Page 62 of Ashes of Us
Early Thursday morning, Danica dropped Indie off at Antonia's place in Salem. Maverick had offered to pick her up on his way there the previous night, but Danica hadn't wanted to give her up earlier than she had to and said she'd bring her to him. She wasn't upset with Alex and Xavier for choosing a campground that didn't allow dogs, they hadn't known she would be coming when they reserved their spot and since it was the last camping weekend for the summer, it had been impossible to find a site at a dog friendly campground in the area, not for a lack of trying. She'd watched Alex spend almost three hours trying to find a campground that accepted dogs and had available sites. She finally told him it was fine, Maverick was happy to take Indie for a few days, and not to worry about it.
After dropping Indie off and having a quick conversation with Maverick, she headed back to Emilia and Xavier's place to meet with them and Alex and load her things into Emilia's Buick. She was told not to worry about bringing anything other than her clothes, toiletries and anything else she might need to be comfortable. The plan was to get to the campsites, set up the tents, and put things away. Then, they would go pick up groceries, check out the campground and surrounding area, have dinner, and spend the evening around the campfire. Xavier and Alex were getting up early Friday morning to go for a day ride up the coast, while Danica and Emilia planned to hike one of the trails near the campground. Saturday, they were going to spend the day on the beach. Sunday, all four of them were going for a motorcycle ride, and then they would pack up to leave and come back on Monday.
Danica had tried to pack lightly but had failed completely. Not sure of what she would need, she checked the weather, saw it was supposed to be good weather, except for Saturday night, which was supposed to be cool and rainy. Between the threedifferent types of shoes, clothes for warmer weather and clothes for the cooler weather, towels and her toiletries, she ended up taking a whole duffel bag plus her pillow; way more than they would have been able to pack away in Alex's motorcycle.
She arrived at Xavier and Emilia's place, a two-story New England worker cottage-style house in Eagle Hill and followed the alley around to the back, where she found Alex and Xavier loading things into the back of the Buick, which was looking pretty full. She parked to one side and popped the trunk before getting out to grab her bag and pillow.
“Morning!” Emilia appeared on the back step, holding an empty cooler in one hand and hoisting a backpack over her shoulder. “All ready to go?”
Danica nodded, obediently passing her bag over to Alex when he approached and held out his hand for it. “I think so.” She smiled as she closed the trunk, feeling a little nervous. She wasn't sure about the whole camping thing. She liked sleeping in a bed, having a full bathroom and a fridge full of food nearby. She also enjoyed her technology, and the campground they were going to didn't have electrical hookups. They would have chargers for their phones in the car, but otherwise, it was four days completely unplugged, and she didn't know how her brain was going to handle it.
Alex must have picked up on her hesitation because he grinned and nudged her as she brought her pillow over and wedged it into the trunk. “It'll be fun.”
“I'm sure it will be.” She murmured, agreeing but not really believing it. Xavier put the cooler in the trunk and closed it while Emilia put the book bag on the front passenger seat, then came over and handed Danica a small Bluetooth headset.
“So we can communicate on the bikes.” He explained as he passed one to Alex and Emilia, too. “They've already been connected and are voice-controlled. If you want to talk to all of us at once, say call group, and if you want to talk to one person in particular, say call whoever it is you want to talk to.” He moved to the front of the vehicle to connect the headset to the car stereo for Emilia and Alex motioned for her to follow him over to the small shed, where Danica saw several helmets sitting on a table just inside the door.
“We borrowed a couple of helmets from people,” Alex explained as he bent over and picked one up to pass to her. “We need to find one that fits and is comfortable for you. I prefer closed-faced helmets because getting hit with bugs or pebbles hurts like a bitch, but some people find them claustrophobic.” Danica looked down at the one he passed her, saw it had an open face, and immediately handed it back to him.
“I don't want bugs or rocks in my face,” she told him adamantly, making him chuckle and put it down, passing her a black, closed face one.
“Fair. Put this one on and we'll see about the fit.” She pulled it on over her head, and he tightened the chin strap for her, then put his hands on the sides and shook it gently. Danica automatically reached up and gripped his wrists as the helmet moved around easily, not sure what he was doing and not really liking it. “Relax.” He murmured. “I'm trying to find out if it's too loose.” He let the helmet go and undid the chin strap, leaving her to take it off and picked up another one. “Here, this one is smaller.” He passed it to her, and she pulled it on, letting him do his shake test. It barely moved, and he flipped up the visor, peering down at her. “How does that feel?”
“A little snug.” She told him, her voice slightly muffled by the bottom of the helmet. “But it's okay.”
“Good. They're supposed to be a little snug.” He nodded and let her take it off, showed her how to attach the headset to it, and then he looked her over and shook his head with a deep sigh. “You need to put on clothes and shoes with more coverage to ride with me.”
