Page 64 of Valley Girls
Thea didn’t thank him. Just headed on to the next RV, looking calm and unbothered.
“How do you do that?” Rilla asked, expecting Thea to ask what she was even talking about.
But Thea’s eyes flickered to the horizon, high into the rain-pregnant sky and she said very seriously. “It’s not fun to have your vacation interrupted. But people forget, these are still wild places. We are all visitors here. They think we’re here to serve them, when it’s really that we are here to serve the park. You can’t be afraid of getting hurt. It keeps you from doing the most important things.”
Rilla looked back.
The man, true to his word, was already in his RV with it running. Still with the same glower.
“Does Mom know about you and Lauren?”
Thea looked down, lips tight.
“Really?” Rilla was surprised. “Why not? I mean, we had two dads.” Everyone who learned that fact seemed to find it exotic—which wasn’t ever a good thing, but Rilla figured at least Thea should be used to it. “Mom would totally get it.”
“I don’t really want to talk about it.”
“But why? I don’t get you. You obviously talk to Mom, but you don’ttellher anything? Not this. Not what your job is.” And yet, Thea told everyone in the Valley her business.
“Mom doesn’t want to hear anything,” Thea snapped. “She just wants to hear everything is good. Trust me, I’ve tried telling Mom shit. If you and Mom have something different, that’s fantastic. I’m happy to hear that.”
Rilla clenched her jaw. “I tell her stuff.”
“Great.”
“You can’t just write her off like that. You should try,” Rilla said. Somehow it mattered, deeply mattered, that Thea didn’t tell Mom stuff about her life. “You have to try,” she repeated.
“Oh my god, Rilla!” Thea stopped and lifted her arm. “Go wait in the truck.”
“No,” Rilla shot back, swallowing just in time to keep theyou can’t make mefrom bursting out.
Thea glared under the dripping brim of her hat. “You are the worst.”
“Yeah, that’s right.” Rilla crossed her arms, but to clutch her ribs to keep from cracking apart in the fear that she’d finally pushed Thea too far.
Thea stalked off to the next RV hunkered against the rain and an old lady in a clear poncho and plastic cap over her white hair stepped out.
The tears she’d thought she’d run dry the night before pricked in her eyes. God, if she could just stop fucking everything up. Turning her back, she rubbed her eyes and stared glumly up into the dripping pine boughs, listening to Thea repeat the same things over and over.
At the back edge of the massive campground, they crossed paths with Lauren.
“Got ’em?” Thea asked, pulling her radio from her hip and surveying the few trailers still pulling out.
“I think we’re good back here,” Lauren said. “Ready to hit up Half Dome Village again? Did they make a decision on employees?”
“I’m waiting to hear,” Thea said.
“Can I go back to the truck?” Rilla asked. “My feet are wet.”
“No,” Thea snapped.
Lauren snorted. Her gaze flicked to Rilla. “She’s got you out of the attic today, huh?”
Water dripped off Rilla’s hood and plunked on her nose. “Yep.”Did Lauren know her girlfriend was a complete snot?
“I’ll take you back to the truck. You can do your work now,” Thea said, walking off.
“Oh. Ugh ...” Rilla followed the back of Thea’s ponytail, stringy from the rain dripping off the brim of her hat.
