Lynn paces back and forth in front of Francisco's door. It's been a week since they've talked, and she's had plenty of time to think of what she is going to say, but she knows that as soon as she sees his face, she might forget what to say or he might have really good rebuttals.
"You can do this, Loud," she tells herself. "You've had a week to think and he's had one to calm down and we can both be adults about this."
Lynn is about to knock on the door, when Francisco opens the door. He is surprised that she is right in front of him, especially after not seeing her in the last few days.
"I'm sorry, but I have to go," he tells her. "I ran out of my pills and I have to get more."
"Wait! I need to tell you something and I have to do it now," she tells him as she pulls on his arm to keep him from walking away.
Francisco lets out an exasperated sigh; he needs to get going, his back is in pain and he's been enduring it for a few days now. He taps his foot rapidly, he doesn't know how long this is going to take, but he imagines that Lynn wants to talk about keeping the miscarriages from him, and he doubts that she's going to do so quickly.
"Look, I get that you're probably still mad–"
"Not really," he says as he tightly grips his keys in his hands. "Lynn, I've had some time to think about it…and while I am upset," he starts his rambling, "I've decided that right now…it can wait about an hour before we talk about it. Got it? Great!"
Lynn is surprised by his behavior, "No, not great. As much as I don't want to talk either, we need to talk and get this out in the air."
Francisco looks over at his truck as he leans against the house; waiting for what she needs to say. Despite the cold, Francisco can feel a bead of sweat trickle down his neck as he stares at Lynn with half-opened eyes.
"I know that you're mad," she slowly starts. "Hell, I probably would be too, but that's not the point," she stops herself before running her train of thought down the wrong path. "I've done some thinking and I wish that I had a better excuse for why I did what I did, but–"
"I don't want to hear excuses, Lynn; I just wanted to know the reason–"
"Fine, the reason I didn't tell you was…was because I don't know, didn't know, how to say it. I mean, you know that I'm not good at talking about all that emotional stuff and it seemed easier to not say a thing than actually, you know, saying something, but that's a crummy excuse, uh, I mean, reason."
Francisco nods as she continues to speak; it's not a secret that Lynn struggles to talk about emotional topics, especially if she is the one going through it. More often than not, it was up to someone else to bring it out of her, but rather than keep this uncomfortable conversation going on, Francisco raises his hand to stop her.
"Yes, I understand. I'm…" he looks at the truck, "I mean, I've had um…some time to think, and," he passes his thumb over the teeth of his keys, "You are sorry. So, I'm going to trust you, but please don't…" he slowly steps away from her and towards the truck. "Yeah…"
Lynn doesn't trust his half-hearted response, "Are you listening to me?" she asks as she follow doesn't turn around and steps into his truck; she knocks on the window, "What the hell is wrong with you? I think you'll survive if you don't reach the pharmacy tonight."
Francisco lowers the window, and with an agitated tone, responds, "Lynn, I told you that I forgive you. I'm not gonna hold onto this forever, but I need to get my pills. It took a while to get the prescription, so please…let me go before it gets too late."
She stares into his tired eyes and sees the pain that he's holding back before she takes a step back, and watches him drive away.
Lynn notices that he left the front door open. Deciding that he'll probably be more attentive once he gets his medicine, she walks into the house and is surprised by the heat, "Look at that, he does know how to turn on the heater."
Albert hands his grandson three hunting permits, "What do you think, kiddo? We could make a weekend of it, you could invite your little friend Clyde, and we can have a boys' weekend out in nature. What do you say?"
Lincoln stares at the permits. He isn't the type to enjoy outdoor sports, nor those words individually, and while he loves his Pop-Pop's idea for a weekend with two of his favorite people, he isn't interested in hunting or camping at all.
"I'd love to, but um…I don't think Clyde would be able to. You remember what I told you about his overprotective dads and I'm sure that they wouldn't like the idea of Clyde going hunting, and I've got a lot of homework to do, but what about…" Lincoln struggles to finish that sentence, when Lynn walks in. He wraps his arm around his sister's shoulders, "I bet Lynn would like to give the sport of hunting a try, right Lynn?"
The older sister is confused by her brother, who just handed her a hunting permit. She just walked in the house after playing basketball in park and is trying to mentally catch up to what Lincoln is talking about, "Uh…sure?"