Danica glanced down at herself in confusion. She was wearing a pair of khaki capris, a short-sleeved graphic t-shirt that had a picture of Muppets with the saying 'I Don't Always Muhamanah, But When I Do Doo Doot Doo Do Doo.' on it, and her sandals. “What's wrong with what I'm wearing?”
“The shirt is funny, but you'll end up cold after about forty-five minutes,” He gestured at himself, pointing out that he was in heavy jeans and a long-sleeved cotton t-shirt. “But more importantly, you need some protection in case we go down because road rash isn't fun. I'd rather you wear leather, but since it's too late to go shopping, jeans and a thicker jacket will do.”
“You're not wearing leather.” She pointed out. She had a pair of jeans in her bag but only had one of Jasper's old hoodies she'd poached when they were first married, and a heavy cardigan to wear as jackets.
“Because I didn't need to overheat while we packed up the car,” He took the helmet and brought it over to his motorcycle. Danica didn't know a lot about motorcycles. She could only tell it was a BMW GTL because that's what was on the gas tank, but had to admit it was very nice looking, all black with sleek lines, but not one of those race bikes she swore at around the city for driving like they were the only people on the road. “My jacket and chaps are here.” He pointed at them, thrown casually over the seat as he placed her helmet on the passenger seat.
“Yeah, sorry. You can't ride like that.” Xavier joined them, shaking his head as he looked her over. “Too dangerous.”
“I have jeans, but we'll have to go back to the condo for a jacket, because I only packed a hoodie and sweater.” She shrugged, feeling like she saw people ride their motorcycles in much less clothing than she currently had on all the time. “But I can just ride with Emilia, it's no big deal.”
“And what? Just stay at the campsite by yourself while the rest of us go on our ride on Sunday?” Xavier rolled his eyes and turned to Emilia, who joined them, looking confused about their issue with Danica's clothes. “Babe, can you go grab one of your leather jackets for Danica?”
“Oh!” Her face brightened as she understood. “Yeah, no problem. Grab your bag, and you can change into some jeans while I look for one that fits you.” Danica sighed, walked back to the Buick, pulling her bag out of the trunk before following Emilia into the house and back to her and Xavier's bedroom. She found a pair of jeans and changed out of her capris as Emilia dug through her closet for her. They were about the same height, with Emilia being slightly taller than Danica, 5'7 to her 5'6, but Emilia was naturally curvier than she was, something Danica lied and told herself she wasn't jealous of in her more shallow and insecure moments; so they weren't in the habit of sharing clothes. Danica also still hadn't regained the weight she'd lost since Jasper's accident, so she figured nothing was going to be a perfect fit and she'd have to make do.
“This is ridiculous.” She muttered as she did up her belt. “Leather is going to be too hot.”
“No, it won't, trust me.” Emilia pulled a black leather jacket out of the closet and looked at the tag. “Besides, it's my rule for Xavier to keep riding that he wears proper safety gear when he rides.” She turned and held up the jacket. “I would have told you, but since Alex follows the safety gear rule on his own, I figured he would have said something to you. Here, thisone should fit you. I haven't worn it since I got pregnant with Benny.”
“He probably thought you said something to me.” Danica took the jacket and pulled it on, finding it a little loose, but a pretty good fit. “Why do you still have this?” If she wore it before getting pregnant with Benny, that meant it had been sitting in her closet for almost ten years. While Danica had clothes that were several years old, she typically wore things until they reached a certain point of faded/worn out, then, depending on what it was, it either joined her roster of clothes she used for pyjamas or to clean in until it was too far gone, and then it was tossed out.
“I was going to fit back into it for a long time, then it just got pushed to the back of the closet and forgotten about.” She smiled as Danica checked out her reflection, turning slightly to see the different angles and deciding she was going to have to invest in a leather jacket, not just because she was hoping for more motorcycle rides with Alex, but also because she liked the way it made her look. “You know, I don't think I've ever seen you look at yourself in the mirror like that. It's nice to see.” She turned and led the way out of the room. “Feel free to keep that one, I've made my peace with never having my pre-baby body back, especially after having Delilah, god, that child nearly ripped me in two.”
Danica chuckled as she followed Emilia down the hall. Delilah had been nearly ten pounds when she was born and currently held the record for the largest baby to be born in the Preston family in recent memory. “She was such a little chunk. God, I miss those cheeks.”
“Right?” Emilia laughed as she stood back and let Danica leave the house first before shutting and locking the door behind them. “Dance slimmed her right out, which I'm happy about,because I remember how mean the kids were when I was her age, but those chubby cheeks were adorable.”
Chapter Forty-Nine: Leather & Fault Lines
When she stepped outside, blinking in the sunlight, Danica stopped dead in her tracks as she took in Alex and Xavier in their leather jackets and chaps, standing by their bikes, talking while they waited for her and Emilia. She stopped so fast that Emilia bumped into her and asked what was wrong.
