Between The Lines (Main Street Merchants Book 5) Read online

  “Oh, sure, turn that all back on me.” Regan scooted up on the bed, gathered four Tootsie Roll wrappers, and tossed them into the trash. “You first. Spill your guts. Why is my dating so important to you?”

  “I think we’ve all been worried about you since Glenn, and we feel that if you started seeing someone else, that would mean you were healed.” Cara’s voice was soft, as were her eyes. “We love you, Regan. We love your spark and your sassiness and yes, even your sarcasm. We want to see you live and thrive and be everything you’re supposed to be. You’ve changed since Glenn. We miss you.”

  “I’m still sarcastic,” Regan shot back, trying to hide her surprise at what Cara had just said. She’d thought she was handling her life just fine, but apparently not.

  “Yes, yes, you are,” Cara said, grinning. “But what about the rest?”

  “I don’t know.” Regan studied the worn-out pattern on her blue bedspread. Had she really changed that much?

  Cara looked over at the doorway. “Come on in.”

  Morgan and Laurie entered the room and sat down on the carpet in front of Regan’s bed.

  “What is this? A roommate intervention?” Regan asked.

  “Um, yeah, pretty much,” Laurie replied, her cheeks going a little pink.

  “Notice we have you pinned in your room so you can’t escape,” Morgan said. “We’re blocking your way to the door, and your window is too small to crawl through. You’re basically our prisoner.”

  Regan inhaled and then released a long, drawn-out sigh. “Okay, what do you want?”

  “For you to get out of this dang bedroom,” Morgan said.

  “Hey, I come out. I have to microwave my food, don’t I?”

  “Oh, that’s impressive. She comes out to microwave her food.” Morgan shook her head. “Gotta do better than that.”

  “What do you guys suggest?” Regan really didn’t like how they were all ganging up on her, but she loved them like sisters, and she knew they cared about her. And sometimes sisters gang up on you and trap you in your room.

  “That’s what I came in here to talk to you about.” Cara bounced up and down a little on her bottom, making Regan’s bed jiggle. “You know how Brennan and Jesse go camping all the time? They’re going out again this weekend, and they’ve invited us to go too.”

  “All of us?” Regan looked around the room.

  “No, just you and me. It’ll be a foursome. But don’t worry—it’ll all be very above board. Jesse’s got this new tent with a divider down the middle, one side for the guys and the other for the girls. These guys camp in style—they’ve always got the latest gear. It’ll be fun. You’ve got to come.”

  Regan looked at Cara suspiciously. “I didn’t know you were a camping enthusiast.”

  Now it was Cara’s turn to look uncomfortable. “I’m not. I mean, I haven’t been in the past. But I’m marrying one, so I figure it’s time for me to learn how, right? And this would be so fun. Maybe I’d like it better if there was another girl along, you know?”

  “So now you’re playing the guilt card on me, huh?”

  Cara batted her eyelashes. “Is it working?”

  Regan groaned again. Why? Why? Her friends knew she’d do anything for them, and at times—like this—they used it against her. “Fine. But I’ll need to see about time off work.”

  Cara waved that off. “Not a problem. I already talked to Melba.”

  Regan sat up straighter. “You did what?”

  “Well, I didn’t want to make you this fabulous offer if you weren’t going to be able to go. So I talked to Melba, and she said it’s fine.”

  Regan turned to Laurie and Morgan. “Did you hear that? She totally asked my boss if I could have time off work. My boss.”

  “Um, that may or may not have been my idea,” Morgan said. “I mean, we had to be sure it was okay . . .”

  “What they said,” Laurie chimed in, nodding.

  “I can’t believe you people. Did you pack for me too?”

  Cara shook her head. “No, that’s up to you.”

  “Fine. Fine. I’ll go. But that’s only because I’ve been browbeaten into this entire thing, and it’s against my will—that needs to go on the record.”

  “Done.” Laurie pretended to write something in an invisible notebook.

  “Now, will you please let me get back to my book? You came in here just as it was getting to the good part.”

  “You think all the parts are the good parts,” Morgan said as she pulled herself off the floor.