To Lynn, hunting doesn't seem like a sport that she would normally take part in; it's quieter, there's less in-your-face action, and chances are she's going to be waiting forever for a deer, or an elk, or a moose, or whatever Pop-Pop is taking them to hunt. However, she figures that it doesn't hurt to try, especially since Pop-Pop went through all the trouble of getting the permits.
Albert is a little disappointed that Lincoln isn't interested in the trip, but rather than let his grandchildren know, he turns to Lynn and makes her the same offer, which she happily accepts. It isn't often that she gets one-on-one time with her Pop-Pop and she doesn't want to miss it.
Lynn counts the three permits, "What do we do with the extra one?"
"I'm not sure, I guess you could invite one of your friends, if you'd like."
She thinks about it; she isn't sure if any of her friends would want to go hunting or would be free to go, so she hands the permit back to Pop-Pop, "I don't think I know anyone who does, but we can go out and have fun together, just the two of us!" she happily declares.
Albert nods his head, "Alright, let me catch you up on what we'll do this weekend."
Lincoln looks over at his grandpa and sister as she happily takes in all the information that Pop-Pop is telling her about the trip. He sighs, and he heads upstairs to his room.
Lynn opens the front door of Francisco's house. She spots him reading the newspaper in the living room, and she runs over to him to give him the great news. After their talk a few months ago, Lynn has been racking at her brain to think of the best way to earn his forgiveness; despite how many times he claims that he's over it.
She takes a seat next to him and leans in close to his face; he looks up to meet her eyes and with a coy smile asks, "Did you finally learn to leave my spare key in its hiding spot?"
She taps her pockets, "I'll get to it."
"Just keep the key, its better in the long run," he says as he goes back to the sports section.
Lynn presses down on the newspaper, "Remember how I said that I was going to make it up to you?" He vaguely remembers, "Well, I thought that maybe we can, wait. Elena should hear this too." Lynn goes off to search for the girl, "I was thinking that we could go on a camping trip, just the three of us. What do you say?" she tells the two.
"A what?" Francisco asks to clarify.
"A camping trip. You mentioned that you haven't gone on one, and I remember that you've always wanted to go, so what do you say?"
He has wanted to go camping for years, before he couldn't due to work and other responsibilities getting in the way, but now he can't imagine how difficult it would be to sleep on the hard ground these days.
"You could have made it up to me by getting that sauce recipe from Raffaelina or at least a few jars," he suggests.
Lynn shakes her head, "She doesn't tell me how to make that stuff and she's not going to give me a buncha jars just because we're both craving it. Besides, I need to do this with a gift that I can give you."
"What about work? You just got a new job."
"We'll go on a weekend."
"And me?" Elena asks.
"You can come."
"I thought that you hated camping."
"I admit that I'm not a fan, but I'm willing to do this for you, Francisco."
"But dad and I have never really been outside of the city."
"Why are you both making excuses? I'm trying to do something nice for us and neither of you want to do this? I figured that it would be better than hanging around here doing nothing, and it's not like you can't rearrange next week's plans."
Francisco repeats, "Next week? You want us to go camping next week?"
"Yeah, it's spring next week."
"That doesn't mean that it can't rain."
"I don't think that it'll rain on the other side of the state. C'mon we should enjoy ourselves, not too hot, not too cold, and I'm pretty sure that we won't have to worry about mosquitoes yet, besides I thought that you really wanted to do this, and it's not like you haven't roughed it a bit before as a kid."
"Visiting my grandparents' house isn't really roughing it if I still had tv and electricity."
Lynn is getting sick of the excuses, "Look, I'm trying to do something nice for you, if you don't want to do it, just say it."
Francisco sighs, "I do want to go. I just don't want to turn the trip into me hurting myself because of my injury."
Lynn begins to lightly laugh. She can't believe that that is his excuse. She knows that he sometimes finds ways to go to the worst case scenario, but he is just being silly, "Don't worry your pretty little head, we can get a cot, or an inflatable mattress, maybe a walking stick to go hiking, or some fishing gear, and get one of those giant s'mores sticks, but with lots of chocolate, you like chocolate, right Elena?"
The girl nods. Both she and Francisco listen to Lynn as she continues to name potential camping activities that they can partake of next week, and both wondering when she'll stop talking.
