Page 80 of If the Summer Lasted Forever
Then he stumbles toward a boulder at the side of the trail, sits down with another groan, and dials his dad. Two seconds later, he says, “We found him.”
The message is relayed, and I can hear the happy cry on the other end.
“But we’re in the canyon below Prospector’s Demise, and we have a flat.” Landon pauses. “No, the spare is flat too.”
He nods a few times, and then he hangs up.
“Well?” I ask.
“They’re coming for us.”
I sit on the rock beside him and let my head fall on his shoulder. Caleb lies on the ground, which is a mistake because George decides he must investigate. Caleb yelps as the dog hangs his jowly face over Caleb’s eyes. Landon laughs and wraps his arm around my back, leaning on me as much as I’m leaning on him. We stay like this, exhausted, for several minutes before we begin the trek back to the Jeep.
Luckily, it’s a lot easier to go down the trail than up.
Caleb has gotten his second wind, and he hurries on ahead of us, racing George to the bottom.
“We haven’t really talked about me leaving,” Landon says quietly, his eyes on the trail.
I glance at him. “I’m not sure what there is to say.”
I don’t want to talk about it—I don’t even want to think about it. I want to pretend it’s not happening and live in the moment.
“You have another year of school,” he says.
I nod.
“And I want to take a year to continue traveling with my family. But next year, we could pick a college. Go together.”
“I can’t.” I keep my eyes on Caleb and George.
“Why?”
“You know why. They need me here. How will they run the campground without me?” Again, I’m reminded of what I saw inthe living room this morning, and for a moment, I think Mom can just go ahead and fend for herself. But that’s not right either.
Landon sets his hand on my arm, pulling me to a stop. “They could hire someone to come in and help.”
“No one knows this place like I do,” I argue. “And this was my parent’s dream when my dad was alive—I’m not going to abandon it.”
“But what’s your dream, Lacey? What do you want out of life?”
I refuse to answer because I don’t know. My future’s always held the same thing—Gray Jay, the campground, our mountains. Even thinking of something else feels like betraying my family. Especially my dad.
Landon searches my face, growing frustrated. “You told me when we first met that you’ve never seen the beach—that more than anything, you want to go to the ocean.”
“Ido,” I say. “You just…don’t understand. You can’t understand. Your family travels everywhere, sees everything, but you have no roots. Youabandonedyour roots. Obviously, they don’t mean as much to you as they do to me.”
We shouldn’t be having this discussion right now. We’re tired, we’re hungry, and the last twenty-four hours have been filled with nothing but worry and stress.
But wearediscussing it, and I don’t know how to get off this train before we crash.
“So, you’re never going to go anywhere or do anything? You’re just going to stay here, stagnant, even though it’s not what you want?”
He doesn’t necessarily say it harshly, but the words still sting.
“I don’t know, all right?” I say, whirling toward him. “But for now, yes, I’m here. For the foreseeable future, yes, I’m here. I don’t know what you want me to say.”
He studies me for several moments, and then he deflates.
