Amanda got off the plane in Colorado, the woman that had seated next to her bidding her farewell and good luck as she disappeared into the congested crowd. She looked around the airport and let out a heavy sigh. Now that she was here, she felt both crazy and clueless as to where to start. She pulled her suitcase away from the carousel and made her way to the mile-long line for rental cars.
When she'd gotten behind the wheel of a tiny grey vehicle, she pulled out her sheet of research and a map and started searching for street names. She figured the best route of execution would be to find a hotel, get a room, get some sleep, and decide how to find Nick in the morning. The sun was already set beyond the Rockies and Amanda could feel tension building in the muscles between her shoulders in her back.
"I must be insane," she muttered to herself as she drove away from the airport, "Completely insane. Coming here with no plan... I don't even know that he'll come here... and that cabin we stayed at probably doesn't even exist anymore not to mention what are the odds he got the same place to stay in? Where do I even start? I should've at least had a plan before doing this..."
She guided the car into the city and started trying to find a hotel that looked both cheap and comfortable. She'd just spotted a Holiday Inn sign up the road when another vehicle cut her off in traffic, nearly clipping her front end. "Jackass!" she shouted, laying on the horn.
The car slammed on it's brakes.
Amanda slammed hers on, too, nearly rearending it. Again, she pressed down on the horn - hard. "What the hell!"
A hand stuck out of the passanger side, waved an apology, then the car, shuddering, moved forward at a snail's pace. Amanda cussed under her breath, "You've got to be kidding me." The driver was a nervous braker. Annoyed, she clicked her directional, pulled into the center lane, passed the car, and slid back into the right lane. The driver was a teenager. "Of course," she groaned, "Let's teach our kids how to drive at ten o'clock at night, that makes sense." She turned into the Holiday Inn parking lot, and when she'd turned the car off, she let out a breath of relief. She was way to tired to do anything except sleep tonight, that was for sure.
"Oh my God."
"You're fine, just keep the wheel straight."
"Oh. My. God."
"Relax, it's okay."
"Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Nick, I dunno what I'm doing."
"You're driving, you're fine, relax."
Nick's hand hovered over Bree's at the clutch and the car lurched as she tried to switch into fourth. Nick's hand moved to the dashboard to steady himself.
"It's not supposed to feel like a storm-tossed boat," Bree said, her voice panicky.
"It's your first time, smoothness is a learned trait," he said, "Especially in a standard."
Bree's knuckles were pale white from clutching the wheel. Her eyes were wide. She looked like she was about to throw up. "Oh my God," she murmured again.
Upon leaving the grocery store, Nick had made a comment about driving, Bree had said she never had before, and the next thing she'd known he had her behind the wheel, stating that he finally had something he could teach her. They'd struggled along through traffic, nearly causing an accident - several times actually - but he'd kept her right where she was. All she could picture was causing massive damage to the car. She pictured something out of Fast and the Furious. But Nick's voice stayed level and he just kept insisting that she was doing "great". She wasn't positive she believed him.
"There ya go," he said, his voice gentle, like the situation was extremely fragile and his words might cause it to break. He slowly lowered his steadying hand from the dashboard, "Look at you, you're even between the lines."
"Am I?" Bree's voice was excited and, trying to look at the lines she was between, she veered almost into the other lane and Nick recovered the wheel quickly. "Sorry," Bree apologized, her cheeks flushing.
"It's all good," Nick laughed, but it was a nerovus laughter. He pointed, "Okay you're gonna turn here."
Bree slowed down - if that was possible, considering the car was already crawling anyways - and turned down the road Nick had indicated that led to the cabin they were staying at, leaving the town behind. Bree breathed a sigh of relief to see they were the only vehicle on the road now, which led between thick, dark trees. She felt much safer knowing there were no other cars around to smash into. The imagery of Vin Diesel slipped away.
"You're doing really good for your first time," Nick commented as they inched along between the trees. "You could probably speed up a little."
"Speed up?" Bree stammered.
Nick laughed, "You're only doing 20. It's a 45."
Bree clutched the wheel harder. "You want me to go twice as fast?"
"Just speed up a little."
Bree pressed the gas pedal and the car jumped forward. She panicked, slammed the brake, and the car promptly stalled.
Nick laughed, "Well at least I don't have to worry about you speeding."
Bree turned the key and restarted the car, her cheeks hot with nerves.
By the time they reached the cabin, almost 45 minutes had passed since they'd left the store. Nick had driven to it in about fifteen minutes. So the learning curve had tripled their drive time. But Nick didn't seem to care. When Bree stalled the car trying to come to a smooth stop - which had been more of a lurching halt - Nick clapped and grinned. "You did it."
"Yeah I did it already," Bree said warily.
Nick laughed, "Don't be so hard on yourself. The first time I learned stick, your dad taught me in his beloved Jeep and I rolled backwards down a hill and slammed into somebody's mailbox."
"Seriously?"
Nick nodded, "Yup. He screamed like a banshee the whole way down that hill."
Bree giggled, "At least I didn't do that."
"I'm telling ya," Nick said, "For the first time behind the wheel, you did flippin' awesome, actually."
Bree smiled.
"Your dad would be proud of you."
Amanda groaned as she laid down on the bed and tucked the blankets around herself. She hugged the sheets to her chest and stared up at the ceiling. She still couldn't believe she was here in Colorado. Memories were flooding her; thick and heavy like some kind of sappy goop, she felt suffocated by them. She could almost hear the boys laughter echoing throughout the room, like ghosts haunting her. She closed her eyes.
And what would happen, she wondered, even if she did figure out where Nick and his mystery woman were? What would she say? It's not as though she just happened to be in Colorado at the same time he was. Suddenly, she felt a bit like a creepy stalker type. But this was different, wasn't it?
Amanda pushed away the thoughts of Nick's reaction when he spotted her the first time and tried to focus her mental energy elsewhere.
Slowly, Nick's image melted out of her mind and was replaced by the sharp jaw bone and easily recognizable nose... Brian. She felt her heart stop for just a moment in her chest. It had been so long since she'd so clearly pictured his face. She felt tears stream down her cheeks.
He wouldn't have thought she was crazy. Not Brian. Brian was possibly the only person in the world who might have understood. He would've had some wise Yoda-like remark to make on the whole subject, he would've known where to start to look for Nick. Brian would've told her how to approach him, what to say, how he would react. Because Brian knew Nick that well, and had such keen insight. Brian would have known how to make Amanda feel brave again.
She opened her eyes. And just like that, it came to her: she'd start her search by calling Lost Paddle River Adventures.
"Thanks Brian," she whispered into the darkness.