The alarm on Lynn's phone goes off. She groans and turns it off in an effort to get a few more minutes of sleep, but she quickly remembers that it's Saturday and today is the day of her hunting trip with Pop-Pop. She gets out of bed and yawns before she notices how dark the room is; Pop-Pop mentioned that he is planning on picking her up at around five in the morning so that they can beat traffic.
She drags her feet to the closet and grabs her backpack and sleeping bag. Lynn quietly grabs her clothes so that she can get changed after a shower. Lynn opens the door and tiptoes down the hallway to the bathroom, where the sound of the shower takes her by surprise. She doesn't expect anyone to be up this early on a Saturday, so she knocks on the door, and hears Lincoln tell her that the bathroom is occupied from the shower.
Lynn knocks louder on the door to grab his attention, but is interrupted by Luna, who silently glares at her younger, "Dude, it is too early in the morning for you to be banging on the door like that."
Lynn scowls back, "I'm going on that hunting trip with Pop-Pop, remember? I need to use the shower, but someone is taking too long!" she yells at the bathroom.
More sisters begin emerging from their rooms, mumbling at Lynn to keep quiet. Lincoln steps out of the shower and sees his sisters focusing on Lynn. He quietly steps around his older sister and heads to his room.
Lynn notices him, "What are you doing taking a shower so early, Stinkoln?"
Lincoln stops in his tracks and turns around, "I was taking a shower before Pop-Pop gets here."
"Why? You're not going on this hunting trip."
"Well, Pop-Pop looked sad that I wasn't going since he offered the trip and I said no, so I called him and told him that I changed my mind."
Lynn frowned, "Oh…well okay then, I'll try to be out in a bit."
Both siblings turn around to finish getting ready, while the other sisters head back to their bedrooms. Lynn is surprised that Lincoln changed his mind, especially after he already told Pop-Pop that he couldn't go on the trip, but she tries not to dwell; he probably won't be interested in the actual hunt.
After getting ready, the brother and sister wait outside by the steps for their Pop-Pop to arrive. Lincoln is beginning to doze off after waking up so early, meanwhile, Lynn runs towards the street and looks in both directions to see if she can see her grandfather's car, but she can't see the vehicle.
Lynn heads back towards her sleeping brother. She yawns; she was so excited for today's trip that she couldn't sleep well, and now she wishes that she could be like her brother, and sleep without worrying about the sound of the wind, the crunching of the leaves, or the insects keeping her up.
Albert pulls into the driveway and Lynn jumps up from the steps and heads over to the car to greet her Pop-Pop, who notices her sleeping brother, "Guess he's still tired?" he laughs. Albert turns to Lynn, and whispers, "Can you help me load your gear into the car? I'm gonna surprise your brother," he says, giving her a wink.
Lynn is about to loudly agree, but she closes her mouth as she watches Pop-Pop surprise Lincoln awake. The boy is startled awake and Lynn and Albert laugh at the 'prank'.
"C'mon Lincoln, you can sleep on the way over to the campsite."
Lincoln mumbles as his grandpa leads him to his car.
With the three seated in the car, Lynn looks over excitedly at Pop-Pop, ready to talk to him about their weekend plans. While Albert takes joy in Lynn's excitement, he points at Lincoln, who is sleeping.
"We can talk when we get there, okay?" he whispers.
Elena takes a seat outside as she watches her dad and Lynn finish up some last-minute packing. She has never gone camping before and it has never been an activity that she's ever wanted to try, but for her dad's sake, she's willing to do so.
"Good morning, preteen De Los Reyes," says Jackson as he steps out of his house ready to do some gardening.
"Good morning, Jackson," she says absent-mindedly as she would look inside of the house.
He notices the girl dressed for the camping trip that Francisco mentioned earlier in the week, but the look on her face told him that she is worried about something, "Are you doing okay? Are you nervous to go camping with your dad and Lynn?"
Based on what the neighbor has noticed, Lynn hasn't been around when Elena is visiting, and now the two are going to spend a larger than normal time together as they rough it in nature.
"I don't know. I mean, I like Lynn, but it's not like we spend a whole lot of time together. From the few moments we do spend together, it seems like we don't have a lot in common. We both like chocolate and then after that it seems like she's my dad, but louder and more in-your-face."
Jackson listens and asks, "Well, I can see how that can be concerning, but tell me this, do you have a lot in common with your stepfather?"
Elena thinks about it; she doesn't. She and Andrew do have some things in common, like an interest in music and books, but they are also different in regards to him enjoying outdoor activities and being very particular about things being in order.
