Amanda was pacing on the bridge that overlooked the gorge, smoking a cigarette, and hugging her jacket closed. She knew she was crazy, but she could remember seeing this bridge when they bungee jumped and she was determined to keep at least an eagle's eye on him and Brianna as best she could. She walked and rubbed her arms, glancing at the wobbly suspension bridge that they would be jumping from, the clouds of nicotine floating away from her like a smokestack.
Now that she knew it was Brianna, she wasn't jealous anymore. The nerves had calmed. This was a legitimate reason to be reliving the trip. He was sharing Brian with his daughter. Amanda felt stupid for thinking he'd have done anything else and wondered why Brianna's presence on the trip hadn't been glaringly obvious from the beginning. Because you still love him, her mind reminded her, And that clouds your judgment.
She leaned against the bridge's railing, staring out at the waterfall, and the water crashed and billowed at the foot of it. She could remember that sound permeating the trees to the campsite that they had stayed at in those woods. She could remember that beach, where she stood when Brian told her about the Leukemia that he was suffering from. She felt her throat go tight. Everything had changed that day. She'd gone into Lost Paddle River Adventures an undercover reporter, and she'd come out the other end a friend.
Glancing at her watch, Amanda decided she had time to go to the car and get her note pad. She walked swiftly to the vehicle on the edge of the bridge and rooted around the glove box until she came up with a half-empty writing tablet. She folded back the used pages and grabbed a pen before returning to the spot on the bridge. She sat on the ground, able still to see through diamond-shaped embellishments on the bridge's stonework, and rested the pad on her knee.
A lot has changed in the sixteen years since the road trip I took with Nick Carter and Brian Littrell, she wrote. Her pen flew of its own accord across the page, and when she was done, she stared down at it in satisfaction. She took a deep breath.
Looking up at the gorge, she realized the foot bridge was no longer empty, and she stood up, her heart racing, and watched, clutching her notepad to her chest.
Bree woke up sore and disoriented. She'd gone to bed so early - she never slept that long - and the sound of birds and leaves rustling filled her ears. She lay still as her consciousness came to her, and became slowly aware that she could hear deep breathing somewhere beside her in the tent. She opened her eyes and shifted her head, discovering Nick curled up in his own sleeping bag, pressed against the far wall of the tent, his mouth wide open and drooling on the pillow below his head.
Bree didn't want to wake him up, so she moved slowly and carefully, slipping out of her sleeping bag and moving the zipper of the tent as slow as physically possible. She glanced down at him as she crawled out of the impossibly small hole she'd made in the door, and zipped it closed again, fairly certain she hadn't disturbed him.
Pulling a sweatshirt out of the bag Nick had carried on the trip, she wrapped it around herself. It was Nick's and entirely too big on her. She could've worn it as a dress. But it smelled like boy and was warm, so she wandered to the edge of the river, back to that rock, and sat back down, staring once again at the water. She hugged her knees to her chest and watched the sunlight's reflection on the water grow as the sun rose in the sky.
She was glad that she was here, that Nick had brought her on this trip. For the first time in her entire life she felt at peace in this place - she felt as though her father were there with her, watching over her. She'd never been able to feel such a thing before, and she prayed that it wouldn't go away.
A rustling in the woods behind her made her turn around, expecting to see Nick or one of the other campers. But when she turned she was nearly face-to-face with a deer. She managed to strangle a gasp and stared at it's big, round eyes. It had long eyelashes and a long, rounded face. Its ears twitched and a muscle in it's neck throbbed. Bree's throat felt constricted. The deer was beautiful. They sat, staring at each other for a long moment. Bree wished she had an apple or sugar cubes or something to offer it but she didn't have anything.
Nervously, she raised one hand, palm-forward, toward the deer. It shifted its legs, backing up ever so slightly. Bree breathed, "It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you." She held her hand out, flat as could be, and watched the deer, whose eyes were surveying Bree's hand. The tension that had clouded its eyes when she initially moved seemed to melt away slowly, and the deer relaxed its legs and stretched out its neck, its nose nearly touching Bree's palm. She could feel its breath on her skin and the deer seemed to be sniffing her. She held very, very still.
A sudden noise at the campsite, though, made the deer jump, its ears wildly on end, eyes filled with tension once more, and heart racing so quickly that Bree could nearly see it pounding through the skin of its chest. The deer turned and bounded away into the woods, its legs pushing it off from the ground powerfully, white tail whipping, and disappeared among the trees.
Bree withdrew her hand back to herself and stood up, her heart racing nearly as madly as the deer's.
Bree was sitting on the rock by the river, staring off into the woods, her hand clutched to her chest, and a faraway, dreamy look on her face when Nick approached her. "You ready to learn how to fly?" he asked her.
She turned and looked at him. Her eyes were wide.
"You okay?"
"Yeah." She stood up and dusted off her bottom. She was wearing Nick's sweatshirt - which he'd just spent several moments looking for.
"You sure?" Nick asked.
Bree nodded, "Positive," she replied.
"You look like you just seen a ghost," Nick said.
Bree shook her head, "No ghost." She walked past him, back toward the campsite, still holding her hand. "And what about flying?"
Nick glanced into the woods where she'd been staring, saw nothing, and turned hastily to follow after her. "Are you ready to fly?" he repeated, "Today's the day."
"For what?"
"Flying."
Bree stopped walking and stared at him, "What in the world are you talking abo--"
FWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!
"UP AND AT'EM EVERYBODY! LET'S GO!! WE GOT A BIG DAY AHEAD OF US!!" Pat's voice boomed through the forrest.
Nick smirked.
"Sorry about your sister," called a girl in Baylee's office as she passed his cubicle.
Baylee groaned and rubbed his forehead with his hand in frustration. He was so mad at Leighanne for reporting Bree missing that it literally had been giving him migraines. He'd tried caling his sister at least four or five times since he'd seen the article on the paper but she hadn't answered yet. He was worried, obviously, by her lack of response, but after what Leighanne had done, he wouldn't have blamed Bree for never coming home at all.
Adam, a friend of Baylee's, leaned against the edge of Baylee's cube. "So," he said slowly, "I heard about Bree."
Baylee turned to look at Adam. "Bree is fine, she's with my uncle, Nick."
"The guy that keeps getting arrested?" Adam asked, eyebrows raised.
"Nick's a good guy," Baylee replied.
"If he's so good why'd your mom report him?"
Baylee sighed. "I don't know. Because she's a bitch lately. Besides, she didn't report Bree kidnapped, just missing. Which she is missing, I guess, in a way. She's in good hands though."
"You do know he's gonna be in deep shit though if they catch up with him."
"Once it's all explained I'm sure it'll be fine. My mum wouldn't press charges on him."
"Isn't he on, like, probation?"
Baylee shrugged, "I dunno."
"I'm just saying, if he's violating probation and found with a missing person... That's not a good combination."
"He can call his probation officer and let them know where he is and continue to travel," Baylee replied. Even as the words came out of his mouth, his brain clicked on the proverbial lightbulb. He looked up at Adam and a smile spread across his face, "Hey that's right. His probation officer would know where they are... Adam, you're a genius."
