Amanda's heart was in her throat as the passengers from the trip climbed the hill from the river. She was wearing a loose-fitting sweater, the sleeves hanging past her hands, and she was wringing the material. In her mind, words bounced around outside of their sentence context, like magnetic poetry pieces. And then Amanda spotted Bree. Her breath was taken away. Even from a distance, Bree's similarities to her father were unmistakable. Nick wasn't beside her as she crested the hill, but Amanda had no question in her mind whatsoever that this was Brian's daughter.
Amanda watched as Bree pulled out her cell phone, staring down at the screen as she walked toward her. As Bree was about to pass, Amanda sucked up the courage and said, "Excuse me."
Bree looked up from the phone and her eyes met Amanda's.
There was a long pause, an awkward moment where Amanda realized she had no clue what next to say, and Bree felt the vaguest sense of recognition. They stared each other down, neither sure what to say to the other for fear of sounding stupid. Finally, Amanda stammered, "Do you have the -um- the time?" she closed her eyes, annoyed with her own stupid fear.
"It's eleven thirty," Bree answered, then turned back to the shuttle bus.
Amanda breathed out the words thank you, quiet enough that Bree probably didn't even hear them, as she climbed onto the bus. She turned back to the crest of the hill, but Nick wasn't there. She furrowed her brow in confusion. Where was he?
"Officer Mead, it's Nick Carter. I'm sorry I didn't call yesterday, I didn't have reception. But I'm in Boulder, Colorado."
The officer's voice was heavy, "Nick, you need to bring that girl home."
There was a long pause. "I am," Nick answered.
"Look, Nick, you're getting in over your head," the PO said. "Her mother's reported her missing. You can't ignore that. You need to call her, explain where you are, and get that girl home immediately."
"Leighanne reported me?" Nick asked, a horrified tone to his voice, "Are you shitting me?" He was surrounded by flowers and bushes to one side of the landing area, alone after telling Bree to meet him at the shuttle bus. He kicked a rock into the river, and clutched the phone, the world seeming to spin ever so slightly at the news. "Why would she do that?"
"Nick I'm telling you to get that girl home, there's not much else I can say. You're technically not even my case anymore --"
"What?" Nick asked, "I have a new parole officer?" he was confused.
"They took my case off my hands Nick," Officer Mead explained, "When they got wind that there was a possible connection between you and the missing Littrell girl, they asked for my records so they could locate you, and I didn't have a 20 on you last night and they took the case."
Nick sat in the sand. "Fuck," he said. "Fuckfuckfuck--"
"I read the articles on Pop Stuff," Officer Mead continued, "I know what you're trying to do, Nick, and I think it's great, but I think you need to call it quits and get that girl home to her parents before you end up behind bars."
Nick flinched at the plural of parents. "I can't bring her home to her parents," he snapped, emphasizing the s. "She's only got one parent, an Leighanne's barely that." He struggled to his feet. "Look I'll keep you updated on where we are, but I'm not going to Atlanta yet. We have three more stops, then we'll be to Atlanta. Just three more stops."
"Nick, you don't have three stops before they catch up with you --" Officer Mead argued.
"They aren't going to catch up with me," Nick responded.
"Nick, you need to nip this thing in the bud before you end up with some serious trouble on your lap," the officer pleaded.
"No," Nick replied, "What I need is to help Brianna," Nick answered, "And Bree needs this. She needs her father." With that, he hung up the phone, hands shaking. He looked up at the sky. He took a deep breath, and prayed he was doing the right thing.
Even as confident as he felt that he was doing the right thing, Nick couldn't help but feel at least a little bit of apprehension as he climbed the hill to the parking lot. He could hear the shuttle bus humming ahead of him, and he wondered how he would keep this from Bree. If he should continue to keep it from her.
"Mr. Saget?"
Nick looked up because of the voice, not the name. But in combination with the voice, even the name meant something. He stared at her, dumbfounded. Her reddish hair... bright green eyes... She wore jeans and an oversized sweater that hung just right. Her eyes glistened with tears that threatened to fall. He felt frozen in place, mute, and unable to so much as blink.
"Amanda," he stammered.
She swallowed back the magnetic poetry set of words, and stared at him, her heart thumping in her chest. He was dirty, as he should be having just returned from a weekend of white water rafting. She felt tingly from head to toe.
"You're here," he added after a long pause.
Amanda nodded, "Yeah, I'm here."
Nick felt like his breath had been vacuumed from his body. "How?" he stammered.
"I read you went to the Canyon with Bree," she answered.
Nick nodded.
"I want to come with you," Amanda said.
It was amazing how much Nick's heart pounded against the backside of his rib cage at the words. Amazing how even ten years apart hadn't made the emotions he felt just looking at her any less intense.
Before he could formulate an answer, the shuttle hissed, the door closed, and it started rumbling up the dirt road.
"Fuck." Nick bolted after the bus, arms flailing, "WAIT!" he yelled, but the bus rumbled away. Just as it rounded the corner of the trees, he saw Bree's panicked face peering out the window. Nick stumbled to a stop as the bus pulled ahead on the road, literally leaving him in its dust, his chest heaving from running across the lot. "Sh- sh- shiii- iit," he gasped out, bending forward and grabbing his knees.
Amanda was suddenly beside him. He looked up. She held up her rental car keys. "Need a lift?" she asked.
Nick nodded weakly.