"Not everything," she responds. "But, I spend so much time with him compared to Lynn. I just don't want this trip to turn into something awkward because the two of us are so different."
Jackson nods, and looks inside of the house. He sees Francisco playfully teasing Lynn as she takes her bag into the garage, and she is making a snarky remark back at him, "So you don't see them together often, right?"
Elena shakes her head, "No, but only because Lynn insists on not interfering when dad and I are spending time on the weekends. Honestly, I'm not even sure if I'm relieved or afraid that she won't spend time with me."
"I think she's just nervous. Before she and Francisco got together, you both already knew each other and had some sort of relationship, but now that relationship is different, and she has an opportunity to be closer, but she doesn't know how to proceed. After all, there is a chance that she could be in your life longer than you think."
Elena thinks about what Jackson said, he was right, both of them have been dating for a few years now, and there is a possibility of Lynn being her stepmother. She watches the couple and sees the smile on her face as she takes her things into the garage and sees her dad keep looking at her as she walks away.
"Probably…thanks for the talk, Jackson," she says as she walks into the house.
Francisco notices Elena walking through the door, "Ready to go?"
Lynn passes behind him, "Yeah, I'm ready."
"I meant Elena."
"Yeah, let's go."
The three get into the truck. Francisco sets up his GPS, Elena looks out the window as she looks out at the houses, and Lynn begins to fiddle with the radio as she tries to find a station that she likes, "Classic? Nope. Rock? Meh. Country?" she shudders as she keeps changing stations.
"Can you pick a station already?" Francisco asks, annoyed that Lynn keeps changing the stations after less than two seconds of listening.
"I'm trying to find something more entertaining than whatever this is," she retorts.
"The National Weather Service is advising that all drivers–"
"Boring," Lynn says before changing it again.
"Put it back, that could have been useful."
"Yeah, right. Besides, it's not like we can't get any news on our phones."
"In the middle of nowhere, you expect your phone to work?"
"Yes. Now, let me try and find a station we can all listen to and enjoy."
Elena watches from the back seat, compared to her mom and Andrew who are more civil in their disagreements, her dad and Lynn didn't mind arguing a bit with each other, Elena figures that this was how they behaved as kids, and they just couldn't shake their old habits.
She grabs a pair of headphones from the backpack next to her and hands them to Lynn, "Here, you can use them to listen to whatever you want on your phone."
"What? Don't be silly, we'll find something we all like soon enough."
"Before or after you go through all the stations again?" Francisco asks sarcastically.
Lynn is about to say something, but Elena speaks up first, "I'm sure that we can find a good station, but can you give us a few more seconds to listen before we change it?" she asks the woman.
"Sure, I can do that."
Elena sighs in relief and goes back to staring out the window.
With the campsite set up, Lynn looks around the wooded area to see where they might start. She hears snoring coming from the tents and sees both her brother and grandpa napping after the car ride and setting up the tents.
"Seriously?" she asks out loud. She shakes Pop-Pop's shoulder, "Pop-Pop. Pop-Pop. Wake up."
He turns towards her and opens his eye, "What time is it?"
"I don't know, aren't we going to go hunting?" she asks excitedly.
Albert looks at his watch, it's still morning and they have some time to scout the deer, although the deer that he and Lynn want to scope out won't come out until later in the day, so the three have plenty of time to spend together.
"How about we wait? You said that you wanted to find a buck and those come out after the sun sets. Besides, this is a good opportunity for me to make sure that you both remember what I taught you."
Over the years, Albert has recounted his hunting trips to his grandchildren, but it never hurts to review the fundamentals especially when Lincoln is so jumpy and Lynn is so brash. He proceeds to take out the weapon and thoroughly ensure that they are safe; luckily, with Lynn treating their time outdoors as a sport, she's able to maintain her full attention and take it seriously, Lincoln, however, is a different story.
Lynn looks over at her brother and grandpa, as the older man explains to his grandson the proper way to hold the gun and how to shoot. Lincoln is visibly nervous, the only guns he's ever held were made of plastic and shoot out lights towards a screen, so Pop-Pop has his work cut out for him. Meanwhile Lynn doesn't need extra instruction; she is able to pick up the weapon with ease and without fear.
"Alright, now always treat the gun as if it's loaded," Albert instructs his grandson.
