“I swear to God, Jude,” Fitzgibbon began, sounding annoyed, until the song changed and the opening guitar chords sounded to Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild.”
Ronan started playing air guitar and singing along with his usual off-key warble. Seconds later, Fitzgibbon joined in, drumming on the steering wheel. With a smile of his own, Jude joined in. This was one of his all-time favorite songs. It seemed to be popular with his friends as well.
Agreeing on road trip music was a small victory, but it was a start. Maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to get their relationship on the road to recovery, Jude thought, as the next song started to play, “Highway to Hell,” by AC/DC. He hoped to hell that song wouldn’t be a harbinger of things to come.
3
Fitzgibbon
Highway to Hell
The group sing-along lasted for over an hour, until Jude’s playlist ran out of songs. Fitz found himself wishing Jude had more Willie Nelson cued up so they wouldn’t have to speak to each other. He had a ton of things to talk about with his friends, but at the moment, he didn’t want to let them in on any of his problems. Fitz knew keeping things inside was what led to this situation in the first place, but couldn’t find the strength in himself to confront it. Not yet, anyway.
Jace had done his best to get Fitz to understand that he had as much blame in this situation as Ronan and Jude, but he hadn’t been in much of a mood to listen. Truth be told, one of the problems Fitz was keeping to himself had to do with Jace. He’d gone over the conversation he wanted to have with his husband in his head a hundred times, but when push came to shove, and it was time to open up, Fitz couldn’t get the words to come out of his mouth.
Thankfully, they were almost to the campground, which meant Ronan would be calling out directions, telling Fitz which way to turn. It also meant that no one could address the elephant in the car. Fitz knew it would all come spilling out at some point, but he hoped that the conversation wouldn’t come until they’d reached their destination and, at the very least, got their tents set up.
“Take this left.” Ronan pointed to the next set of lights. “According to the GPS, this is our last peek at civilization for a while.”
“What the hell doesthatmean?” Jude asked, sounding alarmed.
“This campground is almost off the grid. That’s why Ten picked it.” Ronan didn’t sound any too pleased at the idea.
“So that we’d have to talk to each other instead of being on our phones all the time.” Fitz shook his head. Under ordinary circumstances two days away with his best friends wouldn’t require WIFI, but now, all he could do was make sure their rift didn’t widen any further courtesy of his big mouth. “What’s the name of this place?”
“Bear Necessities,” Ronan said on a snort. “You know, like the song fromJungle Book.”
“Wolf loves that movie. He and Lizbet get up and dance during that scene, then they make Cope play it again so they can keep dancing. Sometimes Cope and I dance along with them,” Jude said, sounding wistful.
Fitzgibbon found himself smiling at Jude’s story. Aurora loved to sing and dance along to all of the Disney movies. When she was little, she’d insist Fitz sing along, which he wasn’t fond of doing. She’d shoot him a grumpy look until Fitz did as she demanded, Aurora would hug him and sing at the top of her voice. It was safe to say his little June bugwasn’tgoing to be the next American Idol.
The road got more desolate the further they drove. Gone were houses, farms, and other signs of life. Large growth trees bent over the road, their leaves and branches nearly changing day into night. “Shit, Ronan, are we almost there?” Fitz felt a shiver go through his entire body.
“Uh, three hundred more feet.” Ronan looked up from his phone and back down again.
“Guys, this feels like the kind of place where Jason Voorhees would live and find inventive ways to kill wayward teenagers. Maybe we should turn the car around and book rooms at that cute little bed and breakfast we saw back in North Conway.”
“We’re two miles off the main road, Jude. We’ll be fine,” Fitzgibbon said. Secretly, he agreed with Jude. In his early fifties, Fitz wasn’t built for sleeping on the cold, soggy ground. He’d do it in a heartbeat for Aurora if she asked, but his daughter hated dirt, mud, bugs, and serial killers. There’s no way she’d ask to come to a place like this.
“See, here we are,” Ronan said, when the wooden sign came into view.
“BareNecessities,” Fitzgibbon read. “So, not like the movie. More like living with no comforts of home. I’m also guessing there are no amenities, like hot water and soap.”
“Ten packed a bar of soap for me, maybe this is why?” Ronan asked.
“Maybe,” Jude agreed, not sounding pleased with their situation.
“Here’s the office.” Ronan indicated a building up ahead. “I’ll run over there and get us checked in.” He hopped out of the SUV, leaving Fitz alone with Jude.
It was on the tip of Fitz’s tongue to ask Jude if he’d see the Sox game the night before, but instead stayed silent. He wasn’t sure if the two of them could talk about something as simple as baseball without getting into a disagreement.
“Okay, we’re all set,” Ronan said, as he got back into the SUV. “Our campsite number is 1245. The guy who checked me in gave me a map. I think I can read it and get us there.”
“Who the hell can’t read a map?” Jude asked.
“Uh, maybe those of us who grew up in the city and couldn’t afford to go anywhere. Check your privilege,” Ronan shot back.
“Myprivilege?” Jude half-shouted. “I grew up on a Native American reservation and had a white mother. Oh, yeah, I’ve got privilege pouring out of me in buckets.”