  “That’s because they are.” Regan waited until her roommates had left the room before letting out another long, long, gusty sigh. Camping. With Jesse. How on earth had she gotten herself into this? Oh, yeah, that’s right. The world’s most interfering roommates. She put her pillow back over her face and didn’t move it this time.

  * * *

  “Camping, you say,” Leslie said, looking perplexed. “You are going camping.”

  “It wasn’t my idea. My roommates trapped me and wouldn’t let me out until I agreed.” That was technically what happened, although Regan might have played up the drama just a little bit for effect. “We’re leaving Thursday morning and won’t be back until Sunday night. I just might die.”

  “That is a long time out in the woods,” Leslie commiserated.

  “And Cara told me I couldn’t bring any books.”

  Leslie took a step back. “No books? What are you supposed to do all that time?”

  “Apparently we’re going to get in touch with nature and stuff. But we can’t do that constantly for four days, can we? Won’t there be break times when a book would be a very nice thing to have?” Regan plopped down on the stool behind the cash register. “This is meanness. That’s what it is.”

  “I agree.” Leslie turned to greet the deliveryman as he walked in, wheeling a dolly loaded with boxes. “This shipment should help take your mind off things.”

  It did, for a little while. They made space for the new books while Melba entered the information into the computer. But after everything was shelved, Regan’s mind returned to the problem at hand.

  “Can people actually die from not reading? Melba, I can’t believe you gave me time off for this.”

  The older woman took off her glasses and let them dangle from their chain around her neck. “Most people enjoy a little time off now and then, Regan.”

  “Yeah, I know. But you know what? I think I’ve decided I’m just not like other people.”

  “You’re only coming to this conclusion now?” Leslie ducked when Regan threw a pencil at her.

  Chapter Five

  Regan hadn’t seen Jesse since their very awkward date, and she was worried that things would be even more awkward between them when he and Brennan came by that morning to pick them up. Maybe she should have gone down to Climb Every Mountain to break the ice. That couldn’t be more nerve-racking than this, could it? When she heard the knock on the front door, her stomach clenched, and she took a few deep breaths. She could be casual, right? She totally could do this.

  But when she saw Jesse, he acted like nothing had happened at all. He gave her a big grin and took her backpack out to the Jeep, then came back in for the cooler of snacks she and Cara had put together. The guys said they’d take care of the meals if the girls would do the snacks and drinks, and that had worked out just fine.

  “Have a great time, and don’t get eaten by any bears,” Laurie counseled them.

  “And watch out for poison ivy,” Morgan added.

  “You could come with us, you know,” Jesse said. “There’s plenty of room in the tent, and we brought a ton of food.”

  “Sorry—I’ve got inventory at the shop,” Laurie said.

  “And I’ve got . . . something . . . very important and official-sounding to do too,” Morgan replied. “Otherwise, I’d be all over it. Like a tick on a hiker’s leg.”

  Regan grimaced at the analogy. Morgan had a very unfortunate way with words sometimes.
r />   They all climbed into Jesse’s Jeep. Regan should have expected it, but she was still a little surprised to find herself sitting up front with Jesse, while Brennan and Cara took the back.

  “So, where are we going?” Regan asked, trying to sound as carefree as Jesse looked. If he wasn’t going to make a big deal out of this, neither was she.

  “My favorite camping spot is about an hour away,” Jesse said, guiding the Jeep onto the road heading north. “There’s great hiking, and the views are out of this world.”

  “Hiking?”

  Jesse glanced over at her. “Yeah. Is that okay? I mean, you’re wearing hiking boots—I thought that meant you were up for it.”

  “I guess. I sort of hoped I could wear the boots without actually hiking in them. Like fitting in to the surroundings without becoming part of them.”

  Jesse laughed. “This will be fun. Brennan and I know what we’re doing, and we’ll make sure everything goes smoothly. I can’t guarantee that we won’t see any bears, but I can guarantee that we won’t get eaten, and I know what every poisonous plant looks like. You’re in good hands.”

  Involuntarily, Regan thought back to holding his hand. She knew very well how safe those hands could make a person feel.

