“I fear we just had our peak Yellowstone experience too early,” I said. “We might as well exit Wyoming and go on to Spokane at this point.”
“You do know Yellowstone is the place where geysers spew boiling water four hundred feet in the air, right?” Mom asked.
“I thought we established you didn’t raise smart kids,” I said.
She smiled. “I’ve missed your road trip banter.”
“Well, don’t get used to it,” Ezra said. “This is the teen bus and it’s been a while since you were one of those.”
This time Mom smacked his stomach. He grunted, then laughed.
***
“This is the most beautiful place in the world,” Paisley said as we set up camp. She threw her arms out and spun in a circle as if the tall pines and blue skies that surrounded us were her doing. Ezra was attaching the water and power, Mom was rechecking ice chests, and I was pulling suitcases out from the side storage. “What took you guys so long?” she asked after her spin.
“A bison crossing,” I said.
“What? We missed it!”
“I took some pictures for you,” I said.
Skyler emerged from their RV and smiled my way. My stomach fluttered a little. Why did it do that? He did have a reallynice smile, despite his punkish comments about my Instagram. “Hey, we thought you guys got lost.”
“Nope,” I said. “We’re here.”
“I’m going to go see if this camp has any common spaces.”
“Okay.”
“Do you want to come?” he asked.
“Do you want me to come?”Me and my selfish Instagram?
He seemed surprised by my question. “Yeah.”
“I just need to put these suitcases inside,” I said.
He walked the space between the RVs and helped me carry them. Once we were done and about to leave our campsite, Paisley came running up between us.
“I’m coming too.”
Skyler draped his arm around her neck. “Sure thing.”
“Did you draw anything from Park City?” Paisley asked.
“I didn’t,” I said. I’d been distracted. “It was more a tourist stop.”
“I bet you can find a million things to draw here.”
“Norah?” The voice came from a campsite we were passing by and I was equal parts surprised and terrified as I turned to see who I could possibly know this far from home.
“Oh no,” Paisley said, seeing him a split second before me.
“Ty?”
He walked over to meet us. “We must be on the same RV loop.”
“Wow, what a coincidence.”