Free Drive Me Crazy by Erin Downing Page A

again.” She yawned and gestured toward the elevator.
    As they were on their way out the door, one of the women said, “Do any of you kids play pinochle? Joyce went to bed, and Fern is missing her partner.” A woman—presumably Fern—waved at them.
    “Yeah, sure, I play. Are you willing to play with a guy, or is this ladies-only?” Adam asked, and stepped into the room.
    Fern stood up and shimmied a little, then said to the other women in the room, “Ooh-hoo, girls. Look at my luck! Of course I’ll play with a fellow. I’ve been on a bus tour with forty women for the last week and could use a little distraction!” She laughed, and Adam turned to look at Kate, who was struggling to keep from cracking up.
    Adam wrapped his hand around Kate’s forearm, then announced, “I’ll only play if Kate agrees to stay and help me. What do you say, Kate?” Kate looked at Adam like he was crazy, then back at the roomful of women. They were all looking up at her hopefully, so she nodded.
    Alexis and Sierra both giggled behind her before saying good luck and good night. Alexis whispered, “Sorry to ditch you, but…Well, I’m not sorry!” Then they hustled off down the hall toward the elevator. Kate knew Alexis and Sierra would settle into one of the beds while she and Adam were downstairs, meaning she would have to fight Adam for the roll-away.
    As they made their way over to Fern’s table, Kate whispered, “Why are you doing this to me?”
    “It will be fun,” Adam whispered back. “It’s quality together time for you, me, and the Q-tip tour.”
    “Q-tip tour?”
    “Sure,” Adam said, and grinned. “When they’re all sitting in the bus with their white hair peeking up over the windowsills, it looks like a bunch of Q-tips lined up in a row. So it’s a Q-tip tour.”
    “Superfunny,” Kate deadpanned. They sat at Fern’s table and Adam picked up the hand of cards that had been dealt to him. For the next hour Kate watched as Adam charmed and flirted with the ladies on the Q-tip tour. She had to admit that she was impressed at how friendly and charming he could be.
    But more than anything, Kate was surprised at how much fun she was having. Not only were the women hilarious, but she was having a great time with Adam. It was as though they were back in the fifth grade again, having a great time hanging out—and getting along.
    At one point, after proudly laying down the ace of hearts, Fern looked up at Kate and Adam. Adam was whispering something to Kate, and Fern said, “You two sure do make a charming couple.” She pointed at Kate. “You’re a lucky girl.”
    “Oh, no—,” Kate said, starting to explain that they were very much not a couple.
    Adam cut her off to say, “Thanks, Fern.”
    Before Kate could protest, the buzz of a text message in her pocket distracted her. She pulled out her cell and glanced at the screen.
    The text was, of course, from Lucas, who had simply written: “Good night, sleep tight!” Kate took that as her cue to excuse herself from the game to head off to bed. The road trip had been fun, but she couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come.

Seven
     

Wisconsin
     
    “Ah, nothing says home like the smell of rotting fish carcasses.” Adam rolled his window down as they passed the turtle pond that was just down the road from Cattail Cottages Resort. No one knew why it was known as the turtle pond, because in all the years they’d been coming to Love, the turtle pond had been nothing more than a boglike hole filled with mud that smelled like dead fish. Adam sniffed deeply, then coughed out, “You gotta love Love.”
    They had just run into Sierra’s mom, who was out for a walk, and had dropped Sierra off to walk the few miles back to the resort with her. A few minutes later Alexis steered the car into the dirt parking lot at the end of the gravel road. They had been driving since very early that morning. They’d been eager to get there—Kate especially—so they’d just driven