Sable Peak (The Edens)

“This is everything?” Vance asked as he took the backpack from the trunk of my Honda.

“It’s only a weekend camping trip.” I’d lived for four years on about as much.

He chuckled as he carried it to his truck, opening the tailgate. Beneath the smooth black cover, there was barely room for my backpack. “Tell that to my wife.”

“Hey.” Lyla scolded as she came through Eden Coffee’s back door to the alley. “I heard that. Babies come with stuff, Vance.”

“You’re right, Blue,” he said. “Anything else you want to pack up?”

“No, I think—shoot. The cookies. Be right back.”

As she disappeared into the cafe, Vance and I shared a look.

“What is all this?” I asked as he stowed my backpack.

“Well, my backpack is in there somewhere. But we’ve also got Trey’s portable crib. Enough baby food for a month. Three bottles of sunscreen. Five coolers. And this morning, I had to sit on her biggest suitcase so she could zip it up.”

“Then I know who to go to if I forgot anything.”

He slammed the tailgate shut. “When I teased her about it, she told me it was a fraction of what her parents were bringing.”

“Yeah, Anne’s been prepping for this trip all week.” I moved for the backseat, but before I could climb inside, Lyla came rushing out with a plastic container of cookies and waved me away. “I’ll sit back there with Trey. You can ride shotgun.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yep.” She smiled and popped the lid to the container, letting me and Vance each take a chocolate chip cookie before we all climbed in the truck.

Vance hit the ignition button. “Ready?”

“Let the Eden family campout begin,” Lyla said.

He reversed away from the coffee shop, leaving my car behind, and headed down Main.

This weekend marked the inaugural family camping trip. Attendance was mandatory. Anne and Harrison had threatened to cease any and all future babysitting if people didn’t show up for this trip.

Even without the idle threats, no one had balked at the idea of a weekend getaway.

Talia had taken the weekend off from the hospital. Eloise had ensured her staff had the hotel covered. The ranch hands could survive a weekend without Griffin. Knuckles was being run by Knox’s sous chef. And Lyla had handed the reins of Eden Coffee to Crystal.

Even though it was tourist season and everyone was swamped, Anne and Harrison had insisted on just one weekend.

One break from work. One weekend as a family.

Everyone else had already left Quincy. Mateo had promised Anne and Harrison he’d help get the campsite ready, so while he and Allie had headed up early, I’d stayed in town to work and ride up with Vance and Lyla.

“So where are we going?” I asked.

“Some new spot Dad discovered,” Lyla answered from beside Trey’s car seat. “He said it was about an hour from here. Why we’re not just camping at the ranch like we did as kids I have no idea. But he’s excited and he planned it all out. Do you have the directions?”

Vance plucked a sticky note from the dash. “Got ’em.”

Lyla yawned, reclining in her seat.

Five miles later, as we sped down the highway, Vance glanced into his rearview and smiled. “They’re out.”

When I looked to the back, Lyla was resting on Trey’s car seat, both sound asleep.

“I’m glad you rode with us today,” he said. “I’ve missed you, kiddo.”

“Missed you too.” I saw him at least once a week at the coffee shop, but our regular lunches had dwindled this year. He was busy with Lyla and Trey. I had Mateo and Allie. Time alone had become sporadic.

“So … I hear you’ve got a new address.”

My cheeks flushed. “As of yesterday.”

The loft was no longer my home.

It had been two weeks since Mateo had told me he loved me, and there were moments when I still didn’t quite believe it was real. It would probably take that and longer for our living arrangement to sink in.

Mateo and I hadn’t talked about me moving into the cabin. He’d just taken it upon himself to pack my stuff from the loft.

I’d come home from work on Monday night to find the dining room table crowded with everything I’d had in my bathroom. Lotions and curling irons and makeup and nail polishes. Everything had been strewn on the table because he’d wanted me to claim whatever space in his—our—bathroom that I wanted.

Tuesday, I came home to find my clothes on his—our—bed.

Maybe it was too soon to live together. Maybe not. I wasn’t going to overthink it. I liked that we shared a home.

So on Wednesday, when I hadn’t had to work, we’d gone to the loft together and finished packing. Then yesterday, I’d spent the evening deep cleaning and saying goodbye to the first home I’d built on my own.

I was going to miss that loft.

“Are you happy?” Vance asked.

“More than I ever thought possible.”

He stretched a hand over, placing it on my shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For treating you like you’re fragile.”

“Oh.” It came from a good place. Vance worried. In Dad’s absence, Vance had stepped in to fill that role. But yes, he treated me like I was going to break.

“Mateo doesn’t. And that’s part of why you love him.”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Then I’m glad. For you both.”

“Thanks.” I smiled at him just as a yawn tugged at my mouth.

“Tired?”

“Yeah. It was an early morning and Allie had a bad night. She woke up twice and finally just crawled in bed with us.”

“The nights when Trey sleeps with us are the worst.” He groaned. “He always manages to dig his feet into my back.”

“Allie had hers in my face.” I yawned again. “I gave up trying to sleep around three.”