Lynn groans; the two have been going over the same lessons for far too long, and Albert can sense the frustration in his granddaughter and he assures her, "We'll be done soon, and then we can go."
She nods her head. Lynn continues to listen to the two talking, but she quickly asks again when they can go.
"Lynn, you have to be more patient, and I want to be sure that your brother is being safe."
She groans, "You've been going over everything for so long, I think he's got it."
"Kiddo, be patient. This isn't something you can rush. "
Lynn mutters under her breath, "This would be so much easier is he didn't come like he wanted."
Lincoln looks over at his sister with a scowl on his face. He heard what she said, but decided not to push back against his sister. The lesson continued, but soon the conversation turned to fondly recalling other times that they've hung out. Usually, their mom took Lincoln to visit Pop-Pop once a month, but lately Lincoln has been taking his bike to visit him on his own.
"That sure was a fun afternoon," Albert laughs, as he recalls their last hangout.
"Pop-Pop, are we gonna get going soon?" Lynn asks.
He laughs at his granddaughter's impatience, "We'll get going in a bit, but first, who wants lunch?"
Lynn is about to say no, but her stomach answers for her, "Yeah, I could eat."
The next couple of hours are spent relaxing; while Lynn wanted to go find the buck, Lincoln and Pop-Pop seemed to find their fun telling stories and going on a short hike around the woods. Lynn's patience is wearing thin as she watches the two have fun sitting around talking; while standing around waiting for a buck isn't the most fun thing in the world, she was expecting that by this point in time, they'd be getting ready to find one, not lollygagging around the campsite.
As the hours passed, Albert's eyes began to get heavy and Lynn is noticing that he's getting tired, she quickly calls out to her grandfather to wake him up so they can go, but he yawns and says that they can put it off until tomorrow.
"Seriously?! I thought that we were going tonight!"
"Lynn, we can wait for tomorrow–"
"But we're not gonna get a large buck tomorrow," she complains. "We're leaving before the sun sets!"
"Well I'm sorry Lynn, but we can have fun even without taking a buck home."
Frustrated, she grabs her hunting gear and walks away from the campsite. She can hear Lincoln and Albert calling out to her, and she begins to run down the path.
Albert gets up, he turns to Lincoln, "Stay here in case she comes back. I'm going to go get her."
Francisco takes in a deep breath as smells the clean air. The tent and the rest of their campsite is all set up, and all they're left with is figuring out what to do to pass the time. After Lynn announced that she wanted everyone to go camping, Francisco made an effort to find a way to pass the time and keep themselves from getting bored.
He turns to Elena, "Do you want to go on a short hike?"
"Sure," she answers.
Francisco calls out to Lynn, and asks her to join in. He figures that a simple walk down a pathway won't be the most exciting thing for her, but she did insist on this trip and he wants to make sure that they do everything that they planned.
Elena looks over at her dad, "What are going to do after we get back to camp?"
Lynn answered, "I brought fireworks; we can light them!"
"Or," Francisco answers, "I brought a hammock, some jars to collect some interesting things, and a book on animals that we can find in the area."
"Boring!" Lynn exclaims. "We should do something fun!"
"What good are fireworks in the daytime? We can do my things, and then we can light up some fireworks near the lake. Besides, we have a few hours until it gets dark and we go to sleep."
"Fine! We can do your old man activities," she jokes.
He rolls his eyes and leads everyone back to the campsite.
When they arrive, Francisco takes out the items that he brought to do some activities. While he and Elena are enjoying themselves, Lynn is a little bored, as she expected them to do something a little more exhilarating over the course of the day.
Lynn's stomach begins to growl; despite claiming to herself that she wasn't enjoying herself a bit, she noticed that she lost track of time and she was ready for dinner before the sun set. She begins to make a fire, but notices the dark storm clouds beginning to cover the sky above them. Francisco and Elena head towards her when the sound of thunder takes them by surprise. Everyone looks up at the sky and drops of rain begin to fall on their faces.
The three get up and head towards the tent, Francisco asks Lynn, "Did you pack a tarp to put over the tent?"
"Uh…" she doesn't remember doing so.
A flash of lightning takes the group by surprise, startling them. Rather than risk being stuck inside of a tent with metal poles, Francisco decides to cut the trip short and pack most of their supplies into the truck bed. Elena and Lynn follow suit, but the three aren't fast enough to beat the storm.
