"Okay, I think we're ready!" Elizabeth Spencer exclaimed cheerfully as she climbed into the passenger seat of the truck and buckled her seat belt.
"Are you sure?" her husband Lucky grumbled sarcastically from his spot in the driver's seat. "Anything else we forgot, any more last minute bathroom breaks?"
Elizabeth rolled her eyes, shot him a Look and turned around to face the boys in the back seat. "Who's ready for a road trip?"
"ME!" Cameron yelled back. "ROAD TRIP!"
"Road twip!" echoed his little brother Jake and Elizabeth laughed. "That's right! So let's get going!" she said as she turned back around and smiled broadly at Lucky, who had to laugh in spite of himself.
"Okay, okay," he grumbled good-naturedly. "I just want to make it to the hotel before dark, okay?"
Elizabeth rolled her eyes again. "We'll be fine. I want your attitude to improve," she informed him with mock sternness.
It was now Lucky's turn to roll his eyes. "Or what?" he challenged.
Elizabeth grinned. "Or you'll spend this vacation sleeping on the pull-out couch and I'll have the nice comfy king-size bed ALL to myself." She laughed as he winced in exaggerated pain.
"Oh, you do know how to get me," he admitted wryly as he finally put the truck in gear and backed out of the driveway, pulling up beside the Drakes' van, which had been waiting at the curb. Elizabeth just shot him a triumphant grin as she put her window down and Robin leaned across Patrick's lap to call out, "All set?"
"Yep!" Elizabeth replied. "We'll meet you at the hotel in DC!"
From the backseat, the boys waved frantically at Emma, who waved back from her spot in her car seat, surrounded by a basket or two of toys. Behind her was the assorted luggage, beach bags and other random junk required for 2 weeks at the beach. The bed of the truck was just as stuffed full, but since Lucky had put a cover over it, it wasn't visible to everyone driving by. Every now and then, Patrick had to secretly admit to himself that he was a little jealous of Lucky's truck, but after the production he'd made about buying such a safe van, he knew there was no switching vehicles now!
"Sounds good!" Robin sat back in her seat and Patrick nodded at them. "Drive safe, man."
Lucky nodded back. "Ya'll too."
Elizabeth rolled her window back up and they were on the road.
A few hours later, they were rolling along smoothly, headed south on US 15. Lucky reached over and turned the volume down on the radio, glancing into the backseat.
"Cam's out," he observed.
"I thought he might be," Elizabeth replied, putting her magazine down and turning towards the back. "He's been too quiet." She smiled at her sleeping boys and turned back to the front. "Jake's knocked out too. Guess we'll let them sleep a little and then stop for lunch?"
Lucky nodded as Elizabeth continued teasingly, "Unless you'll be hungry and get cranky again?"
Lucky rolled his eyes. "I wasn't cranky."
"Coulda fooled me," she replied in a singsong tone, laughing as he glowered at her.
"Okay, okay," she finally said between giggles, "I admit it was a little frustrating trying to get this trip underway."
"A little?" Lucky replied. "It took like half an hour just to get everyone in the cars! As soon as we'd get one kid buckled, the other had to pee. And then they'd switch. And then you had to join the potty party! And then Emma realized she didn't have her bear -"
Elizabeth giggled harder. "Stop making me laugh or we're gonna have to stop cuz I'll have to pee again," she threatened. "And anyway, you have to admit the wait for Emma's bear was worth it to see Patrick's mad dash across the yards!"
"Well, yeah," Lucky agreed with a grin. "Guess he knew it would be one miserable trip if he didn't go get it - neither one of those women would be happy with him!"
"You two seem to be getting along better," Elizabeth observed.
Lucky shrugged. "Guess he's not so bad after all," he said non-committally. "Marrying Robin and having a baby has definitely helped his personality."
Elizabeth laughed. "It does have a way of putting the world in perspective," she agreed, glancing in the back seat again to check on the boys. "Anyway, Robin & I don't expect you guys to be bestest friends or anything - but I think you can at least be friends. And we're all gonna have a fabulous vacation, right?"
"Deal," Lucky agreed, reaching across the cab to grab & squeeze her hand; she squeezed back and smiled.
"So," he said, returning both hands to the wheel, "tell me about this perfect place you and Robin found."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "If you're asking me to tell you about it now, that means you totally weren't paying attention when I've told you about it before!"
Lucky looked a bit sheepish, but protested anyway, "I have paid attention - sorta. I know we're going to a house. On a beach. In North Carolina."
Elizabeth made a face. "Jeez..." she muttered.
"Oh come on," Lucky said wheedlingly. "Maybe I just like seeing how happy and excited you get talking about this trip?"
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Okay, so maybe flattery will get you everywhere."
"I always hope so," he said cheerfully.
"Anyway," Elizabeth said, "it looks awesome in the pictures. Plenty of space for all of us, a big deck that looks out at the ocean and steps that take you right down to the beach path - it's gonna be great! And, don't forget, we're gonna swap baby-sitting a few nights, so we'll get to have a date or two."
"Oh, now I do remember that," Lucky grinned. "I always look forward to getting you alone."
Elizabeth laughed. "Don't forget that we'll have to watch Emma in exchange and let Patrick & Robin have some alone time too!"
"Yeah, but one extra girl when we're used to two boys?" Lucky scoffed. "Dr. Drake will be no match for our boys. We definitely got the better end of that deal."
As if to punctuate his point, a howl rose up from the back seat - the boys were awake and already tormenting each other.
Elizabeth sighed. "I'll referee. You start looking for some Golden Arches."
Lucky nodded as she twisted around in her seat and the truck rolled on through the Pennsylvania mountains.