“I’ll let you in on a secret,” she said. “You can be as judgmental as you want. You don’t have to be fair. You are allowed to have hideous double standards when it comes to your kids.”
He laughed. “Thanks. It does often feel hypocritical that I don’t want her going out and doing the things that I do.”
“It isn’t hypocritical,” she said. She frowned. “The thing is, when you’re her age, you don’t have a concept of things. You don’t know what you’re getting. Take that from somebody who grew up too quickly. You think you know so much. But you just don’t. I thought I did. Now…now what the hell do I know? Logan, honestly, I don’t know anything.”
“That makes it tough. Trying to launch these kids out. We know everything we don’t know. We also know that we know years’ worth more than they do.”
“I wonder if that’s the only way to survive your teen years and your twenties. Thinking you know everything. It’s what makes it fun. Livable. Not terrifying.”
“Agreed. A feature, not a bug.”
“Definitely. Though it’s hard to watch.”
He leaned back in his chair. “We’re going to stay at Skamania Lodge tonight,” he said. “It’s nice. You’ll like it. Then we’ll get back to your regularly scheduled roadside horrors. Once we get a little further along. But I thought there’s nothing wrong with enjoying some of the natural beauty in style.”
She was happy enough with the subject change from heavy things, and liked the idea of nice accommodations.
“I figured it’d be good,” he continued. “Since a little birdie told me that you like fancy.”
“Why are you suddenly concerned with my enjoyment of things that are fancy?”
“Your first-class booking.”
“Honestly, I thought you would be flying first-class too.”
“And yet you weren’t concerned about it enough to make sure that you were sitting next to me.”
“No. I wasn’t. But I’d rather sit fancy than sit with you.”
He raised his eyebrows, then shook his head, letting out a slow breath as he ate the last of his french fries. “Well. Yeah, apparently.”
She had been teasing. She hadn’t meant it to have any kind of seriousness. But he had clearly taken it a little bit deeper than she meant.
“Well, then, since you’re such a fancy lady,” he said, making a clear effort to lighten his tone, “you probably aren’t going to go on the zip line.”
This irritated her. Sure, she’d never considered zip-lining in her life, but that didn’t mean she was opposed, or never would. He didn’t know her. “A zip line?”
“There’s a big zip line course at the lodge.”
“That sounds terrifying. Tell me more.”
“Well. Considering you are after adventure, I thought you might appreciate the opportunity to try something new.”
“But a zip line involves heights.” That scared her.
“And speed. You do seem like kind of woman who likes speed. Wearein a Ferrari. After all.”
“All right. Well. Maybe. Maybe I’ll try it.”
“We can ease you into it. We can start with the bridge up there.”
She wrinkled her nose. “The bridge gives me anxiety.”
“It’s got a beautiful view.” She felt like this was some weird turning point. A gauntlet. “Come on.”
So she did.
They finished their lunch and paid, then went back outside to the main part of the park, the trail that led up to the bridge. Two tiny children, probably four and six, scampered toward them, heading to their parents.
