Page 132 of To Catch a Latte Thick as Thieves

“I can’t tell. It sure looks like it.”

Cat stuck her head out of the window to get a better look. The RV abruptly switched lanes.

“I’m sure it’s them. I can see her sparkly shirt from here,” she said. “And they’re in a different RV. Something’s not right. I think we should try and lose them.”

“Seriously?” Jared looked at her as if she’d suggested they pull down their pants and moon them.

“I mean it. They’re following us. We need to make a getaway.”

“You’re joking,” he said.

“Humor me,” she asked and batted her eyelashes at him.

Jared sighed and hit the accelerator.

As they distanced themselves from the RV, it sped up. Like a game of cat and mouse, they stayed just out of reach, swerving to block the RV when it got too close.

“It has to be them,” Cat said. “But why are they after us?”

Jared frowned. There was something awfully odd about this.

They left behind the high desert and were enveloped amidst large pine trees. The road became steep and curvy as it wended its way through the mountains. Drop-offs punctuated every turn, and Cat held her breath while Jared navigated the steep climb. The van’s engine was running at maximum. Their so-called high-speed getaway was going an absurd thirty-five miles per hour up the steep incline.

“This is ridiculous,” Cat said. “I could run faster.”

“You may have to,” Jared said.

The road leveled off and they sped up. The RV followed. The road began to wind into hairpin turns and Jared lost sight of the RV in the third turn. He hauled the van into a small pullout and parked behind a thick cluster of pine trees. The RV rolled on by.

“Did we lose them?” Cat asked.

“I hope so,” Jared answered, easing back on the accelerator. “I’m going to backtrack and take another route south. It’ll take longer, but we won’t be seeing them again.”

Brooding about the Bickersons, Cat didn’t notice that they’d left the mountains behind until Jared nudged her with an elbow.

“Cat,” he said. “Take a look.”

Cat pulled Lucy from her perch in the open window and glanced out at the hills surrounding them. The air coming in through the open window was hot, but she was too engrossed in the scenery to notice. The land to her right was covered with tall, green, multiarmed cacti.

“Saguaro?”

“Yes.” Jared laughed at her surprise. “We’ve finally reached their latitude.”

“There are so many of them!” she exclaimed. Her gaze ran over the view, and she noticed several other smaller cacti also dotting the hillside. “I always pictured the desert like the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons, you know, one cactus in the middle of nowhere. This isn’t like that at all. It’s beautiful.”

“You really think so?” he asked her sharply.

“Yes,” she answered with a note of awe in her voice. “Look, you can see the mountains in the distance. Aren’t they amazing?”

“Sure are,” he agreed, stretching in his seat, looking more relaxed than he had all day. “I’m glad you like the desert. Not everyone does. It’s hot and rugged and leaves no room for ambivalence. You either love it or hate it.”

“I think I’m one of the former,” she assured him. The dimples in his cheeks deepened, and the grin he sent her was blinding.

They passed over a bridge, and Cat noted the narrow stream that trickled in the vast riverbed. She wondered what it would look like after a storm. Large wispy green trees sat along its banks and she noted in surprise that even their bark was green, or so it appeared.

“What kind of trees are those?” she asked.

“Palo Verde,” Jared replied. “It’s Arizona’s state tree. The name means ‘green stick’ or ‘branch’.”