CHAPTER 6
Catching up to my favorite Merry Men was an adventure in of itself. They had decided to go for a swim in the roped off swimming area near the playground. Not wanting to get into the freezing lake water, I sat on the beach, digging my toes into the sand, watching them glide gracefully through the water as they swam laps. They at one point, attempted to coax me into the water, but I waved them off telling them I'd swim on a later day. They accepted that at face value and returned to swimming.
We returned to Bertie enjoying the warm late spring air, no clouds in sight tonight, thankfully. I was still rattled from the storm the night before and didn't want a repeat so soon. We ate dinner inside Bertie before retiring early for the night, knowing we had plans to hit the road in the morning. I fell asleep to the sounds of Rex's wheel squeaking as he ran, lulling me into a restful slumber.
The rumble of the engine woke me, and I flopped off the side of the pullout bed and onto the floor with a start.
"Sorry Angel." Ram apologized with a small grimace. "I was just trying to get the anchors to retract, and Bertie has to be running for that to happen." The sound of a loud metallic groan and grinding made me scrunch up my face and hold my hands over my ears. A couple quick thumps on the side of the wall made me realize Vince was outside monitoring the progress. I could just make out his hands above the dashboard through the window, giving two thumbs up signal. Ram quickly killed the engine.
"Ready for a quick breakfast?" I scrambled out of bed, threw the bedding into a cupboard next to the couch, folded the bed back up and dashed to the bathroom to change for the day. A microwave omelet cup and a crisp apple were destined for my stomach as the guys finished getting Bertie ready for the road.
"I talked to Mac this morning, gave him some money to fix the damage from the anchors. He just shook his head and told me to take real good care of you. He sure is smitten with you. He wanted me to let you know he'll be here for the rest of summer as Camp Host. And he couldn't wait to see us next time." I smiled and shoveled another mouthful of the eggs into my mouth. "We're planning on staying for a day or two on the way back, if that's okay with you?"
"That's great. I'd love to come back and explore more with you two." My arms wrapped around him, drawing him close as I nuzzled my nose into his neck, breathing in his distinct scent, enjoying his closeness. As I let go and resumed my position at the table finishing my food, I added. "So... I may or may not have come to a couple of conclusions yesterday."
His hands hovered over the kitchen counter as he froze, waiting to hear what I had to say. "I think that I am coming to terms with the end of my wanna-be relationship with Ranger. It's happening a lot faster than I really thought I would. Am I ready for a relationship right now? Not really. I mean I'd like to have fun and not worry about stuff like relationships but if it happens, it happens. I won't be actively looking for anyone, but I'm not going to say no if it's the right fit. And I want you to know, I love you, too."
"Good to know, Angel. Good to know." His devilish smile made my knees weak, but fate intervened, and Vince returned inside holding three matching t-shirts that had the name of the lake on the back with a canoe and crossed paddles. He threw the smaller of the three at me and the largest at Ram hitting straight in the face.
"All right. let's blow this popsicle stand!"
~0~0~0~
We left Ohio at 0700 hours, headed West. Wanting to push ourselves, we collectively decided to push through as far as we could go today. Ram and Vince traded off driver's duty, both having a Class A driver's license to operate Bertie. Along the way, Ram put me into the driver's seat and allowed me to drive around a hundred miles of the least dangerous section of the trip, letting me get experience. It was fun for the most part, but I seemed to worry too much about the surrounding traffic, and it made me nervous. Seeing I was uncomfortable, Vince took over for the next six hours until we finally pulled up into Des Moines, Iowa.
I think that was the longest I have ever traveled without having to demand a stop to stretch my legs. We had fueled up not long after leaving Ohio and again while in Illinois to top off the tanks. I had napped through the first and stayed in Bertie for the second, knowing I could always use the bathroom in the motorhome rather than use a dirty one in a fueling station. I had learned to prepare a light lunch while underway on the road. Prepared sandwiches, chips, fruit and snack bars made the meal easy, while we did stop for dinner at a roadside diner after arriving in Des Moines.
