18 Hours To Us

by Krista Noorman

  “Whoa!” Colton was at her side in an instant. “Are you all right?”

  She nodded, although it wasn’t true. She vaguely remembered Colton saying “Thank you” into the microphone before he stopped the music and led her back to their table.

  “Are you dizzy? Because that’s a sign of a concussion, Nat.”

  Natalie nodded. “I know. I was a little dizzy after I fell earlier, but I thought it was nothing.”

  “Natalie!” he scolded. “You were supposed to tell me.”

  “It probably wasn’t smart to flip around after the accident this morning.”

  Colton sat down on the chair next to hers. “Was that just this morning?” He shook his head. “Seems like days ago.”

  “I know,” she agreed.

  He put one arm around her and took hold of her forearm with the other. “Should we go to the hospital?” he asked with such concern in his voice.

  “No. It’s fine. I’ll take it easy from now on.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t like this.”

  She saw the worry in his eyes. “I promise to tell you if I feel even the slightest bit off again, OK?”

  He squeezed her arm. “OK.”

  A woman took the stage then and began belting out an off-key version of “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston.

  “I think that’s our cue.” Colton placed some cash on the table to cover their bill. “Are you good to go?”

  Natalie nodded and stood slowly, only slight dizziness remaining. “I’m good.”

  He kept one arm around her back and one on her arm as they walked toward the exit. She never thought she could be so happy to have a concussion.

  11

  For the Night

  When Natalie emerged from the restaurant after using the restroom, she found Colton leaning against the passenger side of his car, scrolling through something on his phone.

  He looked up as she approached. “You probably shouldn’t drive.”

  “Probably not.”

  He opened the door for her.

  “Or sleep,” she said. “I think I’m supposed to stay awake if I have a concussion.”

  “That’s a myth. You actually should get rest so you can heal. I just have to wake you every couple hours and make sure you’re able to talk to me.”

  She climbed in, tugged the seatbelt across her chest, and gazed up into Colton’s eyes. “If I don’t wake up …” The belt clicked as it locked into place as if she had planned it for dramatic effect.

  Colton’s shoulders sank. “Please don’t go into a coma on me.”

  She smiled up at him. “I’ll do my best.”

  He closed her door and moved around to the driver’s side, holding out his phone as he climbed in. “Hey, I found a place for us to sleep tonight.”

  Natalie’s forehead creased. “I thought we were driving straight through the night.”

  “It’s been a long day. I’m tired, and you can’t drive.”

  The idea of staying in a hotel with him freaked her out. “Maybe we could stop at a rest stop for an hour or two and sleep in the car.”

  “That’s ridiculous. We’re not sleeping in the car.”

  “I don’t know if I’m comfortable staying at a hotel with you,” she said. “I’ll need my own room.”

  “Not a hotel.” He handed her the phone and started the car. “It seems every town along this highway has some kind of festival going on this weekend. Every place that wasn’t a fleabag motel was all booked up.”

  She read what was on the screen. “What’s Mountain Ridge Resort?”

  Colton pulled out onto the road. “It’s a campground an hour from here.”

  “Why pay to sleep in the car at a campground when we can sleep in the car at a rest area?”

  “I have a tent.”

  “You have a tent?” Her eyebrows raised. “With you?”

  “In my trunk.” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder toward the back of the car.

  “Don’t you think the car will be more comfortable than the hard ground?”

  “I have an air mattress.” He glanced her way. “And a two-person sleeping bag.”

  Her eyes narrowed, and her mouth shifted to the side and scrunched up in disapproval. “No way. Not happening.”

  “You can have the sleeping bag,” he told her.

  “So, you just carry camping gear with you wherever you go?”

  “We camped out at Grant’s a couple weeks ago.”

  Natalie needed no more explanation than that. Everyone knew about parties at Grant’s house, where people would crash for entire weekends. She didn’t want to think about who he meant when he said we. Because it was very likely that he and Lexi had slept in that tent together, and if she let her mind wander, well … she didn’t have to be a genius to know what they had probably done in the cozy two-person sleeping bag.

  A jealousy that she hadn’t expected reared its ugly head. Colton didn’t belong to her in any way, but she grew more and more upset the more she thought about it.

  “You’re quiet,” Colton broke through her bitter thoughts. “You OK with camping?”

  “Fine.” Her mind played out several scenarios, from her sleeping in the car by herself to her snuggled up in Colton’s arms. The latter made her stomach flip.

  Colton drove on, following the navigation system along some Pennsylvania roads until they reached the campground. He stopped at the registration office and checked them in. All the while, Natalie’s anxiety ramped up at the idea of sleeping in the same space as Colton.

  He returned to the car and drove through the campground toward their site. Up ahead, a small group of people were gathered around a camper with a sign that said “Hosts: Wilmot and Elinore Beezley.”

  As they drove past, the sound of banjo and harmonica music floated in through their windows.

  Colton started bouncing his knee and tapping it jokingly, which broke through her nerves and made her laugh.

  He stopped at the end of the drive next to a tent campsite on a hill overlooking the forested valley below.