  The sun had just begun to rise when they left the apartment, and now the rays of light cut through the windshield like lasers. Regan put on her sunglasses and watched as the road became more narrow and the trees grew thicker. She liked the earthy, autumy smell that blew in through the slightly open window, the pine and the dirt and the crisp air all mingling together. It was quiet up here, almost eerily so. If it weren’t for the paved road, she could almost believe that no other humans had ever set foot on this land.

  Jesse guided the Jeep around a few hairpin turns, took a barely visible trail off to the left, and brought the vehicle to a stop in the middle of a small clearing. Regan hopped out, glad to be back on solid ground after all the weaving of the canyon roads. She wasn’t car sick, exactly, but she was definitely ready to be out of the Jeep for a while.

  “We’ll be camping up that trail about a quarter mile, but we’ll leave the Jeep here,” Brennan said, nodding toward a path that looked barely wide enough for a troop of camping squirrels to use. “We’ll need to carry in our gear.”

  “It’ll take us a few trips,” Jesse added, “but a quarter mile’s not far.” He hefted one of the coolers, and Regan tried very hard not to notice how nice his muscles looked through his shirt. She had no time for, or interest in, muscles.

  Regan and Cara put on their backpacks and then picked up other equipment from the back of the Jeep. Regan ended up with a Dutch oven, which didn’t seem heavy at first, but grew in weight as she walked. A quarter mile might not be far, but carrying a heavy pot? Yeah, it wasn’t the most fun she’d ever had. She realized she was nothing but a big wimp—maybe she’d start going to the gym with Cara, who was hefting her box with ease.

  They reached their campsite, and Regan was surprised to see that a large stone ring had been built nearby.

  “Is this some kind of homage to Stonehenge gone very, very wrong?” she asked.

  “No, that’s our fire pit,” Brennan said. “We made it a little taller than usual so we can go hiking or fishing and leave our Dutch ovens cooking. Otherwise, a breeze could come up, blow some ash out onto the ground, and we’d start a forest fire.”

  “Huh.” Regan took another look. It was a pretty clever setup. It just looked like a sacrificial altar for some sort of forest-worshipping cult, that was all. Nothing weird going on here.

  They arranged everything where Jesse indicated, then headed back for more. Jesse fell into step beside Regan as they walked. “What do you think of the place?” he asked.

  Regan looked up at the bluest sky she’d ever seen and listened to the wind in the aspens. “It’s gorgeous,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like it—except for in pictures, maybe.”

  “I feel more at home here than anywhere else in the world.” Jesse took a deep breath. “The air feels like it’s actually feeding me.”

  “So, that means you won’t want your snacks, then. I call dibs.”

  “Well, that all depends. Just what are these snacks?”

  Regan grinned. “Oh, I dunno—chips, cookies, candy bars. I think we also brought some veggies, but I could be wrong.”

  “Snickers?”

  “Of course.”

  “Well, I still want my Snickers. The air doesn’t have peanuts.”

  “All right. You can have your Snickers. But I get your Oreos.”

  “Fair enough.”

  They pulled more gear from the Jeep. Brennan hefted the carry-all containing the tent over his shoulder and then grabbed the second cooler.

  “You got that okay?” Jesse asked.

  “Of course. Plus, I’ve got to show off for my lady friend.” Brennan waggled his eyebrows at Cara, who giggled and swatted his arm before grabbing the sleeping bags.

  Once they had everything at the campsite, Jesse assigned the girls to start a fire while he and Brennan set up the tent.

  “Have you ever started a fire?” Cara asked Regan in an undertone.

  “Of course. Haven’t you?”

  “Not that I can recall.”

  “Uh, you’d probably recall starting a fire. I might not be a camping aficionado, but we did have a fire pit. Not like this one, of course—this baby’s like a Russian citadel. First we’ve got to find some kindling.”

  Regan and Cara gathered small sticks off the forest floor, then built their way up to branches and then the pieces of wood Jesse had hauled in. Several minutes later, they had a nice fire going.

  “Good work,” Jesse said, walking toward them while dusting his hands off on his jeans. “We’ve got the tent up, and now we can start making dinner.”