"I told you that it could have rained," Francisco complains as a gust of wind blows in their direction.
"Well excuse me for wanting to do something nice for others! Maybe I'll be greedy and never care again!"
"It's common sense to check the weather! It's not like we couldn't postpone the trip!"
Elena hears the two continue to argue. She grabs everyone's backpacks and places them in the backseat with herself, and waits for both her dad and Lynn to get inside and hopefully stop fighting.
With the gear in place, the two adults enter the truck, drenched in rainwater and silent as they leave the campsite.
Francisco slowly pulls into the road. Lynn and Elena notice how slowly he is driving; his back is hunched over and every headlight that heads towards them causes him to immediately step on the brakes. The poorly lit road isn't making it easier either and both passengers can see that his hands are shaking as he drives.
Lynn speaks up, "Francisco, do you want me to drive?"
"I can handle it! I'm not some stupid little kid!"
Both are surprised by the outburst, and Lynn is about to speak up, when Elena shakes her head to keep her from say what's on her mind.
As the rain begins to come down harder, Lynn pulls out her phone and searches for a rest stop nearby, "Hey look, there's a rest stop in less than a mile. We can stop there until the storm dies down, what do you say?"
With his eyes staring intently on the road, he mutters, "Lead the way."
Francisco pulls into the rest stop. He rests his head on the steering wheel when the truck comes to a stop. Lynn lightly shakes his shoulders and he looks at her.
"We should probably get out of these wet clothes," she says.
He nods his head. Elena hands out their backpacks and each grab a change of clothes before they make their way inside of the building. The three run inside; from the parking lot it appears as though they are the only ones and the silence inside of the building seems to confirm that they are indeed alone.
Francisco quietly heads into the men's restroom to change. He can still hear the thunder outside and cracks of lightning. The lights briefly turn off, but come back on immediately. He gets out of his wet clothes and changes before heading to the sliding doors to keep an eye on his truck and their gear.
In the women's restroom, Elena takes advantage of the privacy and decides to ask Lynn, "Has he always been like that? With storms."
"Not really. When we were kids he didn't mind storms. I don't think he minds now either, but I think he likes being indoors away from the exposure. I think it got as bad as it did after your grandpa, you know."
"Not really…" Elena says, "Everyone in my family seems to get quiet about him."
She is surprised neither Francisco, his brothers, or even his mom have ever mentioned the man to Elena; granted, they may not want to relive the memory, but she must know something.
Lynn decides to ask, "What do you know about him?"
"His name," Elena says, before remembering that Lynn may have known her abuelo, "What about you? Have you met him?"
Lynn tries to recall, but keeps the last thing she knows about him from the girl, she imagines that if the family hasn't mentioned it yet, there must be a reason, "He was really nice, and he spoke in the most accented English I have ever heard, but he always seemed confident in how he spoke. He liked beer; I think I remember your dad mentioning how much he hated picking up beer cans in the summer. And I think your dad said something about liking to sing to old music," she couldn't remember much more after that, "If I remember something, I can tell you."
"Thanks," Elena says as she steps out of the stall.
The two walk out of the restroom and see Francisco leaning against the vending machine as he stares out into the rain, which at the moment does not seem ready to let up. He looks at all of the drops on fall onto his truck, particularly the windshield, and thinks about how winter just passed.
"Dad," Elena starts, "are you okay?"
He just nods his head, and the both look at each other as he stares out at the storm. They both know how he gets when the weather turns like this, and even after all these years it surprises them to see him quieter than normal.
Both stand beside him and lean against a vending machine as they stare outside, waiting for the rain to stop.
"So…" Lynn doesn't know what to say.
"Do you remember when you dared me to dance outside during that big thunderstorm?"
Lynn smiles at the memory. They were in high school and stayed late after class, and as they were waiting for their rides, the storm got worse, the sky got as dark as night and lightning was flashing; she dared him to go outside just to goof around, and he actually did it.
"Yeah," she says. "And Mrs. Brooks thought that we were crazy as we ran back inside."
Both adults laugh at the memory, while Elena tries to imagine her dad as the type of man who would actually take on such a dare. To her, it's almost hard to believe that the serious man that she's known all her life would be playful enough to dance in the rain, but there they are still laughing as they recount the story.
The flash of thunder interrupts everyone. Lynn holds on tightly to his hand and notices that he has his eyes closed. "Francisco? Are you okay?"
