“He does work late nights in a bar,” I said, grabbing a tin mug and pouring myself some coffee.

“But he usually gets off at midnight,” Cathy said. “He always used to wake up by nine, no matter what. To go for a run and work out, like you just did. I worry about him.”

“What’s to worry about?”

She shook her head, looking down at the pan as she fried up the bacon. “He’s been taking it harder lately when guys… reject him,” she said. “Or when things don’t work out. There have been a few fuckboys recently.”

“Well, that was a word I never expected to hear coming out of your mouth,” I said.

Cathy chuckled. “Sam keeps me young,” she said. “Just take Cocoa in there if you want to wake him up. She’ll jump right up on him.”

“I don’t know if Fox would want a dog in his pristine new RV, my love,” Dad told Cathy.

“Oh,” she said, looking at me like she’d said the wrong thing.

I shook my head. “I would love to have Cocoa in the RV,” I said. “All good dogs are welcome in there. And maybe even some really good cats.”

Cathy smiled. “I’m glad to hear it.”

Cocoa was happy and preoccupied chasing after moths at the edge of the forest and periodically chewing on her big bone, though. I left her to her own devices and ventured back into the RV, rinsing off the sweat after my run.

I couldn’t stop thinking about what Cathy had said about Sam. I would have thought that Sam would be a fuckboy, not the one getting screwed over by them. It was awful picturing Sam being his usual self—so loving and attentive and hopeful for romance—and getting dropped by guys who didn’t appreciate him.

By the time I’d gotten out of the shower and dried off, Sam was nowhere to be found in the RV. I threw on some clothes and ventured out for breakfast to find him sitting on one of the tree stumps, nursing a cup of coffee in one hand and petting Cocoa with the other.

“There you are,” Sam said, nodding at me.

“Speak for yourself, snoozy head,” I said. “I’ve already been on a long run this morning.”

“Guess you needed to run after all of your dreams last night, huh?”

I froze in place, trying to hide how much I had just tensed up. The image of my dreams of Sam flashed back into my mind, sudden and vivid. What the hell? There was no way Sam could know what I had dreamed about.

“What?” I managed to say, looping around him to grab a plate.

“You said you talk in your sleep, but I’ve gotta say, it’s more like moaning.”

“I had nightmares,” I said.

“Do you have sleep paralysis?” Logan piped up. I silently thanked God that he was starting to speak up more, saving me in moments like these.

“No sleep paralysis, luckily,” I said.

“I used to get it when I was younger,” Logan said, his eyes going wide behind his glasses. “It’s the worst ever. You try to wake yourself up, but you just can’t move.”

“Did you have nightmares about the ghost in the woods?” my dad asked, a wicked grin on his face.

“I bet he did,” Sam added.

“Quit bugging Fox about his damn dreams,” Cathy chimed in. “I dream that I’m married to Oprah at least once a month, and that doesn’t mean anything.”

My dad cocked his head to the side, looking at her. “Honey, you dream about being married to Oprah? Am I not satisfying you?”

Jim and Laura stifled a laugh.

“Listen, I am very, very happy in my marriage,” Cathy said, shrugging. “But dreams are weird. They come from nowhere sometimes. If Fox is having nightmares about the woods, or getting mugged in New York, or a damn meteor dropping on all of us, it doesn’t mean a thing.”

“Oprah,” my dad repeated. “So that’s my competition.”

Cathy gave him a little slap on his butt. “I dream about you, too, hun,” she said. “Bacon’s done. Line up!”

Cathy was another guardian angel, changing the conversation right when I had no damn chance of knowing what to say. I was starting to realize that Cathy and Logan were going to be my favorite people on this trip.

Everybody rushed to line up for the bacon like they hadn’t eaten in days. I went to the back of the line, with Sam standing in front of me. He had only tossed on a pair of shorts before heading out of the RV, and I found my gaze lingering on the smooth skin of his back and shoulders, the tight little dips and curves of his muscles. Instantly, memories of the dream came to me again.

His body had been so close to me. So warm. Something about him had felt so safe and inviting in the dream, like he’d been welcoming me into his world. I was hypnotized by him, without him even having to try.

Tags: Raleigh Ruebins Red's Tavern Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net