by Laura Burton
Several minutes passed, but they still hadn't found the dog. "Where is he?" Lainey cried.
"I'm sure we're getting close. He can't have gotten far." But Lance was starting to worry. Chonk wasn't young. In general, he was a pretty lazy dog. And Lance had already tossed a frisbee around with him earlier in the day. Could the dog have still had enough energy to travel this far?
Lance's back spasmed and he realized he'd been tensing his muscles, but he ran through the pain. He couldn't let Lainey down. They had to find Chonk.
But what if they didn't? Tendrils of panic wrapped around Lance's chest. Lainey would be devastated.
They rounded a corner and nearly tripped over a large object sprawled across the trail.
"Chonk!" Lainey fell to the ground next to her dog. "Is he hurt?"
Lance kneeled down beside them. Chonk wasn't moving. Lance's heart stopped. Had the dog died from exhaustion?
Then the dog snored. Lance laughed. "He's asleep, Lainey. The poor fella must have tired himself out and decided to take a nap."
Lainey hugged her dog. "Wake up, you silly boy. This is no place for a nap."
Chonk opened his eyes and grinned up at them. "Come on, beast." Lance nudged the dog, trying to get him to move, but Chonk didn't budge. Lance stood, lifting Chonk along with him. He slung the dog over his shoulder and began hiking back to the campsite.
"You don't have to do that," Lainey said, hiccupping.
"I don't mind," Lance said. And it was the truth. The look on Lainey's face was reward enough. He suspected the relief in her eyes was mirrored in his own. He'd grown fond of the silly dog. And even fonder of his owner. The realization nearly brought Lance to his knees.
Lainey followed behind as Lance carried Chonk into the RV and placed him in the middle of the bed. Lainey and Lance climbed in on either side of Chonk, taking turns patting his belly.
"You gave us quite a scare," Lance said.
Lainey smiled at him gratefully. "Thank you for carrying him back. You're a good guy."
"You didn't think so earlier," Lance said quietly.
"I'm sorry," Lainey said. "I was upset."
"You called me a snob." He propped himself up on an elbow and looked her in the eyes. "I said I wasn't, but I didn’t have the chance to explain. I'd like to try now."
Lainey nodded encouragingly.
"I do like having nice things. And I can be a little vain. I know that." A tiny smile played on his lips. "But it's not because I'm a snob. It's because I didn't have much growing up."
"I can understand that," Lainey said. "I know what it's like to be broke."
Lance nodded. "But that's not why I'm lying to Paul. I can live without nice things. What I can't live without is Lola."
Lola? Lainey was desperate for more information but she pressed her lips together, waiting for him to tell the story in his own time.
"Lola is my younger sister," he explained. "She's a junior in college and plans to go to medical school. Tuition isn't cheap and neither is anything else about taking care of a twenty-year-old."
"You take care of her?"
"She takes care of herself for the most part. She's smart, so a lot of her tuition is covered by scholarships. But I pay for everything else. I worked my way through college, but I don't want Lola to have to do that. I want her sole focus to be on her education."
"Your parents can't help?"
Lance laughed but there was no humor in it. "No." He ran a hand through his hair, mussing it in the way Lainey loved. "I never knew my father. Lola's father was around for a few years. Those years were good. We had a roof over our heads. Plenty of food to eat. But he left when Lola was four. She doesn't remember him. After that…"
"After that?" she prompted gently.
"Things got bad again. My mother couldn’t hold down a job. We lived in the car for over a year before social services intervened. I was fourteen. Lola was six. We were separated. Neither of us has seen our mother since."
Lainey's hand flew to her mouth. He'd been through so much.
"I finished college in two years. I took on numerous jobs and got an internship with a top literary agency. Eventually, I got custody of Lola. By then, she was sixteen. She'd had a hard life. I'll never forgive myself for that."
So, he was the best kind of guy. Lainey had been right about that. "It wasn't your fault. You were a kid, too." She reached out to touch him, but he rolled away.
