Undercover Badge; Next Generation

Chapter twenty six

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

We were driving with the windows down.

It wasn't something we discussed, letting the cold air into the car when we were already eating ice-cream in winter. But somehow the crispness of the air felt like something we both needed, and as I breathed in the air, I appreciated the fact.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Somewhere to talk." He said back, a small smile quirking the corner of his lips before it vanished.

I didn't answer, turning my head to the fresh wind blowing in, almost able to taste the forest on it. Matthew pulled up off of the road after we passed his house, between two arching fir trees that I'd never seen which hid a trail. We bumped along for a few minutes, me slowly eating my ice cream, and him having ingeniously having wedged his tub in the console so he could spoon the two flavours every few moments. The cold wind in the cab seemed to preserve the integrity of the frozen treat, because when he finally switched the engine off, most of mine was still frozen and the half of his that remained was still in perfect condition.

We were in The Meadow By The River. I blushed when I figured it out and got out of the car, clutching my ice-cream. This time he didn't open it for me, instead running around to the back of the truck where I heard him open the back. The moon lit the meadow- not much but enough for me to sort of be able to see it.

I felt like I was in a fairy-tale. Everything looked shrouded in navy blue and silver light in the darkness. It should have been creepy, scary or at least a little terrifying. It was none of those things. It was actually just beautiful.

Clattering woke me up from my reverie. I turned and tightened my jacket, folding my arms carefully avoiding getting ice-cream on my leather as I walked to him.

He'd pulled back the tarp and inside I saw a thick wool blanket, two continental pillows and wood. Six two-foot long logs were split in half.

"What's this?" I asked, my voice a squeak. He sent me a grin I could only detect by the flash of his teeth.

"We're going to talk." He deadpanned, and began carefully picking up logs, carrying them only six feet from the back of the truck to a small pit dug into the earth. The meadow had four of them that were used for group camping trips. The pit was a bit crumbled and cracked, the last rain having washed away the ash that had been in it from the last time it was used.

I walked over and pulled off my gloves, bag and jacket, laying them in the back on the folded blanket with my ice-cream before pushing up my sleeves and grabbing three of the pieces of wood, carrying them to the pit. As soon as my jacket came off, the cold sliced through my white shirt, but I pretended to ignore it and carried some more. We worked in silence, Matthew stacking the wood like he wanted- in a strange pyre type construction that left one side almost open while the back was supported with more wood, the open end facing the truck. He got a wad of newspaper from the back of the truck and lit it, nurturing the spark till it caught and putting the wadded up pages under the wood. The dry, splintered logs looked like they were reaching for the flame as the bottom began to catch, smoke and glow. As he did, I redressed myself, wincing when I realised the inside of the jacket had lost my body heat, rubbing my hands up and down my sleeves for some friction before putting the gloves back in and running my hands through the platinum strands of my hair again.

He came up next to me then, handing me back my ice-cream, grabbing the blanket, opening it and flicking it out over the back of the truck. The thing wasn't big enough to reach the depths of the truck, but it was enough to even cover the upper ends of the ridged on the left and right of the curve, making what looked to me like a little couch, the one end of the blanket falling off the end of the truck closest to the fire but not enough to touch the dry floor.