Liz groaned and threw her arm over her eyes as if she could block out the images that popped into her head. Thinking about Drew and cuddling wasn’t going to help her sleep. All that would lead to was tossing and turning and, with the crappy mat under her, she’d probably be black and blue by morning.
She’d tried her best to ignore him at the campfire, but he’d been in her line of sight. And once he’d relaxed and started talking to the other guys and laughing, she’d barely been able to keep her eyes off of him. He fit in with her family so nicely, probably because he’d always been around them, and she was tempted to leave her chair and join in the conversation. But her aunt had been determined to make up for all the years Liz had been away by talking to her all night. Which was fine. She’d missed Aunt Mary, who’d done her best to co-mother them along with Rosie after their mother died.
But with everybody else being part of a couple, it was hard not to imagine sitting next to Drew around the fire, holding hands like some of the others.
When she opened her eyes to find the sun beating down through her cheap tent, Liz was surprised to realize she’d not only fallen asleep, but slept through the night. Then she rolled onto her side and groaned.
The water ball of doom game had to be responsible for the heavy sleep, just as it was for the muscles screaming in protest. The hard ground had just been the icing on the cake.
After a few minutes, she managed to get turned around to face the door, snagging her bathroom bag along the way. After working the zipper up, she crawled out of the tent into the already humid morning.
“Do you need help?”
Liz tilted her head back to look up at Katie. “I haven’t actually tried to stand up yet, so I’m not sure.”
“I’ll wait.” Katie, who was staying in the small cabin with Josh, had her shower bag with her and her hair was wet. None of the cabins had bathrooms, so she had to walk back and forth. “There’s a set of bunk beds in our cabin, you know. You could sleep in there.”
Sure, because nothing spiced up a vacation for a new couple like the guy’s older sister sleeping in the same room. “I’m okay, really. I like camping. I just need to never, ever play water ball of doom again.”
“There’s a reason it took so many women to watch the little ones in the shallow end.”
“Lesson learned.” Liz finally pushed herself to her feet, grimacing as her muscles stretched.
“You’ll be happy to know breakfast is almost ready. Probably less happy to know they’re already dragging out the riding gear.”
Liz actually groaned aloud. “There aren’t enough ATVs for everybody. I’ll be noble and volunteer to stay behind.”
“Um, they’re getting around that by making it a couples ride. That way there’s two to a machine.”
“Nothing makes a single girl feel more included than tacking the word couple before an event.”
“Mom said you can just ride double with Drew, since you’re both single.”
Since Katie’s mom happened to be Rose, Liz bit her tongue. Hard. She hated matchmaking, especially when it wasn’t subtle and they were trying to hide the fact they’d already made that match once. And having her legs wrapped around Drew for half the day? They were trying to kill her, obviously, and the water ball hadn’t done the trick so they’d upped their game.
“Hey, you’re both single,” Katie said in a voice that dripped with suggestion. But then she laughed. “I guess not. He’s Mitch’s best friend, so that’s out.”
“Ten minutes,” they heard Lisa yell from her site, which doubled as breakfast central.
“Crap. I need to hurry or I’ll be licking the crumbs off everybody’s plate.”
Liz was ready in fifteen minutes, so she managed to snag some scrambled eggs and a couple slices of bacon before the horde went back for seconds. She even treated herself to a mug of real coffee instead of making a cup of the instant she’d stashed with Mitch and Paige. After sleeping on the ground, she deserved it and, as long as she only had one, it wouldn’t bother her too much.
Much too soon, the breakfast debris had been cleaned up and it was time to hit the trails. It was tempting to come up with an excuse not to go, but the only thing they’d accept would be not feeling well and she had no doubt either Rose or her aunt would give up their riding to stay with her. She sucked it up and took the helmet Paige handed her.
“What are you going to wear?”
Her sister-in-law shook her head. “I’m not riding.”
“That’s not fair. If I have to go, so do you.”
“If anybody but Rose or Aunt Mary asks, I just don’t feel like it, but—”
“Oh my God.” Paige was pregnant.
“Shh!”
“Sorry. Do you know for sure? At dinner, you didn’t say anything.”
“I was starting to be hopeful by then but I didn’t want to jinx anything. Now I’m sure, but I’m not very far along at all, so we don’t want everybody to know.”
“I want to hug you and jump up and down and cry.”