right. And it was so fucking domestic. I loved it there.”

Memories of the shoebox-sized apartment fondly fill his mind’s eye, and he smiles. They were fresh out of basic training and still attached at the hip, both afraid to truly be on their own, choosing instead to gravitate toward the only person who felt like home.

“It was a shithole, but it had the best windows. Floor to ceiling, tons of sunlight. I think I was happy there…with you, for the first time since I’d lost my father.”

“I wanted to stay there with you,” he admits.

“Why didn’t you?”

He sighs with a shrug. “Because it was too domestic after a while, and I thought we needed some space before you found out I was in love with you. So I forced that space and moved out.”

Her expression softens as she fiddles with an empty salt shaker. “We’ve both wasted so much time, haven’t we?”

Wade steps closer to tilt her chin up with a careful finger. “I intend to make up for all the times we wanted to be together and couldn’t.”

She lets out a heavy sigh, wrapping her arms around his neck to hug him tightly. “I’m not overwhelming you?”

“No. Why would you think that?”

“I just know that everything is new for you again. I don’t want to move too quickly and…smother you.”

“When I’m not with you, I’m wishing I could be.

All the damn time.” He’s suffered through a whole morning of being too damn far away so sweeping her up until she’s flush against him is a welcome feeling, and scooping her onto the counter with two hands under her ass so he can step between her legs and get even closer, is too.

“Been wanting you again since I woke up,” he muffles into her neck.

She ain’t wrong to assume that he’d be coming out of his skin by now with so much contact. It wasn’t that long ago that he was stuffed into a corner to try and get away from her. Things change, though. He feels safer with Kara than apart from her.

“What do you say we find us a nice little spot by that lake, then you can be my butterfly tonight?” he whispers against her mouth before snagging her lower lip in a nipping, teasing kiss.

“Really?”

“Absolutely.”

It’s a plan for later, but he’s greedy now, too, and pushes her back against the counter to lick a trail along a cluster of freckles dotted against her collarbone. Shoves her shirt up far enough to suck a rosy pink nipple into his mouth and roll the other between two fingers, feeling her squirm.

He’ll never get tired of how responsive she is.

She makes him feel like an artist stroking a beautiful painting to life.

He could have her right now in this diner.

His willpower is threadbare and his cock already strains against his pants but instead of following through, he pulls back, moving her shirt down and offering his hand to help her off the counter.

“You don’t want to?”

The slight pout on her kiss-swollen lips has him rethinking this idea. “Want to so bad I can’t think straight, but maybe we…you know….force ourselves to wait until tonight.”

Her eyes shimmer with mischief. “Like a game?”

“Well, I dunno about that…”

Kara is nothing if not competitive. She’s backing him up against a worn jukebox before he can blink, snaking her hand skillfully down his pants past the loose belt to grip his rapidly hardening shaft with a firm, long stroke.

Once, twice, just enough to have his knees threatening to buckle and his eyes rolling back, before her touch is gone again, leaving him wanting.

He doesn’t know his own name anymore. Couldn’t say what state they’re in. Isn’t sure if he’s awake or if this is some fever dream designed to leave him suffering.

“Okay. You’re on,” she replies, more than a little smug. “We’ve got all afternoon. Let’s see who breaks first.”

“That ain’t what I meant.”

“Worried you won’t have the willpower to wait? You started it.” She grins.

He supposes she has a point there. He did get her worked up and then stop abruptly before she got any satisfaction out of it. Turnabout is fair play.

“It goes both ways, don’t forget,” she continues. “Give me your best. Maybe I break first.”

What has he got himself into? “Alright. Game on.”

He’ll never win, but trying might be fun.

* * *

Getting to the lake is simple enough. Finding an RV or even a house is harder. It takes them half an hour of searching to find a campground several miles up the trail. When they do, he can’t help but feel like maybe they’re coming home.

There’s nothing out here but them, the wilderness, and a single RV strategically placed before a drop-off.

The red desert is a welcome view from the overlook, and the forest to their back, thick with aspens, offers plenty of hunting ground.

They’re on the edge of two ecosystems, smack in the middle of a gradient.

Kara’s excited that their only option just happens to be her favorite type of silver trailer, and she peers into the window eagerly like a kid on Christmas morning.

“It’s clear as far as I can tell, and it’s nice, ” she smiles wide. “It was waiting here for us, Wade. I can feel it.”

Sure enough, when he gets inside, it’s the nicest one he’s seen. Lots of plush bedding and pillows, and plenty of space for moving around. Solar lanterns charge with sticky panels on the windows, promising light after dark. Someone put a lot of love into this place.

“Should be careful. We dunno if someone’s coming back,” he warns.

“I don’t think we need to worry about that.”

He follows her gaze to the hastily discarded wedding attire on the single queen bed. A puffy white dress and a black suit lay piled together, surrounded by open drawers left in a panic.