He opens one eye, "Yeah…I'm fine."
Lynn knows he isn't, but he's never going to admit it. After all these years, she thought that he would get over what happened, but she knows that that isn't how it works for everyone; especially after something so traumatic.
Elena looks over at the couple, and notices that the two are holding hands as they look out at the rain.
Lynn kicks the dirt as she walks down the path; she has no idea where she is going, but she doesn't care. She knows that she should have expected this to happen once Lincoln said that he was joining, but she was hoping that it would have been closer to the end of the trip.
She spots a log and takes a seat to stare out at the lake. The sound of the insects begins to bother her and she takes a rock from the ground and tosses it at the lake. The rock skips a few times before sinking into the water. She smiles upon hearing the sinking sound, and she takes another rock to repeat the process in hopes of beating her personal record.
Albert finds her, "There you are, I was worried about you."
Lynn takes a seat on the log; she keeps her eyes looking forward, avoiding his gaze as she stays quiet. She knows that she was being immature, but it doesn't change the fact that she was promised a chance to actually hunt a buck this evening.
Her grandpa takes a seat next to her, "Do you want to talk about what happened?"
She shakes her head.
Albert starts, "I'm sorry that I know that I promised you, and I guess I was just having so much fun with both of you–"
"With Lincoln," she corrects. "You guys, were doing most of the talking, remember?"
He thinks he understands, "Is that what's bothering you? Kiddo, I know that sometimes it doesn't look fair, but you know that I love you and your brother and sisters equally."
Lynn stays quiet. She knows that he loves her, and she loves him too, but sometimes she wished that he was able to spend more time with her the way he does with Lincoln. Heck, even she knows that this whole trip was more for the two of them, she just tagged along because she opened the door when Lincoln needed an excuse the first time.
"Yeah, I know…it just would've been nice for it have just been the two of us," she admits.
Albert hugs his granddaughter, "One day, I promise we'll have our own hunting trip, just the two of us. Deal?"
Lynn smiles and nods her head, returning her grandfather's hug.
The three walk through the door, exhausted after spending so much time at the rest stop. No one was planning on leaving the campsite sooner than expected, but it's not like Francisco and the radio didn't try to warn Lynn about the weather.
"We can definitely try that again next weekend!" Lynn exclaims, seemingly unfazed after spending the night at the rest stop. "We will make it happen."
Neither Francisco nor Elena say anything, but they are definitely sure that they are not going camping for a long time, no matter what Lynn says.
Lynn heads into the kitchen, "Who wants lunch?"
Francisco closes his eyes. He is exhausted, he was barely able to sleep at the rest stop and Lynn's constant fidgeting next to him didn't help. Rather than say anything, he heads to the living room and crashes on the couch.
"Fine, be that way," Lynn says, she turns to Elena, "Do you want something to eat? Anything'll be better after the junk food from the vending machine."
"Maybe later," Elena says. "Right now, I just want to take a shower and sleep in an actual bed."
"Okay, I'll keep the leftovers out if you get hungry," she tells her.
With both father and daughter sleeping, Lynn is alone and she sighs as she takes her phone out to play a game.
A few hours later, Elena comes out of her room and sees her dad still snoring away on the couch. It's getting late, and she needs to get home, but she can't bring herself to wake him up, rather than continue waiting, she turns towards Lynn, who is who is flipping through channels looking for something to watch.
"Hey Lynn, can you take me home? Dad said that he was going to, but I don't want to wake him."
Lynn opens her mouth as she tries to say something, but shrugs her shoulders, "Sure. I'll go get my keys."
As the two sit in the car, an awkward silence emerges as the two realize that they don't have much to talk about without Francisco around. Over the years, the two have heard things about the other, but they are never alone long enough to notice that awkwardness.
Elena clears her throat, "It stinks that we didn't get to see dad have his camping trip."
"He'll be fine. If he could wait all these years to go on just one trip, I'm sure we can do this again another day."
Elena nods, "Yeah, I guess we can do this again, especially since you're moving in with dad."
Hearing that catches Lynn by surprise, "What?! What are you talking about? I'm not moving in with your dad," she says as clearly as she can.
Elena is surprised, considering that Lynn has spent more time at her dad's home over the last couple of months. The once lonely house that usually had one occupant, now has the couple living together a few days a week, at least if the items that Lynn left behind are to be believed.
