Page 19 of Anywhere with You
Cara was flipping through a brochure. She was wearing a cream sundress with a lacy belt. It was definitely going to fly over her head in this wind, but since there was no one around but me, I didn’t bother pointing it out.
“Did you know that the sand is gypsum?” she asked, pointing ata line in the brochure. “That’s why it’s cool to the touch even when it’s hot outside.”
“Mm-hmm,” I said and unloaded the sled.
“Wow, there are forty-five species that only live within the national park.”
“Really?” The place seemed huge, but not big enough for that.
“Most of them are moths.”
“Ugh, okay. Let’s go.”
Cara was still straightening a wide-brimmed hat that she’d somehow located in the back seat when I started climbing the nearest dune.
My feet sank into the powdery sand, and I immediately kicked my shoes in the general direction of the car. Badger would’ve been rolling all over, getting sandy and matted and having a blast.
“I apologize,” I said to the dunes. “You are so much more than a sealess beach.”
The dune was easily taller than a two-story building. I hopped on the sled at the top with anticipation in my stomach and held on tight.
I slid. Slowly.
Cara watched me from the bottom, grinning under her massive sun hat.
I wiggled. I ducked low to be more streamlined. I was moving, picking up a little speed as I went down, but nothing like I’d imagined. I could’ve leisurely drunk an espresso on the way down without spilling a drop.
“I just realized that all my sledding expectations come from cartoon characters sledding in the snow,” I said as I neared the bottom.
Cara tilted her head. “You’ve never gone sledding in the snow?”
“In Houston? I managed to build a six-inch-tall snowman. Once.”
“No, obviously not in Houston, Honey,” she said, exasperated again. It was amazing how easily I could exasperate her. I just had to be myself.
“My family never vacationed much,” I said, “and I guess I kept up the tradition.”
Cara shook her head. “Honey, if we don’t kill each other by the end of this, we’ll spend fall break in the Rocky Mountains.”
“Cara Espinoza,” I said, standing and lifting the sled. “It’s a date.” I tilted the sled toward her. “Your turn?”
“For that roller coaster? You bet.”
Cara ran up the dunes in her sandals, and I followed her, grinning.
At the top, I held the sled while she sat cross-legged inside. Then I pushed her. Hard.
In my defense…I can’t think of an acceptable excuse for my behavior, and I’m sure Cara would agree that it was uncalled for. I just thought of her grinning at my snail-slow descent, and I pushed.
She didn’t have a firm grip on the edge of the sled, and as it slid forward, she tilted backward. She flipped off the back, and when she landed, she just kept rolling, her shoes flying off, her sundress bunching around her waist, showing off lacy white panties.
I stood for a moment in shock as she tumbled down toward the bottom of the dune. Then I ran as fast as I could, slipping and landing on my ass in the sand repeatedly.
She reached the bottom, sat up, and looked at me racing down after her with the horror I felt clear in my face. I felt a little better, just seeing her move. I’d already started to fast-forward to a hospital room where a doctor explained that the spinal injury was likely permanent, and it would be my responsibility to feed her for the rest of her life because I’d pushed her down the goddamned dune like an attempted murderer.
Cara watched me descend. Her sun hat had flown off somewhere, and the fine sand stuck to her arms and legs and face.
Then she laughed, pulling her sundress back down. “Let’s do it again,” she called out.
