A Beginner's Guide to the American West ✓

chapter twenty-four

t w e n t y - f o u r

*

Five hours later, after stopping at a petrol station on the way to grab something to eat, we're at our campsite. It's a rustic-looking place, a few wooden outbuildings making up the reception, a laundry room, and the bathrooms. Sam checks us in and drives us a short way down the track to a quiet, grassy patch surrounded by trees.

It's cooler here, and a lot greener. Gone are brown mountains and white salt, replaced by bushy trees and a bright blue sky that peeps between the leaves. The shade is delicious, keeping me cool as Arjun and I put up our tent between a couple of trees – we ace it this time, at last, and Young-mi is surprised at our success when she comes over to help – but I still need that cold shower. And maybe an electric shock, something to restart my head and my heart.

I've got it extra bad today. After last night's drinking and tonight's hangover and the way he's been, how tactile he's been, I can't think straight – I've never been able to think straight, but especially not right now. I need to sort myself out. I also need to do some laundry, but that can wait until I'm a little fresher, a little less ripe.

It's just gone four and the sun is hot and high, but the grass and the dappled shade provide some relief from the heat, and everyone is sprawled out across the grass between our tents. Young-mi has a towel over her shoulder and a washbag in her hand; Carrie and Ade are sitting together beneath a tree watching something on her phone; Brannan and the twins are all lying on their backs enjoying the gentle warmth. Arjun emerges from our tent with his book in his hand, his thumb marking that he's about two thirds of the way through The Song of Achilles. He adjusts his glasses – his contacts haven't reappeared since Seligman and it's doing something funny to my heart – and rakes his hand through his hair.

"You up for a reading sesh?" he asks, waving his book at me. I want to delve into those pages again, to nestle my heart between Achilles and Patroclus and let them break it all over again, but I'm just over halfway through my current read, and I never read more than one book at a time.

"Maybe after my shower," I say. "I feel very gross and in desperate need of a wash."

I delve into the tent to find my towel and toiletries and on the way out, I trip over the zip and smash into the hard ground with a groan. It's not that painful, nothing I'm not used to, but my knees are scraped and scuffed with dry, dusty mud when I stand.

"I'm good," I say before Arjun can ask if I'm ok, because I can tell by his alarm that he's about to ask. He nods when he looks me up and down and decides to believe me.

"Ok. You go shower," he says, his eyes flickering to my muddy knees and back to my face. "I'll see you in a bit."

I can't get to the shower quick enough. Everything he does and says lights a fire inside and I need to damp it down – or at least deal with the flames before I have to see him again – but I'm pulled to a stop by my phone ringing in my pocket. Flo's face and name fill my screen and I make a detour to a quiet spot behind the showers to answer.

"Hey, Flo," I say, before I realise the time it must be back home. "Isn't it a bit late for you?"

"It's seventeen minutes past midnight," she says. "Eighteen, now."

"That's late, Flo. How come you're not in bed? Are you ok? Is everything ok?"

"Yes, everyone's ok," she says. I can hear the tiredness in her small voice, making her sound even younger than her twelve years. "And I am in bed. I just miss you, March. You've been gone too long."