  Natalie walked over to the edge of their site and gazed out at the beauty. The sun hung low in the western sky, almost touching the mountaintops. “Nice view.”

  “I’ll say.”

  She glanced back over her shoulder and found him watching her, and a blush creeped over her cheeks. Gosh, he’s good with the pickup lines.

  Natalie would never admit it to Colton, but she was happy to be there. After eleven hours on the road, she was ready to get out of his car for a while. Sitting in a vehicle for hours on end wasn’t doing anything to improve her stiff neck.

  Colton popped the trunk and pulled out the tent bag and a flashlight. “We need to get this set up before it gets too dark.” He dumped the contents onto the ground and unrolled the tent in the center of their grassy campsite.

  “What can I do?” she asked.

  “Grab those poles and get them laid out.”

  Natalie straightened out the tent poles and placed them on the ground. By the time she had finished, Colton had the green dome tent laid out and ready to assemble. Once they had it set up, Colton went around and staked it down while Natalie opened up the rain fly and threw it as best she could over the top of the tent.

  “Like this?” she asked as it slipped further down one side.

  “Only if you want to get wet if it rains.”

  “Hey, it’s not easy.”

  He chuckled as he adjusted the rain fly to the proper position. They worked together to get it attached to the top of the tent and staked to the ground.

  “Voila!” Colton proclaimed when it was all set up. “We make a good team.”

  She liked that he said that.

  Colton left Natalie admiring their handiwork and retrieved the air mattress, pump, and sleeping bag from his trunk.

  She watched as he unzipped the door to the tent and disappeared inside. Nervous butterflies zigzagged around in her stomach at the humming of the air pum
p. The air pump that was inflating the mattress. The mattress they would be sleeping on. Together.

  The sun disappeared behind the hilltops, leaving the sky beautiful shades of pink and purple. Birds were chirping in a nearby tree, and a rabbit was hopping down the side of the hill. The banjo music was faint, but still going on.

  “We should go listen to the music before they stop for the night,” Natalie called out to Colton.

  “Huh?” he replied.

  She walked over to the tent door and found Colton without a shirt—again—working on the air mattress. “I said we should go listen to the music before they stop playing.”

  Colton wiped the sweat from his brow with his wadded-up shirt.

  “If … if you keep dirtying all your shirts, you’re going to run out of clothes before we even get to the beach.”

  “It’s hot in here,” he explained.

  Natalie stepped in and was surprised at the difference in temperature, especially since they had only just set it up. She moved to the side and unzipped the window. “We need to let some air in.” She did the same on the other side as Colton stopped the pump and pushed the valve in to trap the air.

  He lay back on the mattress and bounced a little. “Lay down and see if this is firm enough for you.” He patted the spot beside him.

  “Uh … I’ll take your word for it.”

  He raised an eyebrow at her. “Don’t you trust me?”

  Were her palms sweating? She rubbed them on her jeans and quickly exited the tent, needing distance. The air was probably ten degrees cooler outside, and her cheeks were once again on fire thinking about the sleeping arrangements. She walked to the car so she could keep moving and retrieved her water bottle, swigging down the last of it. She noticed Colton’s and grabbed it for him.

  He was emerging from the tent when she approached.

  “Thanks.” He took the bottle from her outstretched hand and proceeded to down it in one long steady chug. He started to put his sweaty shirt back on, then stopped with his head poked through the hole, one arm in, one arm out. He tilted his head like he was listening for something. “I don’t hear the music anymore.”

  “Maybe they’re done for the night.” She pouted.

  It suddenly picked up again.

  “Aw, yeah.” He yanked his shirt the rest of the way on and started walking down the lane toward the hosts. “You comin’?”

  Natalie grinned and jogged to catch up to him.

  When they reached the hosts’ campsite, they stood to the rear of a group who had settled in with their lawn chairs for a listen. A few campers standing nearby welcomed them. One older man even offered Natalie his seat, but she declined.

  Colton elbowed Natalie.

  She saw him patting his hand on the side of his thigh, bouncing his knee like he had when they drove in. She elbowed him back and tried to keep from laughing.

  Then he started tapping the back of his hand against her outer thigh to the same rhythm he had before.

  She raised an eyebrow at him, but he ignored her and bobbed his head to the music.

  The Beezleys looked like their name, if that made any sense at all. Wilmot wore denim bib overalls and a red and blue plaid shirt. He had silver hair and a bushy silver beard. Elinore had wavy grey hair twisted in a tight bun at the nape of her neck. She wore a rainbow tie-dyed t-shirt, yellow cotton shorts, and white ankle socks with brown sandals. One thing they had in common was a mouthful of crooked teeth when they smiled.

  Wilmot’s fingers moved over the banjo strings, while Elinore played the harmonica expertly. They performed three songs in a row and had the audience clapping. Even Natalie and Colton clapped along.

  Natalie loved every moment. A banjo and harmonica duet wasn’t an everyday occurrence. This trip kept getting more and more interesting. She wondered if Colton thought the same.

