Page 65 of The Love Bus

He cracked one eye open. “Now I know why they don’t allow phones out here,” he half-laughed, half-groaned. “To protect people’s dignity.”

“Right? So, the one time I’m okay with something and you aren’t, we can’t go live on Facebook.”

Noah started laughing. And then we both were laughing, so hard I had to wipe away a few tears. Eventually, we stood again—together. Shuffling along the slick floor. Holding hands the whole way across.

“I can’t wait to tell Babs that you, Dr. Noah, do in fact have a weakness,” I snickered.

Noah’s eyes locked with mine. “More than one…actually.”

My heart skipped a beat, and it had nothing to do with the vast nothingness under my feet. More like, it had to do with the vast nothingness looming after this trip. Because…

I was getting addicted…

After the Skywalk, we went to fill up our water bottles and took a shuttle to one of the hikes down into the canyon, where Noah and I just took our time, enjoying the scenery, but mostly just…

being together. I was torn between taking pictures and just soaking it all in. Because the clock was ticking.

At one point, I glanced over. “Nice not to be on a schedule.” Even though we kind of were.

“Right? Nice not to have to worry about Tay driving off without us.”

And then I remembered… Is this the one you couldn’t walk away from?

And suddenly, I had so many questions.

I bit my lip. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

He glanced over, giving me that half-smile that makes it hard for me to think straight. “You just did.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Okay.” He slowed his pace a little. “Shoot.”

“Have you thought about what you’re gonna tell your mom?” I asked. Although it was obvious she adored Noah, I couldn’t believe she hadn’t had ulterior motives when she’d sent him off on the trip. In fact, I was almost one hundred percent sure she’d sent him away to protect him from…me.

He didn’t answer right away, even though I knew that he knew what I was asking. I mean, we’d intentionally hidden his change of mind from the rest of the tour—from her.

And because we still had a few days left traveling together, I couldn’t pretend she didn’t exist. Just like she wasn’t going to be able to pretend I didn’t exist.

“God, she totally blindsided me.” Noah exhaled. “You, me… I was still figuring things out.”

I hesitated. “Did you…” I took a breath. “Did you really tell Rocky that you couldn’t… walk away from me?”

He looked at me then, his expression warm but guarded. “I mean, have you seen you?” He nudged my shoulder gently. “You're very hard to walk away from.”

He grinned, but I could tell he was deflecting. But then he said, “Don’t worry about her. Sometimes she just takes a while to come around.”

It was obvious he didn’t want to get into a serious discussion about his mom. And maybe I wasn’t either. Not here. Not yet.

We walked in a comfortable silence after that, though Noah kept his hand on my back, his thumb tracing small, absent-minded circles through the fabric of my shirt as we made our way back to the trailhead.

And by the time we got to our hotel, even though my face was sore from so much smiling, it was getting harder and harder to ignore the future.

The rest of my life. After this trip.

Without Noah.

Of course, without Noah, right ?

We couldn’t check in yet, and our luggage was still on the bus, but we didn’t have to wait long before the familiar WonderWorld Tours logo appeared large as life outside the lobby window.

Our time alone was over.

For now.

The doors hissed open, and one by one, the tour group began filing into the lobby.

Noah had said his mom would come around eventually. That I shouldn’t worry. That everything would be fine.

But the second Mrs. Grady stepped through the doorway, I knew he’d been wrong.

She froze mid-step, eyes finding Noah first—just him—and then dropping to our joined hands.

Her smile came a second too late. And when it did, it was too bright. Too practiced.

“Noah. Sweetheart,” she said, her voice pitched slightly higher than usual. “I wasn’t expecting to see you until Vegas.”

Noah didn’t even flinch. “Change of plans.” He gave my hand a small squeeze.

“But…the kayaking trip…” She blinked, visibly recalculating. “They told me you would be on the river until Friday.”

“I decided not to go.”

“You…what?” she asked, but quickly recovered, smoothing her expression. “I mean—oh. I see. You decided not to go.”

It was the first time I’d seen her truly flustered.

Tay strolled in behind her, casually pretending not to notice the unfolding drama, though the way she pointedly avoided eye contact with either of us made it clear she knew exactly what she was doing when she helped arrange our little escape.

“It was too much, Mom,” Noah said, calm but unbudging. “And I appreciated it. But I couldn’t abandon this crew, now could I?”

And by this crew , all three of us knew he meant…me.

“I just… I thought—” Mrs. Grady’s eyes met mine, and I saw something shift in her.

Not anger.

But definitely not warmth.

Because yes, I had also been suspiciously absent from the bus today. And now I was standing here, with her son.

Her expression said, so that’s what this is.

So much for the bonding we ‘d done on the train a few days ago!

I untangled my fingers from Noah’s, gently, sensing the storm brewing under her polite exterior.

“I’ll meet you…upstairs?” I said quietly, catching his gaze. I didn’t say our room , though that was what it was. Not his or mine. Ours. Because we’d already decided we’d only use one.

But saying as much in front of his mother now wouldn’t help anything.

And whatever conversation needed to happen between them, it wasn’t one I needed to witness. Not with this thing between the two of us still so…up in the air.

Noah’s eyes searched mine for a moment. “I won’t be long.”

And maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea for me to take a breather anyway. For me to reevaluate what I was thinking. What I was feeling.

But only for a little while.

Even though time was running out. Or maybe because time was running out.

I turned and headed toward the elevator, but before the doors closed, Babs dashed on to join me.

And she wasn’t laughing or joking like I’d expected.

Instead, Babs—my Babs!—was frowning. “She just worries about him,” she said after the doors had closed.

“What with his divorce, and the problems he’s having at work.

She’s afraid he isn’t thinking straight…

And that boy is all she has.” She touched my arm.

“Impossible to understand when you don’t have kids of your own.

That’s what Evel… everyone— everyone who’s a parent says, anyway. ”

Wait. “What?”

“I suppose Christine is right. Morty and I tried, you know, but… It wasn’t meant to be.”

Even as I pushed the button for my floor, a weird sensation pricked the back of my neck. Probably because I wasn’t used to Babs looking so…sad. “But you wanted children?”

“Early on. And we tried.” I saw a flash of the Babs I was used to when she winked over at me. “The old-fashioned way, not like people do nowadays, what with implanting test tube babies and whatnot. Just figured it wasn’t meant to be.”

“But you and Morty were happy?” I said, only partly a question. From what she’d told me about him before, it sounded like they had loved each other very much while Morty had been alive.

Maybe some of her melancholy was because she, too, might be feeling the end of this trip coming up suddenly as well.

“Oh, yes, we were happy. We definitely had our fair share of fun.” A little of her normal gleam returned to her eyes. “Are you having fun, dear?”

It didn’t matter if she was asking an innocent question about the tour or if she was making some sort of innuendo about Noah and I. Either way, I didn’t even have to think about it, and I was tired of hiding it. “ So much!”

“I’m glad for you.” She squeezed my arm a little. “Just know, whatever happens, don’t ever forget that you are an independent, talented, courageous woman.”

Talk about a targeted missile. I swallowed hard, and when the elevator stopped and the doors opened, I covered her hand with mine and squeezed right back. “I won’t.” I stepped out, and when Babs didn’t, I held the doors open. “Hey, Babs?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Thanks.”

The doors closed, and as I checked the signs to our room, I felt an easing in my heart.

Babs was right. I needed to embrace my feelings but also know that something had shifted inside me. And whatever Leo had taken hadn’t been put back by Noah, but rather…Noah had helped me find it.

Even if our time together was only a short fling, even if it would one day become little more than a happy memory in the rearview mirror.

I’d survive.