Page 26 of Reckless Youth
Snorting, I laughed ruefully. “When did you get so wise, Sage Hendricks?”
Pulling back to stare up at him, he shrugged a shoulder and winked playfully.
“How does that stupid phrase go? If you love someone, let them go…if they don’t come back, then you’re a fucking idiot?”
I hooted with laughter, slapping at his chest. “That’s not how it goes, dummy.”
Sage smiled playfully, turning us around so we could walk back toward Cam, who remained behind to pack up our gear. He lifted his head, a blanket looped over his arm, a sad, woeful smile pulling at his lips. He opened his arms and beckoned us both in for a hug.
I don’t know how long we stood there in that embrace, but the way Cam and Sage’s arms locked around me had me forgetting about all the pain. I knew that with them by my side, I could handle anything in the world.
Anything, that is, except Cam leaving us to go into the military.
“Is there anything I can do to change your mind?” I asked, the dare present in my gaze, hoping it would be enough to dissuade him.
Cam chuckled, shaking his head solemnly. “I know you don’t understand this, but I have to go. I’m not giving up college entirely. I’ll enlist, do my duty to my family and the country, and then I’ll go to college later. It’s not the end of the world, London. I’m sorry if it hurts you and that I won’t be there with you in college, but please don’t make this harder for me than it already is.”
Burying my head in his neck, I sucked back my tears, hiccupping my response. “I’ll try not to, but I already feel the loss. Like a piece of my heart is dying and I can’t even take a breath without it hurting.”
Sage was quiet for a bit, kind of doing this humming thing that he always did when he was lost in his own head. When he spoke, though, you knew it came from a place of love and conviction.
“Let’s not dwell on the what if’s for now, okay? There’s still two months until graduation. Your eighteenth birthday is coming up and then prom. I say we make the most of the time we have together and do everything we want to do before the summer ends.”
A smile broke out on Cam’s face, lighting it up and removing the guilt and sadness that had been there only moments before.
Cam spoke first. “I can do that.”
When both pairs of eyes landed on me, I pursed my lips in consternation before replacing it with my own watery smile.
“I can do that, too. And I have some things in mind for my birthday.”
I stepped out of their arms, slapping them both on their butts before dashing off toward my house, turning to look over my shoulder behind me as I did.
“Be ready, boys. This is going to be the best eighteenth birthday in the history of birthdays ever! Just you wait.”
Luckily, the wait was only a few weeks.
Long enough to get up the courage to do what I needed to do.
Chapter 14
I didn’t tell Sage and Cam about my birthday plans until the night before. I had to inform my parents beforehand, though, since we were going on an overnight camping trip.
Being friends for as long as we had and having gone on similar camping trips together in the past, made my parents comfortable in our arrangement. They knew Cam and Sage and trustedustogether. We’d never given them any indication, otherwise, that we were anything other than “just friends.”
So, when I revealed that the three of us were going camping for my birthday, my momma and daddy hadn’t batted an eye.
My daddy did surprise me, however, as I packed for the trip.
“You got everything you need?” My dad had asked me as I shoved an extra pair of shorts into my backpack which was filled to the brim and barely able to zip up.
I nodded. “Yes, sir, sure do.”
My dad stood next to my bed, suddenly quiet and reflective. Tugging the zipper up, I glanced sideways to find my daddy staring at me with a faraway look in his eye.
“What’s wrong, daddy?”
My dad, a beefy man in his early fifties, had built a business of farming and ranching, turning it into a lucrative farming system that supplied the county and state with fresh meat, eggs, cattle and organic food staples. He also hired and employed many locals who relied on him for their livelihood and had raised a family doing what he loved.