  “Dinner? It’s not even noon.” Cara glanced at her watch.

  “True, but good Dutch oven takes time.”

  Brennan set up a folding table near the pit while Jesse poured some coals near the base of the fire, and the two guys got to work chopping up chicken and vegetables from their cooler. Cara and Regan took two of the camp chairs and made themselves comfortable.

  “Are you glad you came?” Cara asked.

  “I’m not sure yet. We walked a total of a mile and a half to unload the car, my hair smells like smoke, and my dinner is all raw and being waved around in front of me like weird trophies from war. Ask me again in a couple of hours.”

  Cara laughed. “You know, food does start out raw. That’s just how it is.”

  “I know. I just don’t like to think about it.” Regan pulled the band out of her hair, fingercombed through the snarls, and then pulled everything back into a fresh ponytail. “I’m not against nature. I just don’t care to participate in it much.”

  “Brennan wanted to go camping for our honeymoon, and I told him I didn’t think so.” Cara laughed. “Can you imagine? That’s really not my idea of romance.”

  “Oh, come on. You could keep the champagne cold in the river,” Regan teased.

  “And then it would float away. Or the bottle would break and get the fish tipsy. No, I held out for a hotel. This trip is sort of our compromise.”

  “You two set a date yet? You’ve been talking about it forever.”

  Brennan gave a loud “Hi-ya!” while chopping through a large carrot, and Cara smiled. “We’re thinking spring. That way, Laurie and Logan will go first, and we can learn from all their mistakes. It’s very handy that I already know where we’re getting my dress and the cake. Laurie’s trying an online printer for her invitations, and I’m curious to see how they turn out.”

  “I don’t think Morgan’s ever going to set her date,” Regan said. She flicked a bug off her knee—she meant what she said about nature not being her thing.

  “Oh, she will.” Cara’s eyes lit up with mischief.

  “What? You know something, don’t you?” Regan sat up straight, which is hard to do in a camp chair.
“Tell me!”

  “I don’t know if I should.”

  “Cara!” Regan growled. “You can’t just drop hints and then not say anything.”

  “Okay, okay.” Cara laughed. “She and Rory are going to elope.”

  “No way.” Regan thumped back in her chair. “Why?”

  “Too many family pressures. Her mom’s being kind of weird, wanting to be involved now that she’s made contact again, and Morgan doesn’t want to go there.”

  “Why didn’t I hear about this?”

  “I overheard her talking to Rory in the living room last night. Technically, I don’t know anything either. We’ll have to wait and see how long it takes her to tell us. Maybe they’ll just leave and come back one day, married.”

  “They’d better not. I mean, she has to tell us, right? I’d kill her if she didn’t.”

  Cara shrugged. “I guess we’re just going to have to wait and see,” she said again. Regan hated waiting to see.

  “Okay,” Jesse called out. “Dinner is on.” He set the Dutch oven near the fire, grabbed a pair of tongs, and began arranging the coals beneath and on top of the oven. Then he stood and dusted off his hands again. “Now we can make lunch.”

  Where making dinner took quite a while, lunch was ready in minutes—the sandwiches were already put together, the potato salad was from the deli, and the chip bag wasn’t hard to open at all.

  “After lunch, let’s go for a hike,” Brennan said. “I can’t wait to show off the views from the trail.”

  “After lunch, how about a short nap?” Cara responded. “I don’t know about you, but getting up at daybreak sort of interrupts my circadian rhythms.”

  “Okay, and you can tell us what you think about the tent and sleeping bags,” Jesse replied. “They’re both prototypes sent to me from the wholesaler. If we like them, I’ll carry them in the store.”

  “What makes these sleeping bags different from the ones you already stock?” Regan asked. Weren’t all sleeping bags pretty much the same? She wanted to ask, but she didn’t want to let her camping naivety show more than it already was.

  “These are thicker, so they’re warmer, but they roll up smaller because of their space-age material,” Jesse replied. He stood and gathered their paper plates. “They’re a little pricy, but if they’re everything they’re cracked up to be, it could be worth it.” He tossed the trash into the fire, then put the soda cans in a sack.