The Autumn Prince

40. Never the Right Time

Amy grinned up at me. "She's not that bad. Once you get used to her, she's a good person to have on your side."

"Alright," I sighed, "thank you, I appreciate it. Just please give me plenty of warning if she decides to show up here." She gave me a playful salute, and as I turned to go, a small, red light began flashing on one of her consoles. "What's that?"

"Perimeter alarm," She said, unconcerned. "A squirrel probably tripped the wards."

"Shouldn't someone check?"

"Nah," she shrugged and gestured at the board. "Watch." After a few seconds the light stopped blinking, then it went out. "See? It's gone. Nothing's getting past the ignis without a ring."

I decided to let it go and left Amy with a thank you and a wave, but it explained why I'd never seen any critters on the island, even though they were plentiful among the trees on the far shore.

Thirty minutes later, Amy texted me with a rough plan that sounded better than anything the rest of us had come up with, especially since it took most of the responsibility off my shoulders. I agreed to it quickly and set off to inform my co-conspirators.

"I'm bored," Becca complained too loudly and I gave her a warning look that she completely ignored. "Can we go out to eat today?"

"You're not worried we'll be seen?" Rachel asked. She was sitting in the living room again, feet on the coffee table, watching a women's volleyball tournament.

"I was worried about the apartment, but that turned out okay. I just don't feel like fixing anything."

"I thought you liked cooking."

"Um," Becca hesitated awkwardly, "well, not always."

"As long as I can have a salad I'm in," Katherine said, turning a page in her book. Her forced disinterest seemed as theatrical as Becca's complaining but I kept it to myself and stuck to the plan.

"Why not make a day of it?" I suggested. "We can grab some burgers and have a picnic out by the lake. It's probably our last chance to get out before spring."

"I like the way you think." Rachel shut down the television and vaulted over the back of the sofa. "Just let me change."

Katherine smiled passively and stood up, setting her book aside. "It's a little early for lunch, isn't it?"

I shrugged and powered down my laptop. "Someone can make a food run when we get hungry. May as well make the most of this weather."

We tossed a couple of blankets and a Frisbee into the back of Rachel's Jeep, drove across town and stopped in the public lot outside Hollyboro State Park. Beyond an elaborate playground stretched Serenity Green, several acres of well tended grass with picnic tables spaced far enough apart to give families privacy and room for horseplay. We chose one close to the woods, near the start of a four-mile hiking trail that wandered between the trees and along the shore of Serenity Lake, a body of water fed by a branch of our own river.

Rachel inhaled the fresh air while Becca spread out the tablecloth and Katherine laid a blanket on the ground nearby. "I needed this," she exclaimed.

"It's not like we didn't spend a night in the woods last week," she said, adjusting her sunglasses and letting the late morning sun warm her as she reclined on the ground.

"All I remember is being stuck in a tent for fifteen hours with nothing to do. Who's going running with me?"

"Relax for a minute, Rach," I told her. "We can stay all day, there's plenty of time."

"I am relaxed." She stretched her arms overhead, then to either side. "This is me relaxing. You coming Becks?"

"I—I thought I'd just enjoy the nice weather."