  When the mini concert had concluded, twilight had settled over the campground. A few of the campers hung around to talk with the hosts, while others headed back to their campsites.

  Colton wandered over to the Beezleys. “That was a lot of fun. Thanks.”

  “Oh, you’re welcome.” Wilmot shook his hand.

  “Where’re you two from?” Elinore asked.

  “Michigan,” he replied. “We’re on our way to Virginia Beach.”

  “How long you here?” Wilmot set his banjo on the table by their camper.

  “We’re back on the road in the morning.”

  “Just for tonight then?” he asked.

  The two of them nodded in reply.

  “Well, we’re so happy to have you.”

  “Thank you,” Natalie said.

  “Oh, there’s a chance of thunderstorms tonight,” Elinore added.

  Natalie looked southwest toward the approaching clouds, and her stomach dropped.

  “If you need anything at all, including a dry place to hide out, please don’t hesitate to come by. Our door is always open.”

  “Thanks,” Colton replied. “I waterproofed the tent, so we should be good.”

  Wilmot and Elinore wished them goodnight, and they walked back toward their campsite.

  Colton elbowed Natalie's arm. “What’s up? You look like someone ate all your chicken parm.”

  “I can’t handle storms,” she mumbled.

  “We’ll be all right. If we have to, we’ll jump in the car and wait it out.”

  She didn’t reply. Every bad thing that had ever happened in her life had happened during a thunderstorm. Storms only ever brought unhappiness her way.

  Colton must’ve sensed how serious she was. “Don’t worry. I’ll be with you the whole time.” He put his arm around her and gave her a squeeze.

  It did little to calm her nerves.

  12

  Camping

  Natalie grabbed her bags from the trunk and lugged them into the darkening tent with her. She unzipped her suitcase and turned on the flashlight to find the pj’s she had packed for the week. She dropped them onto the air mattress and pointed the light at them, wondering if maybe she should sleep in her jeans and a sweatshirt rather than the spaghetti strap tank top and cotton pajama shorts. But it was still warm in the tent and she could climb inside the sleeping bag before Colton ever had a chance to see her, so she opted for the pj’s.

  With the flashlight turned off, there was still the faintest light within the tent. She crossed her arms over her stomach and grabbed the bottom edge of her shirt, tugging it up over her head just as she heard the zip of the tent door. Her shirt came up over her face in time to see Colton staring at her chest, covered only in a lacy white bra. She yanked her shirt down, covering herself as fast as humanly possible.

  “Don’t look!” she cried. “Get out!”

  He averted his eyes. “Sorry.”

  But she caught that cute little smirk as he swiftly turned around, closing the tent door on his way out.

  “I told you I was changing,” she called after him.

  “No, you didn’t.”

  Wait, he was right. She hadn’t said the words. She had taken her suitcase to the tent with her, assuming he would know, and then he had wandered off to the bathroom. “Well, I’m changing.”

  “I barely saw anything. It’s dark in there.”

  “Right.” She knew he was lying. If there was enough light for her to see his face, there was enough for him to get an eyeful.

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “Knock next time.” Flustered, she whipped her shirt off, tugged her jeans down as quickly as possible, caught her foot in one of the legs, and tumbled onto the air mattress. She lay there in the near dark, staring up at the top of the tent, her jeans stuck on her leg, wearing nothing but her bra and underwear. Something about the moment and the entire situation struck her as funny, and she began to laugh.

  “What’s so funny?” Colton asked through the wall of the tent.

  She couldn’t answer through her laughter.

  “Knock knock.” Colton started unzipping the te
nt door again.

  “No!” she cried, trying to control her laughter. “Not yet.”

  “Girls are so slow. I would’ve stripped down in two seconds flat.”

  This only made Natalie laugh harder, until she heard a subtle rumble in the distance. “Was that thunder?”

  “Yes, so hurry up before I get stuck out here in the rain.”

  She yanked her foot from the jeans, threw on her pajamas, jumped up, and unzipped the tent door, hauling Colton in by his arm.

  “That’s what I’m talkin' about.” He chuckled.

  She didn’t care what he meant by that. All she cared about was having him close as another distant rumble sounded, causing a chill to run through her body.

  “I need to change too, ya know.” He pointed at the door.

  “No way. I’m not going out there right now.” She crossed her arms over her chest and sat down on the mattress.

  Colton turned on the flashlight, and his expression changed when he saw her face. “Why are you so scared?”

  Natalie swallowed hard, but didn’t respond.

  “It’s only a little thunder,” he said.

  She shook her head. Or was it her body shaking? She wasn’t sure.

  He sat down next to her and put an arm around her lower back. “Do you want to sit in the car?”

  “I can’t,” she managed. She couldn’t move. It was always the same. One rumble of thunder and she was frozen in place.

  “You’re trembling.” He scooted closer, tightening his arm around her.

  She turned into him and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her head in his shoulder.

  “Hey, it’s all right.” He squeezed her tight and held her until the trembling began to subside.

  Natalie let go and saw what she thought was honest-to-goodness concern in his eyes.