Lance no longer looked at her. He stared at the ceiling. "Lainey, I'm a workaholic with too many clients and a little sister who needs me. I don't have room in my life for anything else. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Lainey understood. He was warning her away.
But it was too late. She had already fallen for him.
Chapter 13
The following morning, Lainey woke first, just as she'd done every day. And like every day, Chonk had ended up on the couch with Lance. Lainey grabbed her coffee from the fridge and crept toward the door. Before leaving the RV, she allowed herself just a minute to watch Lance and Chonk sleep. She couldn't help but wonder what it might be like to wake up to this sight every morning. But such thoughts were pointless. It took two people to form a relationship. And Lance wasn't interested.
Taking a sip of coffee, she marveled at the beauty around her. It was a lovely morning. The sky was cloudless, the sun was shining, the birds were singing. A gentle breeze rustled the leaves on the trees. And the air already smelled of bacon. Once again, Lainey's mind drifted to bears. Were they attracted to the smell of pork sizzling on a griddle? A twig snapped nearby and Lainey spun around, prepared to come nose to nose with a giant black bear.
She was relieved to see it was only Annie. That is, until she noticed that Annie was wielding a bowie knife.
Lainey took a step back, uncertain. "Annie?"
Annie shook her head, a sad expression crossing her face. "I'm sorry, Lainey. You've left me no choice."
"What?" Lainey's voice came out in a squeak. What was happening? Had she stepped into the plot of a Paul Arken novel? A pregnant woman snaps, slicing and dicing her way through a quiet campground, murdering every man, woman, and dog in sight…
Annie charged, her knife poised to attack. A strangled scream escaped from Lainey's mouth. But Annie ran past Lainey, plunging the knife straight into one of the RV's tires. Before Lainey could process what had just happened, Annie had slashed another tire.
"What are you doing?" Lainey cried.
Annie tucked the knife into a sheath on her belt. "That ought to do it," she said with a satisfied smile.
Lainey shook her head, bewildered. "Ought to do what?"
"It's all in the note," Annie said cheerily, tossing a yellow notecard onto the picnic table. "It was such a pleasure to meet you, Lainey. I hope that we'll meet again soon."
And with that, Annie walked away, whistling as she went.
Lance stared at the flat tires. "You're telling me that Annie did this? Why?"
"It's in the note," Lainey said, handing him a piece of yellow stationery.
Lance opened the card and quickly skimmed the note.
Dear Lainey and Lance,
I told Paul what happened to your tires last night. Sometimes overnight temperatures can do strange things to tire pressure. We've arranged for them to be replaced. Our treat. But the tires had to be special-ordered and it'll take 2 days for them to arrive. It's an unfortunate coincidence that this happened just after Paul and I had decided to move to the next leg of our trip. It would have been nice if you'd been able to join us.
Anywho…use this time wisely. Commune with nature. Have fun. Be open to love.
XOXO,
Annie
Lance read the letter again, shaking his head. He looked to Lainey for help. "I don't get it."
She raised a shoulder. "What's there to get? She's a crazy person."
Lance frowned. "She wrote this note before she slashed the tires?"
"Yup."
Lance read the wor
ds a third time. "It implies that the tires just naturally lost tire pressure."
"Yes, I suspect that's what she told Paul."
"What does she mean, 'use this time wisely?'"
"Oh, that." Lainey blushed. "She knows the truth."
Lance's forehead crinkled in confusion. "The truth?"
"About us," Lainey mumbled. "You know…that we're not really engaged."
A sense of dread washed over Lance. "Does Paul know?"
Lainey shook her head. "No. Annie hasn't told him." She fiddled with the hem of her sweatshirt. "She believes that you and I could fall in love. For real. Given some time." Her eyes met his.
Lance cleared his throat and looked away. "So, she slashed our tires? You're right. She's a crazy person." Then something occurred to Lance. "How does Annie know we're not engaged."
Lainey shrugged. "She figured it out."
"When?"
"The day at the lake."
Lance groaned. This was bad. This was very, very bad. His livelihood was at the mercy of a meddlesome—and hormonal—woman. Commune with nature? Who had time for that? And as for Lainey…he didn't have time to think about that right now.
