Close Enough to Touch. Victoria Dahl
eyes narrowed. “How long have you been screwing with me?”
She grinned hard enough that her cheeks actually hurt. Apparently it had been a while since she’d used those muscles. “Not very long, I’m embarrassed to say.”
“So, you really didn’t know what they were?”
“Are you kidding me? Those things are not right. But I guess I have to believe you when you say they’re antelope. And I’m sorry I scared you.”
“Come on,” he huffed. “I wouldn’t say you scared me. You just startled me. Thought there was a buffalo on the road or something. Oh, sorry. Bison. I don’t want you worrying that someone’s accidentally introduced African water buffalo into the ecosystem.”
Grace laughed. She laughed so hard she had to press her hand to her mouth to try to stop it. That didn’t work. In fact, she laughed harder. Laughed until tears overflowed her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she gasped. “They just freaked me out.”
“I guess they might be a little odd-looking compared to mule deer.”
“You think?” She laughed even harder when he smiled. “God, stop making me laugh. Just drive.”
“I’m still a little shaky.”
She hit his arm and relaxed back into the seat. “So, where are we going? The mountains are the other way.”
“Don’t worry. There are plenty of mountains to go around. We’re taking a back road into the Gros Ventre River valley. There are campgrounds and trails here, but it’s not one of the main tourist stops.”
As they worked their way higher up the hill, the shrubs and grasses were occasionally interrupted by groves of aspen, their leaves pale green in the sunlight. The only sounds were the truck engine and the shushing of leaves in the breeze. She breathed in and sighed. “It’s amazing here. So quiet.”
“Yeah.”
“You wouldn’t believe how noisy the city can be.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I’ve been to a city before, you know.”
“Yeah?” she teased. “Like Boise?”
“Something like that.”
She smacked his arm again. “I’m kidding. But really. L.A. is just heat and cars and…hunger.”
“Hunger?”
She hadn’t meant actual hunger, but when he frowned, her cheeks burned, and she scrambled to cover the truth in her words. “Everyone is starving for something there. Fame or fortune or sex or beauty. Even when you have what you need, the next person is always showing you why it’s not enough. Everyone feels desperate.” And then there was the actual hunger. Plenty of that to go around, too.
She wasn’t sure why kids with nowhere to go gravitated to Southern California. Maybe it was because it rarely got cold, but she didn’t think it was that logical. Maybe it was as simple as following the line of other souls who thought they were too jaded to hope, but somehow found themselves wishing for more. Or maybe it just felt like a place where things were possible.
Unfortunately, things were possible in L.A. Anything was possible. From your wildest dreams to a darkness you could never have imagined for yourself. She’d seen it all. One old friend had ended up on the number-one sitcom in the country. Many others had ended up dead. Or worse. Maybe she should be thankful she’d found some middle path.
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