Oh My, I Messed Up the Story

Abby hadn't expected the lynx kitten to stick around once it realized there wasn't any jerky left. But it refused to leave even when she went to sleep that night. It curled up next to her on her bedroll like any house cat would.

It was gone when she woke up as expected but it returned to her side with some sort of rodent in its mouth before they packed up the wagons and left for the day. It slept in her lap as they traveled and repeated this pattern for three days.

At that point she realized the lynx was here to stay so she gave it a name. Not knowing whether it was male or female, Abby decided to simply call it Simba. No one here would know it was named after a male cartoon lion if it ended up being a girl except Katie.

Blaise had already apologized for laughing at her when he finally calmed himself down for real but she was still a bit put out with him. What kind of whacked out sense of humor did he have?

She should have known. It was her fault for trying to get him to laugh in the first place; her expectations had been too high.

By the time they reached the base of the mountains and parted ways with the merchants, Abby was so over traveling. Camping out like that with a bunch of strangers had been the most memorable road trip she'd had since Spring Break her freshman year of college.

She, her roommates, and one of their boyfriends had packed themselves into a tiny four-door sedan and driven all the way from Atlanta to Las Vegas. It took three days to get there and another three days to get back so they only had one day to do anything.

What they ended up doing was going on one of those buffet tours and hitting up all of the major buffets on the Strip for $69.99 each at the boyfriend's suggestion. That had been a day Abby would never forget. She had never felt so sick in her entire life.

The day after when they started their drive back to Atlanta everyone spent most of the drive taking turns puking into plastic bags. That was a day she would never forget either.

Abby cheerfully waved everyone off and thanked them for everything before she and Blaise headed to a nearby stable to purchase a horse. She didn't know how to ride and they had already been warned that the winding mountain paths were too treacherous for a beginner.

Blaise would have to walk in front and lead the horse so Abby and the bedrolls could fit on its back. After strapping everything on and getting a leg up from her companion, she sat in the saddle with her long skirt spread out as best as she could manage.

What else was she supposed to do? She didn't know how to ride sidesaddle like in a period drama so she had asked for a regular one figuring it would be easier. All she had to do was sit and let Blaise take the lead.

His face pinked even though he tried to keep his eyes averted when helping her up. She was fairly certain part of her calf had been visible while trying to rearrange the skirt.

It wasn't any worse than wearing shorts back home but she supposed he had never seen anything so scandalous in his life. People here truly did live differently. Abby wasn't sure how Katie was able to stand it.

Simba lazily opened one eye at the commotion before resuming his nap on top of her bedroll. contemporary romance

===

"I think we're lost," Abby informed her companion after they had been walking in what appeared to be circles for the past forty-five minutes.

Blaise shook his head, frustration tinting his tone. "That is not possible. I have been following the map perfectly."

"Then why have we passed this same weird-looking tree stump four times?"

It was the oldest road trip argument in the book, long before the days of GPS. Her parents had told their kids horror stories about how ineffective maps could be if they were read wrong pretty much any time they went on a road trip growing up.

He sighed. "You read it then if you are so clever."

Abby didn't know anything about maps! All she knew was that they had definitely passed the same stump four times so they had to be going in the wrong direction.

"I don't know how. But we need to go a different way."

It was unfortunate that there wasn't even anyone to ask for directions. They were in the literal middle of nowhere right now. The only things nearby were trees, various shrubs, and birds flying overhead.

"What way could we possibly go that we have not tried yet?" Blaise growled, running a hand through his hair in agitation.

"One of the ways we went before but turn the opposite direction at the fork? Don't ask me! I'm not a GPS!"

"What is a—you know what, I don't care."

Abby did a double take. Did he use a contraction for the first time? He had been spending a lot of time with her and she used them constantly out of habit. It was said that people began talking like the ones they hung out with the most.

She was so surprised by this that she kept her mouth shut as he consulted the map again and tried to go a different way. He actually took her completely random suggestion seriously and they found themselves away from the stump at last.

Were they going in the right direction? Who knew. But at least they weren't going in circles anymore.

done.co