The Crossing (Book 1)

Chapter 2

     When they walked into their hotel room Tom watched Cera immediately start unpacking everything she would need to use the day of their hike. Planning a day for her had taken him out of his comfort zone, but he knew that if he didn't at least try something she loved then she would become even more unhappy and distant. Tom was staring at her like she was a completely different person because she had never unpacked her suitcase on any of their other trips. He pulled out a chair from the table and sat back to watch Cera and wait for her to finish. Smiling, Tom shook his head believing he had finally begun to rub off on her. He refused to believe that what he planned for her had any effect on the way she was acting and couldn't help but wonder if he just never noticed that she followed his example. Tom's smile faded as he looked at his watch. He had meant what he told his mother. They would never do this again if he didn't like it and right now, they were going to run late because Cera was only thinking about herself.

     Cera had all the contents of her backpack laid out neatly on the desk so that she could check everything while Tom worked later that night. Once Cera laid out her clothes on the chair and shoes just underneath the desk she stood back and looked at everything once more with her hands on her hips.

     "I think we made really good time. I'm glad there were no hold-ups at the airport or renting the car."

     "Jeep." Cera didn't look away from what she was doing.

     "Jeep, whatever, we made really good time." Tom began thrumming his fingers on the table.

     Cera frowned trying to ignore the sound, "Mm-hmm."

     Tom looked at Cera and finally understood why she got upset when he answered her the same way. He felt as though he was being ignored and didn't really care for that feeling at all. Tom looked at his watch again and worried about how long she was going to be like this, "I think you might be missing something."

     Cera slowly turned while she kept her eyes on the desk. Finally looking away she looked at Tom and frowned, "I think so too but..." she stopped talking when she saw he was checking his watch and rubbing his forehead; a clear sign of Tom's that they needed to leave within thirty minutes, "but I can think about it later this evening. We will be on time for lunch if we leave within fifteen minutes."

     Tom looked up and gave her one of his business smiles, "I'm ready."

     Cera gave him an apologetic look, "I'll just be five minutes." She darted into the bathroom and shut the door.

     The first day of their trip was turning out to be the most boring day Cera had ever experienced, but Tom was none the wiser because the very next day they were going hiking and Cera couldn't keep her excitement bottled up, even through her boredom. Cera felt like she was a jittering bottle of anticipation and that just made the day seem like it was going so excruciatingly slow. The hours seemed to stretch so much that the hiking trip seemed like it was months away. As was expected during all their trips, they spent a few hours of their time in a museum looking at art and special exhibits. Tom had tried to switch up his trip routine a bit by taking Cera to the museum first. Feeling pressured by how late it was getting, he was now put in the position of making a quick decision for a late lunch and so he decided to try a fast-food Mexican restaurant, but quickly regretted that and swore to anyone within earshot that he would never do it again.

     Cera tried to put a smile on her face as she grabbed her tray of food, "Tom, people are starting to stare."

     "Not only do we have to carry our own food to a filthy table," appalled, Tom hissed under his breath once they had sat down and immediately dropped some of his burrito into his lap, "but now we have to use substandard napkins?"