The Road Trip Agreement by Tiana Warner

Author:Tiana Warner [Warner, Tiana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Published: 2023-08-19T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Coral

Omg, they are sooo in love!

As Coral had suspected, they’d gotten a lot of engagement on the video where they’d been splashed by the giant wave. People were losing their minds over the way they’d grabbed each other and giggled.

Sitting at the dinette, cradling her overnight oats, she stuffed another spoonful into her mouth to hide her smile.

Ruby wouldn’t be able to deny her brilliant idea for much longer. Tonight, they would reach the furthest point south, which meant they were halfway through the road trip—and they still hadn’t broken the barrier to more followers and more income. Fulfilling their viewers’ wishes for a budding romance was their best hope.

“My phone tells me we’re nine minutes from the Avenue of the Giants entrance,” Ruby said, braiding her hair.

Coral hopped up to get ready. “Can’t wait!”

They’d spent the night stealth camping on a side street just north of Humboldt Redwoods State Park, setting them up for a full day of exploring the forest. It was the first night of the “winging it” half of the trip, which would be an exciting change.

Admittedly, having the first half planned out had been great. It’d been nice to pull into pre-booked campsites without any stress. They probably wouldn’t have been able to get last-minute sites at most of those beautiful state parks, so they would have missed out on those spots. There was something to be said for planning everything in advance—but Coral was excited to have a little less structure in the trip’s second half.

Ruby hopped into the driver’s seat for the first shift at the wheel.

When she turned the key, the van spluttered. Chug, chug. Reluctantly, it groaned to life.

“Um.” Ruby’s eyes widened.

Calvin tilted his head from his spot between the seats, as if he knew it wasn’t supposed to sound like that.

Coral leaned over him to look at the dash. There was no indication that anything was amiss. “That was weird.”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“I don’t think so. Maybe something was draining the battery overnight.” Coral got up to check for anything that was left plugged in but saw nothing suspicious. “I think we’re fine for now.”

“Do we need to take it into a shop?” Ruby asked, her voice rising in pitch.

“No, no,” Coral said calmly, trying to counteract Ruby’s unnecessary panic. “It’ll be fine. Let’s see how it does.”

She’d checked everything before leaving home, and the battery wasn’t old. Maybe it was something in the charging system? Whatever it was, it would be minor, and she could fix it later. Stopping at an auto parts store today would throw a wrench into their plans—a small wrench, but still a wrench. They had better things to do.

Ruby visibly tensed, her shoulders up by her ears. “What if it doesn’t start at all next time, and we’re in the middle of nowhere?”

“Nothing on this road trip qualifies as the middle of nowhere. Let’s just keep going.”

“This seems like a bit of a casual approach to a van barely starting.”

“Ruby, I promise this isn’t a disaster.

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