Near the Cold Hollow Mountains, Vermont

Sam’s eyelids fluttered.

Passing from a deadened, sluggish state through to the first seconds of torpidity, she awoke, not knowing where she was.

Then she knew.

She had been in the pickup truck with Kevin. In the far reaches of the Vermont woods, because he took the stupid back road.

But why are we stopped?

Sam sat up, eyes blinking open until she was alert. The cab was empty.

Where’s Kevin? What’s going on?

She tossed her pillow aside, opened her door, stepped out and looked around the thick forest on her side of the road, thinking maybe he’d gone in there to relieve himself.

“Kevin!”

Her voice echoed. Then silence.

She searched the trees for a flash of color of his T-shirt or jeans, but saw nothing. She went to the driver’s side of the road.

“Kevin?”

She scanned the woods for any sign of him and saw nothing.

“Kevin? Where are you?”

Nothing but the distant cawing of a crow.

This ticks me off. What the hell’s going on?

Sam strode back to the truck, seized her phone and was well into composing a text to him when she groaned at the realization that she had no signal, no service. Lowering her phone, she spotted the folded paper wedged into the dashboard vent. Snatching it, she unfolded it to Kevin’s neat printing.

I’m stupid, and I was wrong. We ran out of gas, and I forgot to fill the can. Didn’t want to wake you. Walking to the station we passed. Do not leave the truck. Be back ASAP. Yes, I’m a megaidiot and deserve your wrath. I’m sorry. Kevin

“Oh, my freaking God!”

Sam tossed his note, looked off at nothing, grappling with her anger and disbelief.

How could he leave me alone like this?

They should’ve stayed on the interstate, but no. Kevin had to pull this crap for Leo. She was grateful for Leo’s truck, but at what cost, really? Look at what’s happened. And to make it worse, she had to pee.

Leo kept toilet paper in the truck. Somewhere.

Sam looked under the seat, then behind it, found the roll, and headed into the woods. Branches and scrubs slapped and tugged at her as she went deep enough to be unseen from the road. The air smelled of evergreen and was cool on her skin when she lowered her pants. A gentle breeze rustled the treetops, making them creak as she finished her business and returned.

Sam tossed her phone into the console between the seats, then thrust her hands through her hair. She wanted to scream at Kevin because this incident had forced her to revisit an unspoken concern about him, about her, about where they were really headed.

Would he be able to handle a long-distance relationship?

Will I be able to handle it?