He looked at Lainey. "I'm going to spend the day at the camp store. I have work to do and they have wi-fi."
If he was going to be out of a job soon, he needed to do as much work as possible for his clients in the meantime. He'd been away from the office long enough. It was time to get back to work.
Lainey paced the length of the RV. Grabbing a cushion from the couch, she held it against her face and screamed. Lance had been gone all day.
She read the yellow notecard for the hundredth time. "Thanks a lot, Annie," she grumbled. Chonk barked in solidarity.
Clearly, the woman's plan had backfired. Instead of being open to love, Lance had slammed the door. He'd rather keep company with Margie at the camp store than spend the day with her. Perhaps Herb had convinced him of the existence of Bigfoot and they were out hunting for one now.
Lainey sighed. Fortunately, the day hadn't been a complete bust. She'd managed to jot down some ideas for a new picture book. It even had a tentative title: The Chronicles of Chonk. So far, it featured her chunky corgi as an unlikely hero against the forces of evil. At the moment, she'd added in a stand-in villainess to represent the forces of evil. It was no coincidence that the villainess looked a lot like Annie Arken.
The RV wasn't giving her enough room to pace. She hooked Chonk's leash to his collar. "Let's take a walk, big boy."
Chonk yawned, sprawling to the floor on his belly.
"Pathetic," she grumbled, unhooking the leash. "Fine hero you are, making a girl walk through the woods alone."
Lainey was tempted to walk to the camp store but thought better of it. If Lance didn't want to see her, she wasn't going to force him. Instead, she walked in the opposite direction. When she returned, the sun was setting and the mosquitoes had emerged in full force. After smacking at several of the pesky bloodsuckers, she decided to sprint the rest of the way to the RV. Finally, it was in view. She hurled herself up the steps and jerked on the door.
It didn't budge. She tugged harder, nearly pulling her arm out of the socket, but nothing happened. After trying both doors to the cab with no luck, she accepted defeat. She was locked out. And Lance had the only key.
Maybe she should walk to the camp store to get the key? Absolutely not. She had already made up her mind not to chase after Lance. She sat at the picnic table to wait. Within seconds, the mosquitoes descended. She smacked them on her arms. On her legs. And then they started biting her face.
Lainey moaned, burying her head in her arms.
"Lainey?" Just the sound of Lance's voice made her stomach flip. Even now, when she was getting eaten alive by flying piranhas. She had it bad.
Not wanting to expose her face to the monsters, she lifted an arm to wave.
"Are you okay?"
"No," she mumbled. "Mosquitoes."
"Why are you sitting outside?"
"Locked out."
Lance chuckled. "Come on. Let's get you inside." He wrapped an arm around her, helping her stand. She buried her face in his shirt to hide from the mosquitoes. He smelled so good. She inhaled deeply, biting her lip to suppress a groan.
How had she let this happen? She'd done an excellent job of resisting men in the past. But now she found herself wanting a man who had made it perfectly clear that he did not feel the same way about her.
But she couldn't stay away. She was drawn to him, like a mosquito to flesh. And like the mosquito, she was bound to get crushed.
Lance dabbed anti-itch cream onto the tip of Lainey's nose and put the cap back on the bottle. "I think that's the last one." He couldn't hide a smile. Lance had never seen someone with so many mosquito bites. But in spite of being peppered with angry red welts on her arms, legs, neck, face, and even her ears, Lainey was beautiful. "Does that feel any better?"
"Maybe," Lainey answered, scratching at a bite on her knee.
Lance rested a hand on her knee. "Try not to scratch."
Lainey nodded obediently but her hand drifted up to scratch a spot on her chin.
Grinning, Lance grabbed her hand. "Try not to scratch," he repeated. Without thinking, he laced his fingers with hers. He marveled at how tiny her hand was in his.
"But it itches," she moaned.
"I know, sweetheart." He lifted his hand from her knee and placed it on her chin, gently rubbing the mosquito bite. "But you shouldn't scratch."
