The dirt road disappears rapidly and is barely a road anymore—I can’t imagine how the minivan would have made it any further, even if the battery hadn’t died. But the men seem confident as they lead the way. Jack has his compass and his Boy Scout experience, and Warner has the map and is the only one who has been here before. The three of us women bring up the rear.
“I’m sure it won’t be too far,” I say. I’m not by any means sure of that, but I’m trying to be optimistic for Lindsay’s sake.
Michelle shoots me a look. “Don’t you ever service your car, Claire?”
I flinch. “Yes. I service it regularly.”
“Well, it seems to me,” she says, “if you were going to take your vehicle on a trip out into the wilderness, you might want to bring it to the mechanic first to make sure it doesn’t break down in the middle of nowhere.”
I already got yelled at by Noah. I’m not in the mood to take it from Michelle too. But at the same time, I’m reluctant to get into a fight with her. I’m afraid of what might come out. “The minivan is new. There’s no reason it should have broken down.”
“Yet it did.”
I take a deep, calming breath. “Look, we’ll be there soon. This isn’t that big a deal.”
Michelle shakes her head at me, then without another word, she picks up her speed until she catches up with the men, leaving Lindsay and me behind.
“That was rude,” I mumble.
Lindsay watches Michelle in the distance. “Maybe she knows…”
“She doesn’t know.”
“I don’t know… She seems even more ornery than usual…”
“Yeah.” I squint at Michelle’s backside. She’s in pretty good shape, considering she spends her days behind a desk. I wonder if she works out. “But I think if she knew, she’d say something. She wouldn’t just keep it to herself. That’s not her style.”
“Maybe.” Lindsay cocks her head to the side. “But maybe she wouldn’t say anything. I mean, it’s not like either of us knows Michelle very well.”
She has a point. Despite all our efforts, neither of us knows Michelle at all.
That thought hangs in my head as we trudge through the dirt. We continue to hang back, just out of earshot of the others, which isn’t entirely coincidental. I hope we’re almost there.
“This sucks,” Lindsay comments as her right boot sinks into a puddle of mud. “This is not what I had in mind for this trip.”
“Well,” I say, “you wanted to get away from civilization, right?”
“No!” She seems affronted by this suggestion. “I just wanted to get Warner away from the hospital for a week. I wanted him all to myself.”
I look at the three men up ahead. Warner’s blond hair is almost gleaming. He definitely has the best butt of the three of them. And even though we’re in the middle of nowhere, he walks forward without any hesitation. I have to admire his confidence.
“So you really like him, huh?” I say carefully.
A smile lights Lindsay’s face. “I really do. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way about somebody before. He’s… perfect.”
“Yeah, but…” I step gingerly over a branch on the ground. “What was the deal with lunch? Why wouldn’t he let you have a burger?”
She narrows her eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I mean…” I don’t want to hurt Lindsay’s feelings, but at the same time, I want to make sure she’s not with a guy who’s going to break her heart. Or manipulate her. I owe her that much. “You wanted to get a burger, and he told you not to. Then you got that teeny tiny salad instead.”
“Oh.” She waves her hand. “That has nothing to do with him. I’m trying to lose some weight, that’s all.”
“You don’t need to lose any weight!” I don’t point out the obvious, which is that she’s at least twenty pounds skinnier than I am. If she needs to lose weight, I’m in big trouble.
“Bullshit.” Lindsay holds out her bare upper arm and grabs a handful of flesh. “Look at this! Warner does not have an ounce of fat on him. It’s… embarrassing.”
“And why was he looking at you like that when he mentioned boob jobs?” I press her.
“Well…” Lindsay glances down at her chest. “You have to admit, I’m not exactly well-endowed.”