Backwoods

Rolling papers.

Leo saw them at the same time. Guilt flashed across his features, replaced quickly by belligerence.

“Are those yours?” Nathan asked.

“Yeah. So?”

“Tell me you didn’t bring pot with you.”

“I didn’t bring pot with me,” he said in a flat voice.

He was lying. Nathan could read the truth all over his handsome, grown-up face.

“Take off your pack,” Nathan said through clenched teeth, resisting the urge to shove Leo to the ground and rip it from his shoulders. When Leo didn’t comply, Nathan whirled him around and unzipped the front pouch.

“Don’t bother,” Leo said, shrugging away from him. “They stole it.”

“Goddamn it, Leo!”

Leo stepped back another few feet. He still had a rock clenched in his fist. He looked stubborn and rebellious and...scared.

He should be scared. Nathan couldn’t remember being this angry with him before. Tenderness and concern were difficult emotions for him to express, but rage rose right up to the surface, spilling over. “What the fuck were you thinking? Were you going to light up after we went to sleep? Share a joint with Brooke?”

“Brooke doesn’t smoke weed.”

“I did once,” she corrected.

“Who gave it to you?” Nathan asked.

Her nonresponse spoke volumes.

“I only brought it because I couldn’t leave it at home or in the cabin,” Leo said. “I wasn’t going to ‘peer pressure’ Brooke.” He made quotation marks in the air, as if he was talking about something that didn’t exist.

“Ray could have you arrested if he found your stash,” Nathan said.

Leo shrugged, playing hard-ass.

“I can’t believe you’d be so stupid.”

His eyes narrowed. “Okay, boozehound.”

Nathan felt the insult like a punch in the gut. “You know I don’t drink anymore.”

“I know you’re a hypocrite.”

They stared each other down for a moment. Leo had put on at least twenty pounds of muscle in the past few years. He wasn’t a kid anymore. Fine grains of stubble darkened his jaw. He’d started shaving. Nathan had missed his transition from boy to man.

He’d missed a lot of things.

Nathan glanced at Abby, who was watching from the sidelines. She looked sad and sorry and full of sympathy—for Leo. Maybe she thought Nathan was wrong for calling him out like this, but he didn’t know what else to do. He couldn’t ignore the problem and hope it went away. Leo needed help.

“Let’s talk about this later,” Abby said.

Nathan scrubbed a hand over his mouth, nodding. He remembered his first drink, given to him by his father on a hunting weekend the summer he’d turned twelve. He’d raided the camp for more beer and gotten tipsy as hell. His uncles had laughed as if Nathan was the funniest thing they’d ever seen.

He’d always considered that a good memory. Now it was sour, like the taste in his mouth when he was jonesing.

Nathan trudged forward until they reached the campsite. Although it was less than a mile from the lake, the uphill climb tired him out. They’d had a long day of emotional stress and physical activity. The campsite was located in a hilly area with a good view of the trail. It had a clearing for tents and primitive fire pits. There was a ramshackle outhouse about a hundred yards from the clearing.

Abby grimaced at the sight.

“This is great,” Leo said with sarcasm, taking off his backpack. “And to think I wanted to go to the Bahamas.”

“Were you expecting a hotel?” Brooke asked.

“No, I was expecting a bug-infested shit hole.”

“This is a nice camp,” she said. “There probably won’t be many gnats or mosquitoes this far from the lake.”

They set their backpacks down by a log in front of the fire pit. Abby stretched her arms over her head while Brooke removed a water filtration system from her pack. They’d passed a rushing creek on the way here.

“I have to get water,” Brooke said.

“Why don’t you go with her?” Nathan said to Leo.

“Why don’t you?”

“Come on, Leo,” Brooke said. “Let’s try to make the best of it. I’d be happy if my dad was here.”

“Yeah. Too bad he can’t be bothered to spend time with you.”

This cracked Brooke’s sunny persona. Her brows slanted downward. “If it wasn’t for your mom and her stupid ankle, he wouldn’t have canceled.”

“Leave her out of it.”

“I don’t think she wanted to come on the trip.”

“For good reason.”

“What?”

“They’re getting a divorce,” Leo said.

Nathan hadn’t heard this news. He glanced at Abby, who appeared as shocked as he was. She sat down on a log in front of the fire pit and cupped a hand over her forehead. Nathan hated the way Lydia had left him, but he didn’t wish another divorce on her. Abby didn’t seem happy about it, either.

“Why?” Brooke asked.

“Ray’s cheating on her with one of his nurses.”

“Wow,” she said, after a long pause. “Karma is a bitch.”

“Brooke,” Abby warned.

“What are you talking about?” Leo asked.

“Your mom cheated with him, too.”

He shook his head in disbelief.

“My mom walked in on them in his office,” Brooke said. “He had her bent over the couch with her skirt up.”

Abby’s eyes widened with horror. “How did you know that?”

“I heard you crying to Aunt Ella over the phone. I listened through the door.”

“Oh my God,” Abby groaned.

“My dad moved out the next day,” Brooke said.

Leo looked to Nathan for a confirmation he couldn’t give. He’d never mentioned Lydia’s infidelity to Leo, and he hadn’t been aware of the specific details of the affair. Lydia had told Nathan that she wanted a divorce because she was seeing someone else. When Nathan asked if she was sleeping with him, she’d said yes. It was probably the worst moment of his life, next to the YouTube debacle and his career implosion.

Brooke’s bombshell brought back a rush of bad feelings. The image of Lydia in Ray’s office stung, even after all these years.

“You’re a fucking liar,” Leo said.

“No, Leo. I’m not. And neither is my mom, so you better watch your mouth.”

Abby rose to her feet and grabbed Brooke by the arm. “Apologize to Leo. You had no right to hurt him like that.”

Brooke pulled her arm from Abby’s grasp. She stared at Leo, seeming conflicted.

“She doesn’t have to apologize,” Nathan said. “Leo started it.”

Leo turned to Nathan, his dark eyes gleaming. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Nathan wasn’t sure what to say. Lydia hadn’t wanted Leo to know she’d been unfaithful. She’d said he was too young to understand the complexity. After mulling it over, Nathan had agreed with her. They’d settled on a “mutual story,” which was that they just weren’t happy together. It was true, well before Ray came into the picture. Nathan had cursed Lydia to hell and tossed out scathing insults on multiple occasions—in Leo’s earshot—but he’d managed to stay quiet about the cheating.

Since Nathan had moved out, his relationship with Leo had been difficult. They hadn’t talked about Lydia or the divorce. Nathan had been bitter and angry, but not interested in dragging her name through the mud. Lydia, in turn, hadn’t taken him to the cleaners. Leo had probably assumed that she’d gotten fed up with Nathan’s drinking. And that was the bottom line. It was the reason she’d strayed.

“I’m sorry,” he said, shifting his gaze from Brooke to Leo. He was sorry they had to go through this again. “You were only thirteen.”

“I was old enough to hear the truth,” Leo said.

“It was a mutual decision, Leo. We split up because I was drunk all the time. I don’t care what happened between your mother and Ray. I care about what you do. I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I did.”

Leo looked away, his mouth set in an angry line. Instead of talking things out, he picked up the water bag and strode away from camp with Brooke.

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