More than Distance

25

Ten

Ryan

It took way too much time to get to Cabazon. I spent the entire drive counting the minutes and miles we’d gone off course, annoyed that Carla hadn’t listened to me. This was going to be a huge mistake when we ended up last and got kicked off the very first episode.

But once we parked and got out of the car, Carla’s face lit up with a big smile at the sight of the dinosaurs. It was the first smile of hers I’d seen in years. I changed my mind about this detour being a mistake.

“I remember this place,” she said, her eyes sparkling under the bright sun.

Just off the side of the road, the army green T-rex statue towered over us and dwarfed the palm trees next to it. Another life-size brontosaurus stood nearby and a few tourists milled about taking photos.

“We came here once late at night,” I said. “With Daniel.”

She nodded, smiling up at the T-rex. “We got someone to buy us beer and took photos until 2 AM and then got lost on the way home. My dad grounded me and Daniel for a week.”

“He gave me a pretty stern talking to also.”

I remembered it well. Carla had recently gone into remission and had begged us to take her out for the night, but we’d stayed out way past curfew, plus we’d each had a beer. Henry had sat me down after he’d sent the other two up to their rooms. “Son,” he’d said, “I’m disappointed in you.”

It was the worst thing he could have said to me. My own father was disappointed with me all the time, if he ever even remembered I existed, so that was nothing new. But Henry? He’d always treated me like I mattered. Hearing I’d failed him killed me a little. “It won’t happen again,” I’d promised him.

“Good.” He’d paused, his warm brown eyes studying me. “I know I’m not your real father and I can’t ground you or anything, so I’ll just say this. I need you to look after Daniel and Carla. They both look up to you. They’d follow you anywhere.”

I’d frowned hearing that. If anything, I was the one who’d latched onto them. They’d had everything I’d ever wanted in life. But Henry asking me to do something for him gave me a swell of responsible pride, and I’d stood up a little straighter. “I will.”

He’d patted me on the shoulder. “I know you will. You’re a smart kid, smarter than you give yourself credit for. If you put that mind of yours to good use you could really make something of yourself. Heck, I bet you could get a scholarship and go to any college you wanted.”

His words had lit a fire in me. I’d always been somewhat reckless and hadn’t cared much about school, although I’d done well in it without even trying. After that? I’d started trying. From that night on, I studied my ass off and did whatever it took to get ahead, to change my fate to something of my own choosing instead of the life my father had picked for me.

Carla gestured for me to join her under the T-rex. “Come on. We need a photo!”

I groaned. “Do we have to be in it?”

“Yes!”

As I walked toward her, I spotted a camera crew from the show off to the side, filming us. They would likely be at all of the scavenger hunt locations, which mean we’d have to keep the couple act up at all times. s**t. Why had I agreed to this again?

I moved next to Carla and slid my arm around her waist, pulling her against my side. I caught a glimpse of dark cleavage in her low-cut top, before dragging my eyes away. She was warm and soft and smelled like vanilla. I wanted to bury my face in her breasts and breathe her in, but I restrained myself.

“Smile!” she said, and took a selfie of us under the dinosaur. We were teenagers again, both of us looking into the camera with goofy grins. Then she slipped away from me and the moment ended.

“Happy now?” I asked, clutching the keys too tight. “Let’s go.”

I stormed back to the car and she skipped after me. Once inside, Carla grabbed a pen and cross off number one on our list: Cabazon Dinosaurs.

We stopped at a nearby gas station before hitting the freeway again. After rushing around to get everything we needed, including sandwiches for our lunch on the road, we were back in the car in less than ten minutes.

Before I could pull out of the gas station, Carla grabbed my arm. “Wait!”

I slammed on the brakes. “What? Did we forget something?”

She fumbled for the camera and then snapped a photo of two older men pulling up at the gas pumps next to us. Both were riding Harleys and had long beards.

“Our second scavenger hunt item!” She crossed off item number five on the list: person with a beard riding a motorcycle. “Only two more to go.” She sat back and grinned. “See, I told you visiting the dinosaurs was a good idea.”

* * *Over the next few hours I drove while Carla navigated and watched for items on the scavenger hunt list. The landscape became more and more desolate the farther we moved from Los Angeles. At this time of year it was all hard dirt and dead shrubs and little else. Nothing like where I lived now in Seattle, and yet I oddly missed this view. I’d spent hours driving these freeways when I was younger, always with Carla and Daniel at my side. We’d ventured all over Southern California, to remote places and tourist traps and spots we’d only found by getting lost.