“You’re good for her.”

“I love her.” She was mine.

“Take a nap too,” he said when I yawned for the third time.

“I’m okay.”

“Vera.” He shot me a flat look. “Sleep.”

“We haven’t gotten to talk much.”

“We have all weekend.”

I shifted in my seat, leaning against the door. “Thirty minutes. Wake me up before we get there.”

“You bet.” He plucked a sticky note from the console, rereading Harrison’s directions.

While I’d spent my week packing up the loft, Anne and Harrison had worked tirelessly to load up their fifth-wheel camper. Meanwhile, everyone else would be sleeping in tents. Maybe I could convince Mateo to sleep outside one night beneath the stars.

Dad and I used to sleep beneath the stars. We’d spend hours pointing out constellations before drifting off to sleep. Did he still do that? Did he hold his hand in the air and trace them out with a fingertip?

Mateo and I hadn’t gone hiking again. For my heart’s sake, the break had been necessary. But down deep, it felt unfinished. I wasn’t ready to stop looking for Dad, no matter how much Mateo insisted.

Part of me wanted to talk to Vance about it and get his thoughts. But I was afraid he’d agree with Mateo. So I closed my eyes and let the whir of tires on pavement lull me to sleep.

I jolted awake as we came to a stop. Gone was the highway. Instead, we were parked beside Mateo’s truck against a grove of trees. “We’re here already?”

“You were out,” Vance said. “I didn’t have the heart to wake you.”

I blinked sleep from my eyes. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” He hopped out, going to the back to help Lyla.

“Ready for your first camping trip?” she asked Trey as she unbuckled his harness.

The sound of laughter and talking reached my ears. When I opened my door, I was hit with the scents of pine and grass and … water.

“You made it.” Harrison came to my side and hauled me into a hug. “How you doing?”

“Good,” I breathed, still foggy from the nap. “Where’s Mateo?”

“Swimming in the lake with Allie.”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

A lake? My heart stopped. “W-what?”

“Where’s your stuff? I’ll take it to your tent.” Harrison went to the tailgate, oblivious to the wash of panic coursing through my veins.

A lake. No one had mentioned a lake. They’d only talked about the campsite at Alder. Mateo had packed his fly-fishing rod and he’d told me to bring a swimsuit but I’d assumed it was for a river.

“Where are we?” My voice rattled.

“Alder Campground.” Harrison smiled and grabbed my bag. “Is this all you brought?”

I managed a nod.

“Come on.” He threw an arm around my shoulders, leading me to the campground.

The site they’d picked was an open expanse large enough for the fifth wheel and all of our vehicles. Tents had been set up throughout the space, everyone choosing a different spot beneath the shade of the surrounding trees.

The firepit was already circled by collapsible chairs and coolers. A stack of wood was piled nearby. An umbrella with towels and blankets was set up on a patch of grass for the kids to play beneath.

Talia was putting sunscreen on Jude. Memphis had baby Annie strapped to her chest and was talking with Winn and Eloise.

And beyond it all, the guys were in the water with the kids.

My heart beat so loudly in my ears I could barely hear their laughter.

A lake. It was just a lake. Breathe.

“Daddy!” Drake came racing past us wearing a life jacket. His blond hair, the same shade as Memphis’s, flopped as he ran straight for the water, where Knox was waiting.

The water.

A lake.

I couldn’t fill my lungs. I couldn’t breathe.

“Want something to drink?” Harrison asked, setting my backpack by the campfire and opening a cooler. “Water or pop? I picked up your favorite cream soda.”

A lake. We were at a lake. The kids were swimming in a lake.

“Vera?” Harrison stood. “What is it?”

I took a step forward, then another.

Mateo was standing close to the shoreline wearing nothing but low-slung black swim trunks, a pair of mirrored sunglasses and that dazzling smile. The water lapped at his calves.

Allie was beside him, dressed in a frilly lavender swimsuit and splashing in the rippled waves. Her sunglasses were purple and heart shaped.

She wasn’t wearing a life jacket. Why wasn’t she wearing a life jacket? She could drown. She could drown in that water. She could die in that lake.

I took another step, the panic rising so fast it nearly suffocated. “Mateo.”

He didn’t hear me. He was talking to his brothers.

“Mateo.”

His attention shifted, and when he saw me, that smile widened.

“Get her out of the water.”

He shifted his sunglasses into his hair. “What?”

“Get her out of the water.” She was in the water. She was in that lake. She couldn’t swim.

She couldn’t swim and she was in the lake without a lifejacket. I took another step forward, my knees nearly buckling. “Get her out. Get her out of that water.”

“Peach.”

“Get her out of that lake, Mateo!” My voice ricocheted.

Talking ceased. The laughter died, even from the kids.

Everyone turned to look at me.

But I didn’t move. I didn’t breathe. Not until Mateo bent and snatched up Allie, ignoring her protests as he hauled her out of the water.

“Vera.” Vance’s hand landed on my shoulder, but I shrugged it off.

Then I ran.