CHAPTER 27

Once they were back in the RV and making their way to the next RV park, Beth locked herself in the bedroom and wouldn't let Carlton in when he asked. Once they arrived at the park, Carlton tried knocking again. "Hey Beth? We've stopped for the night and Henry wants to take Frisco out before going to sleep."

Getting no response, Carlton tried the handle, a bit surprised to find it unlocked. Opening the door, he was met by a sight that he had gotten use to over the past few weeks: Beth was fast asleep in the middle of the bed, Murphy on one pillow and Frisco laying against Beth's back.

Clicking his tongue, Carlton whispered to Frisco, "You want to go outside?" Frisco yawned as he got up and stretched before slowly making his way out the door.

Shaking his head, Carlton watched the dog join Henry before he stepped towards the bed. Looking Beth over, he noticed the dried tear tracks on her cheeks and slightly puffy eyes.

As Carlton reached to pull the blanket up, he found a small notebook on the floor, which he immediately recognized as Beth's music notebook. Flipping through the pages, he glanced at the multiple half started songs and melodies. About halfway through, he noticed a sudden shift from disjointed lines all over the page with giant gaps to pages completely filled from margin to margin. Turning back to the first page, Carlton scanned it.

The majority of the pages seemed to be her memories of the past few months, especially want happened with Fred. Some words were crossed out, others were added here and there. In the margins, she compared her feelings from when things happened with how she felt looking back at them now.

The last page was the most interesting. She wrote a whole bunch of what ifs, from what if Fred had been successful in any of his attempts to what if she had kept traveling to what if she had gone through with the suicide attempt. Frowning, Carlton made sure that Beth was asleep before he read the last paragraph:

"If Fred hadn't come over drunk that night and tried to sleep with me, I never would have left and gone traveling, eventually ending up in Santa Barbara. If Fred hadn't found me, I probably wouldn't have spent as much time as I did with Carlton that first week, including staying at his house. If I hadn't become so comfortable around him and all of his friends, I would have continued my wanderings, probably never seeing Carlton again. Part of me fell in love with Carlton that week, but I soon realized that I wasn't ready for that and we were meant to be friends, good friends. I do hate that all these bad things happened. But without all the bad, I wouldn't have gotten the good that's come out of it. So yeah, what I said to Fred that day was true, I do forgive him. Because without him, I wouldn't have found this new chapter in my life. I just hope that I can finally let go of the past and move on."

Sighing, Carlton closed the notebook and set it on Beth's stuff. On the one hand, he was glad that Beth seemed to be healing well enough emotionally. On the other, he was a little thrown off about her falling in love with him. When Beth had kissed him all those months ago, and then him kissing her a second time, he didn't think that he was capable of keeping a relationship and he didn't want to hurt Beth, especially with everything that she was going through with Fred. If she had said that she did want to have a romantic relationship with him, Carlton probably would have asked to take it really slow.

All of this circle thinking was making Carlton long for some scotch, or any hard liquor for that matter. But between there being no alcohol onboard, for Carlton ad checked the first night, and the pain meds he was still on, he was out of luck. So, grabbing his sweatpants and a clean shirt, Carlton went into the small bathroom to change, deciding to let his brain simmer on everything overnight, hopefully it would be a lot less confusing in the morning.

Carlton felt the bed move as he was startled awake. Looking over, he saw Beth sitting on the edge of the bed, head in her hands and elbows on her knees as she took deep breaths. Reaching a hand for her shoulder, he asked, "Hey, what's wrong?"

Beth squeaked and jerked away from him, falling off the bed in the process.

Carlton flicked on the light before sitting up and moving closer to her. He saw that she was laying mostly on her back with a hand over her heart, staring at him with wide eyes for a second before sighing in relief. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just had a bad dream." She laughed slightly and wiped away a few stray tears. "When I woke up, I guess I forgot that you would be here. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, it's not your fault."

Beth laughed again as she slowly sat up. "If I had a nickel for every time someone said that to me…"

"Let me guess, you would be a millionaire?"

"No, but I could buy a value meal, maybe a pizza." She said with a slight smirk .

Carlton couldn't help his smile as he offered his hand to help her back onto the bed.

Once they were both settled against the headboard, he asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really." She sighed and looked him straight in the eye. "Thanks. For everything."

"You're welcome."

"I guess we should probably get some more sleep. We only have, what? 3 hours or so until Henry wakes us up?"

"Something like that. Although he might want an earlier start today so that we can be sure to make it to the hotel before rush hour."

"Okay." Beth leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Night Carlton."

"Night." Carlton replied as he watched her lay down with her back to him and pull the blanket up to her shoulder.

In the morning they broke camp a bit fast then normal, eager to get on the road. They were to deliver the RV the next morning and, after spending a night in a hotel with real showers, were scheduled to be back in Santa Barbara by dinner. Beth spent most of the day in the bedroom with her pets, watching movies on her laptop. When they stopped for lunch, Beth refused to join them, asking if they could pick her up some ice cream and brownies.

As they reached Las Vegas, Beth finally joined them up front and looked at all the neon signs they were passing. She smiled and said, "It's not as impressive as I thought it would be."