Tubby's was a throwback to the old fifties diner and wasn't too far off from similar ones we had back home in Trenton. The neon lights outlined the polished stainless-steel panels on the outside of the building. A long line of waiting patrons was a good sign that this was the best place to eat around here. We finally got a table after a forty-minute wait, though we entertained ourselves by feeding quarters into the crane machine trying to see who could get the largest prize. I lost, badly. No stuffed toys for me, but both the guys managed to get a couple of things each. A cry of triumph, denoted that Vince was the eventual winner, dropping a stuffed seal the size of my head into the bin. He pulled it out, gave it a victorious shake above his head before handing it to me with a flourish.
"A gift for you, My Lady." I giggled and batted him in the head with it as Ram's name was called for us to be seated. Perusing through familiar offerings, I decided I wanted to be spontaneous and ask the waitress what she normally got there.
A young blonde woman, in her late twenties walked over with a warm smile and even warmer greeting. "Hiya, I'm Bethany. What can I get for you tonight?"
"Okay this is going to sound odd, but what do you usually get when you order from here?"
She laughed lightly, "Well, are you looking for dinner or breakfast?"
"Breakfast."
"Savory or sweet?"
"Sweet. Always." I answered with a grin.
"Well, then I would probably recommend either the triple stack of pancakes with fresh blueberry compote, cheesecake spread and whipped cream. Or, you could have the massive cinnamon roll that's nearly as big as your head." Wow, that was a dilemma.
"How about you bring us a triple stack with the blueberry compote, a cinnamon roll and one of your garbage plates. We'll share between the three of us." Vince suggested and we both nodded in agreement.
Ram dropped a couple of quarters into the mini jukebox sitting on our table against the wall and selected a couple of songs. I just about laughed myself silly when I heard The Lovin' Spoonful's Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind. Ram shook his head and frowned, at the song playing. "That's not one of the ones I selected. I guess we gotta wait for it."
We demolished the pancakes in record time, the cinnamon roll lasted not much longer, and the garbage plate was exactly what is sounded like. It was a 18-inch-wide plate covered in a mountain of home fries, shredded cheddar cheese, white gravy, 12 links of sausage and 12 strips of bacon both chopped and spread around the edges, a dozen eggs made the way you like, three slices of toast and a bowl of fresh fruit on the side. Initially I was shocked at the amount of food sitting at the table, but we finished everything, leaving the plates clean, after Ram's second stomach kicked in and he snarfed up the last of the dregs on the garbage plate.
Bethany came by a little after we had finished and dropped the check off with us. While waiting for her to arrive, my bank card was in my hand at the ready. I slapped my card onto the table before the guys and by the rules of Rangeman I would pay. Both the guys frowned at my sneakiness but relented when I told them they could pay next time.
We waddled out of the diner considerably heavier than when we went in. The last thirty minutes traveling to the campground was spent in silence as we were dead dog tired and happily stuffed full, much like my new seal stuffy. I was too tired to pay much attention to the place we had stopped for the night. Vince was tasked with setting up outside, Ram inside and I was tasked with making my and Vince's beds. I tucked my seal against my pillow while I set the small stuffed blue dog on Ram's bed and the little pink bunny on Vince's bed. I figured they would think it was funny.
I was in the middle of changing into my jammies when I could hear barks of laughter from the guys as they found their toys on their beds. Sliding into the cool sheets of my bed, I sighed tiredly and dropped off to sleep quickly. It had been a long tiring day and I was done.
~0~0~0~
The sounds of heavy equipment gunning their engines and the telltale sounds of back-up beepers next to where Bertie was parked was my wakeup call first thing in the morning. I climbed up the back of the couch and spread the blinds apart with two of my fingers, wincing at the brightness of the morning sun. All three of us had failed to notice the massive construction site next to the fence line where we had parked the previous night, giving us a not so wonderful wake-up call.