Her eyes settled on his. Gray storm clouds swirled in her blue irises. Like a sailor drawn to the sea, Lance couldn't resist the pull of her gaze. He tilted her chin upward, bringing her lips closer to his. He wanted to kiss her so badly. The kiss in the lake had haunted his dreams. During the day, he occasionally succeeded in pushing the memory away. But in his sleep, his brain rebelled, reliving every second of that glorious kiss. Again. And again. And again.
Still grasping her chin in his hand, he tentatively grazed her bottom lip with his thumb. Would she allow him to kiss her now? This time, there would be no one watching. It would be a private moment, shared only by them. It would mean something.
Lainey closed her eyes, lifting her face still closer to his. It was the invitation he'd been waiting for. He could press his lips to hers. But it would mean something.
She licked her lips, readying them for his touch. If he kissed her, she would kiss him back. But it would mean something.
Lance took a steadying breath, willing himself to back away. First, he lowered his hand from her face. Next, he released the hand he'd been holding. Finally, he leaned his face away from hers.
She opened her eyes then, a frown line creasing her forehead. "Is something wrong?"
Lance shook his head slowly, rising from the bed. "I think it's time I let you get some sleep," he said. "Goodnight, Lainey." He forced himself to leave the room and take his spot on the couch.
Was something wrong? Lance wanted to laugh. Indeed. Something was very, very wrong. Because Lainey wasn't his to kiss. She deserved more—so much more—than Lance had to offer.
Chapter 14
When Lainey woke the following morning, she was surprised to find the RV empty. For the first time, Lance had woken before her. She grabbed her coffee and went outside. Lance and Chonk were nowhere in sight. Where had they gone?
Lainey took her spot at the picnic table. It was quickly becoming her favorite place to work. But she doubted she'd be able to get much on paper today. She was too confused about Lance. What had happened last night?
She'd been sure he'd wanted to kiss her. He'd been so kind and gentle, rubbing lotion on her mosquito bites. Despite the itching, each place he'd touched her tingled with pleasure. She'd suffer a hundred more mosquito bites—a thousand more—if it meant he'd touch her like that again.
And then he'd rested his hand on her leg. He'd held her hand. He'd even touched his thumb to her lips. So, why hadn't he kissed her? Perhaps she'd looked too hi
deous covered in mosquito bites? Or maybe he was turned off by the scratching?
But he hadn't seemed disgusted. On the contrary, he'd seemed concerned. As though he genuinely cared about her well-being. But then he hadn't kissed her. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out why. Had she misread the signals that badly?
Surely not. Men didn't just touch a woman's lips. He had wanted to kiss her, right? But if so, what had stopped him?
She frowned at the blank piece of paper in front of her. Who was she kidding? She wouldn’t be able to work today. The Chronicles of Chonk would have to wait.
She thought of her silly dog. In such a short time, he'd grown attached to Lance. But they'd be returning to New York soon. And Chonk would never see him again.
The realization stole her breath, deflating her faster than Annie Arken could dispatch of an RV tire. The replacement tires would arrive tomorrow. And then they'd go home. Paul and Annie had already left, so there was no reason to stay in Pennsylvania. Lance would return the RV and their fake engagement would be over. Her temporary job of posing as his fiancée would end. She'd never see him again.
A noisy old pickup truck pulled into their campsite. The truck had definitely seen better days, rusted through in spots and missing a headlight. The door swung open and a familiar brown dog leaped out. He ran to her, rolling over so she could pet his belly.
Lainey obliged, smiling at her corgi. "I'm happy to see you too, Chonk."
Lance climbed out of the pickup truck. "Good morning," he said.
"Good morning," Lainey replied. "Did you steal a truck?"
Lance laughed. "If I ever decide to become a car thief, I will set my sights a little higher than this." He wrinkled his nose at the truck.
"Where did it come from?"
"It's Herb's," Lance explained. "I told him I wanted to take you out for breakfast, but that we needed a car. He was kind enough to loan me this one. It's not pretty but it runs. Put Chonk in the RV and hop in."