"Are you sure? You seem to have a fair amount of things in his house."
"No I don't," Lynn says, in an effort to end the conversation. Elena stops talking, but Lynn speaks up, "I spend a night or two, but that doesn't mean that I'm moving in."
"Okay, I get it," Elena says in hopes of stopping Lynn before she starts to ramble.
Lynn pulls up to Caroline's house and she escorts Elena to the front door. She thinks about her words and tries to remember the last time that she spent more than a weekend at her apartment, "I guess I do spend a lot of time at Francisco's place." She pulls out her phone, deciding that it wouldn't be such a bad idea to stay in her own home for a few days.
She takes out her phone, and calls him. When he answers, he sounds exhausted, "Hey, I dropped off Elena at her mom's. I'll see you later."
"Can you pick up something to eat on your way back?" he asks through a yawn.
She chuckles, "No, I meant, I'll see you tomorrow or something."
"Oh…okay…I'll see you later then…uh, bye?"
He's surprised that she not returning home, but he doesn't make an effort to stop her, instead letting her go to her apartment.
"Bye? And what the heck was with that pause?" she asks out loud.
She tries not to dwell on it, but it begins to bother her. She's sure that he cares, but it's not like they spend every day together. Lynn tries to think of the last time they spent a significant amount of time apart, but the earliest instance was back in December. Rather than let this eat away at her, she goes back to his house to prove to herself that she isn't living with him.
Lynn pulls out her copy of Francisco's house key, and stops as she thinks about Elena's words. She shakes her head, and reminds herself that the only reason Francisco gave her the key was because she was constantly forgetting to put it away or somewhere that he could find it.
"She can't be serious. I'm not moving in." She looks around the house and walks towards the kitchen and instinctively pulls out a chocolate protein drink, "He likes these, I know he likes these," she tries to convince herself.
She walks into the garage and sees the laundry basket that has a fair amount of her own clothing.
"I'm not moving in. I know it and so does Francisco."
Lynn thinks about the phone call after she dropped off Elena, he was upset that she was going back to her home, but she didn't know than letting her imagination run wild, Lynn searches for Francisco. She goes to his room where she hears the shower come on, and curtain being pulled.
Lynn bursts open the bathroom door, "Why the heck were you upset when I said that I was going home?"
Francisco pops his head out from behind the shower curtain, "What the–What are you talking about?"
"You were upset that I wasn't coming back, why?"
Francisco closes the curtain, "I wasn't upset…okay, I was a little, but it's not like you have to stay, you're free to go home. Don't worry about me."
Lynn silently sits by the sink. She notices the toothbrush that she uses when she spends the night, "Do you think that I spend a lot of time here?"
Francisco thinks about it. Ever since that first stormy night when he forced her to spend the night, she has begun to get more comfortable spending nights with him; at first it was maybe one night a month, but recently, she has spent five nights a week at his place.
"You're here…and…I miss you went you aren't here…"
Lynn has a small smile on her face when she hears that, "A lot or a little?" she teases.
"Ha ha," he laughs sarcastically, before continuing, "as much as you miss someone you love."
Lynn's heart skips a beat. He has never said that he loves her, well those weren't the exact words that he used, but he means it, at least that's what Lynn is telling herself.
"Francisco…did you just say that…"
He realizes what he told her. They've been together for years and never brought it up; neither one pressured the other romantically, and it made their relationship feel more relaxed, but now he is telling her, in the bathroom while he's showering that he loves her.
He takes a deep breath, as he thinks about what he's going to say next. He thinks about their nights talking, or how they spend game nights having fun as they cheer their team on, how nice it is to have her around and not be lonely, how she's willing to push him out of his comfort zone and invite him to take part in activities together; he clears his throat and says it, "Yes, I love you."
Lynn's lips began to curl as she smiles, unsure of how to respond. She stares at the ceiling as she tries to think if she's really ready to say it back to him. Lynn walks towards the moving figure behind the shower curtain, and she pokes her head in and surprises him with a kiss.
Believe it or not, the first time I created an outline for this story, I completely forgot about them ever declaring that they loved each other. I went through a variety of ideas of things to add to the story, but this slipped my mind. As for the past shot, that was planned before some episodes aired, but I didn't want to throw the idea away, so it changed to be a little less dramatic and dangerous than it was originally.
Anyway, until next time, thanks for reading