"Ugh. Why the hell did we choose this spot, of all spots?" Vince growled, tugging the pillow over his head. I glanced at the clock, it was 0604 and I was not happy either. I turned my head to see why Ram wasn't bitching about the noise when I could see him still sleeping peacefully. Frowning he turned his head in his sleep slightly and I could see the ends of foam earplugs sticking out of his ears.
"That asshole. He had earplugs?!"
I flipped the blankets off of me and stretched my arms over my head before heading for the back bedroom. I slowly slipped in between the blankets, molding myself against his warm, muscular body, before I placed my hand over his heart. He sighed in his sleep, while a devious smile formed on my face. My head laid atop his chest, nuzzling in for good measure.
I groaned because he smelled amazing. I could feel my nether regions tingling. What?! Yours would too! So sue me.
Vince, not wanting to let a chance at pranking Ram go by, slid into the bed on the opposite side. Moving his leg over Ram's, Vince's head rested on the other man's chest. I ran my hand down his chest, down past his abs, trailing my fingers across the dusting of fine hairs along his treasure trail. His muscles twitched under my touch, my fingernails lightly grazing the skin. A deep long sigh preceded him turning his head, so that his cheek rested atop Vince's head. I tried hard to not laugh but it wasn't happening. We both snickered when Ram dropped a slow kiss to Vince's head.
"Mm... Angel. Your hair's so soft." He shifted toward Vince, allowing me to remove myself from Ram's side. I hopped out of the bed running for my phone. As I began recording the interaction between the two, Vince gave me a look telling me that Ram's hands had begun to wander under the blankets. I giggled some more as Ram started to nibble on Vince's earlobe. I was shaking so hard the footage was going to be shit, so I propped the phone up against the wall on the side table and sat on the end of the bed, watching completely amused.
Vince quickly went from laughing and joking to wide eyed and nervous as Ram's explorations headed places that no man had gone before. Taking pity on poor Vince, I plucked an earplug out of Ram's ear and yelled, "Ramsey! What the hell are you doing?"
He jumped up, throwing the blankets off of himself, in the process they flew over my head. I clawed my way out of the bed as I heard the tell tale sounds of fists hitting bare skin, and men shouting. "What the fuck?!"
"Ow, Fucker!" Vince whined. With the blankets finally pulled off of my head, I managed to catch Ram slugging Vince in the shoulder.
"What the fuck? Man! I was having the best dream." His chest was heaving as he sucked in gulps of air trying to calm himself.
My giggle drew his attention, "You didn't tell us you had earplugs." I pointed to Vince who was now sitting on the floor alongside the bed, rubbing his likely bruised arm. "He snores like a freight train when he's exhausted."
"Yeah well, why do you think I got the earplugs?" Smartass.
"I don't wanna get up." Ram huffed out, flopping back onto the bed, an arm thrown over his eyes. "It's my fucking vacation and I want to sleep in today. I didn't plan on traveling today, but since we're already up, I guess we'll get up and moving." He stopped and turned his head toward the construction noise. "And what the fuck is that?"
"There's an entire construction site next to the fence line. How did we not catch that?" From now on, no matter how tired I'm going to be, I'm checking out the area before we commit to a site. I'm just glad this was just overnight for us this time.
I had to admit, it was nice cuddling up against Ram like I had. I felt comfortable with sharing a space with the man, and it was really no surprise that sharing a bed like that was just as comfortable. I wasn't sure if I was ready to let my guard down and let things happen between us, but that was a thought for another day. I ended the recording, saving it to watch later when I wanted to remember this trip.
Seated at the kitchen table, we ate our bowls of cold cereal, scrolling through our phones to catch up on the news of the world for the guys, and reading an romance novel e-book for me. A clearing of a throat brought us all to attention as Vince spoke. "So... where we headed today?"
"I thought we'd spend some time up towards Yellowstone if that's okay with you two?" Ram dropped his spoon and empty bowl into the sink as he looked up to see our reactions.
"Really?" The excitement showing on my face was all the answer he needed, if the wide goofy grin on Vince's face wasn't enough.