Henry snorted as he replied, "The movies over hype everything. But if you really want to see Las Vegas shine, you need to go down the strip at night."

"Can we go see it?"

"I thought you didn't like gambling."

"Only because I'm not good at it. But I just want to go up and down the strip, take a few pictures, maybe get some souvenirs."

"We'll be at the hotel soon and who knows what Shawn has planned."

"Shawn's here?" Beth asked, perking up for the first time all week.

"Yeah." Henry shook his head. "I told him that we'll need another vehicle to get to Santa Barbara and it only made sense that he came since he's the one who arranged the RV. He agreed if only he could book a hotel for the night. So I can't guarantee the room arrangements. I think he booked us at the Hampton Inn."

"That's actually a pretty good hotel." Carlton chimed in. "Not too far from the casinos but far enough that all the noise and lights don't keep you up all night. I'm surprised he didn't pick a hotel right in the middle of the strip."

"I think he used to work there or something. He was very vague on it."

"Your son has a lot of strange connections."

" Yeah, well, they can be helpful. Some of the time. I just hope that this place isn't too crowded with young folks, being spring break season and all."

Beth laughed, "Oh Henry. Not many college students would come to Las Vegas for spring break. They usually only have enough money for travel and hotel and won't want to risk losing it in the casinos. We're more at risk of being over crowded by business people than college students."

"I hope so. I just want a quite evening getting dinner at the hotel restaurant and maybe watch some tv."

"What? Are you tired of us already?" Beth asked, sounding silently hurt.

"No. But after driving for several days straight, I'd like to relax for the evening. You're welcome to join me."

"Tempting, but I think I'll convince Shawn to take me somewhere a bit more exciting."

"As long as it's nothing illegal and you don't hurt yourself." Carlton said.

"Awww, are you worried about little old me, Carly?"

Carlton glared at her as he replied, "I just don't feel like bailing you out of jail or picking you up from the hospital, again. I really do not want to add Las Vegas to the list of hospitals I've been to this year alone."

"Fine. I promise to try not to get into any trouble. Happy?"

"Not really. But since you and Spencer are both adults, even if neither of you act like it half the time, there's nothing much that I can do."

"Well, thank you for that, I think." Beth smiled as she looked out the window to see that they were pulling up to a hotel. "Wow. This is a pretty nice-looking hotel."

"Yeah. Spencer did a good job. For once." Carlton said as he packed up his stuff.

Beth laughed as Henry parked the RV. Henry had barely turned off the engine when there was a knock at the door. Frisco started barking and backing away from the door. Shaking his head, Henry asked, "Hey Carlton, can you get that, it's probably Shawn."

"Sure." Carlton nodded.

"Frisco, come here," Beth called as Carlton went to the door.

"LASSIE!" Shawn exclaimed as soon as the door opened and wrapped Carlton in a tight hug.

"Spencer! Get off me!" Carlton growled as he tried, but failed, to push Shawn off.

"But Lassie! It's been 2 whole weeks and I've missed my favorite salt and pepper Irish detective! You're like my second favorite person to annoy, behind only my father."

"Shawn! Let go of Carlton right now!" Henry sighed as he rubbed his face.

"Yes, papa monkey! And I've missed you too."

"Hey Shawn." Beth giggled as Shawn bounded up the steps after finally releasing Carlton .

"Beth! It's been like forever! Is this your dog?" Shawn dropped down on the floor and started petting Frisco fiercely, the dog more than happy to oblige.

"Yeah, this is Frisco. I think you've won him over already. It took Carlton and your dad quite a few days each."

"That's because they're cranky old detectives. I, on the other hand, am a very fun-loving person and dogs adore me. I once worked at an animal shelter for a few months."

"Really? Isn't working at one really hard because you would just want to take all of them home?"

"Nope. Well, I did collect quite a few cats until the landlord found out and I had to take them back."

"Is that why they fire you?" Henry asked as he got out of the driver's seat.

"Who said they fired me?"

"Shawn."

"Okay, yeah they did. But it wasn't my fault they didn't like the dogs roaming the neighborhood by themselves."

"Shawn!" Beth laughed. "Did they all come back?"

"Most of them. I think I saw a few still out and about as I was driving to my next destination."

Henry huffed and said, "Another reason of why I'm glad Shawn didn't have a dog when he was a kid."

Seeing an argument about to break out, Beth said, "So, who wants to take Frisco? We can come back for the cats after we check in."

"I'll take him!" Shawn replied enthusiastically as he spied the leash and grabbed it. "I'll even take him for a quick run to a patch of grass, in case he needs to do his business."

"Sure. I bet Frisco would like that. He hasn't had a chance to run since we left Cleveland." Beth said with a big smile.

"Awesome. I'll meet you guys inside the lobby." With that, Shawn led Frisco to the door and left.

After watching them run off, Beth reached for her crutches. "Well, that was easier than I thought."

Henry laughed. "So, you've learned the trick of how to deal with Shawn?"

"Oh, I kind of stumbled upon it a few weeks after meeting Shawn. Gus actually pointed out to me what I did."

"I'm guessing Gus gave you a few more pointers?"

"Yep. So you have no worries about us tonight. I can handle Shawn." Beth smirked as she made her way out the door.