Chapter 1

Life isn't fair.

And nobody was going to convince me that it was.

I mean, I know I'm a pretty lucky guy. I'm kinda good-looking, at least according to the girls, and they're the ones who count. I'm athletic. I'm healthy. And I have parents who give me a long enough leash to make my own mistakes and usually back me up when I do.

I've got a sister who's gotten a lot less bratty in the last couple of years. Either Traci's matured or I've gotten more tolerant. Maybe both. Of course, the fact that she pretty much stopped hanging with Ann Grey, the world's biggest brat, helped.

And more importantly, I've already got the love of my life. I didn't have to look for years like some guys. Tami was a big part of who I was. Yeah, I was a pretty lucky guy, I reflected as I watched another mile marker sweep past.

But I wasn't really feeling lucky at the moment, 'cause life isn't fair.

I watched three more mileposts flash by, then looked around the van. Some people would consider me lucky. Driving a van of beautiful girls and one sister. But damn it! They were all asleep, and I had to be awake. It just wasn't fair.

I pulled into the left lane to pass a station wagon only doing fifty-five, then went back to brooding. Hell, I didn't even know where I was going. Tami just said "Go west, young man, go west," then grinned and wouldn't explain.

Well, if we kept going west on I-90 we'd hit Seattle. I figured Tami had something planned for the big city. I figured it was an over-nighter since Mom, who seemed to be in on it, had packed me a suitcase. I had a feeling that even Traci knew more than me. I'd have to get her for that.

I saw the station wagon in my rear-view mirror and slid back into the right lane. At least traffic was light, but a little after nine on a Sunday morning, that was to be expected. I pushed the tape in the cassette player in, not knowing what it was, and a second later Paul McCartney and the Beatles were singing Hey, Jude. I turned the volume down a little, but nobody stirred.

I'd read somewhere that McCartney had written the song to comfort Lennon's son after his parents broke up. That was kinda cool.

Last night Mom had told me to set my alarm for six-thirty and to be up and ready to go by seven. No explanation, no nothing. Six-thirty on a Sunday morning, the only morning this week I could have slept in.

I did what I was told. I do that sometimes just to keep 'em guessing, and Tami shows up at seven on the dot. She smiled, kissed me, and took my car keys. Then she traded them to Mom. My brand-new Mustang for her year-old mini-van. I didn't strangle her. I've heard that's not conducive to a lasting relationship.

That's when Mom handed me my suitcase.

Now, a mother sending her only son off with a beautiful girl he loved could be a very good thing. But I knew my mom. I knew there was a catch. Actually, there were five of them.

Tami got in the driver's seat, which left me on the passenger side, and we drove out of the trailer park. Tami had only gotten her license this month, though she turned sixteen back in March. It was a confidence thing. Tami was a good driver, but she wanted to be really, really ready before she took her test.

We drove to Robbie's house. That was my first surprise. Though to even things out, Robbie looked just as surprised to see me. She got in the back with her suitcase. My second surprise was driving to Darlene's house. Tami had me scrunch down out of sight cause Darlene's step-dad and I had a history.

Then we drove back to the trailer park, where Mikee, Kelly, and my little sister Traci were standing in front of Tami's house. All with suitcases. I was starting to smell a conspiracy, but none of them seemed to know what this was all about either.

There was a small travel trailer parked in front of the swimming pool. Tami pointed at it. "Hook it up."

I smiled. "Can't. You need a trailer hitch."

Tami cocked her head and stared back at me. I got out of the van, and damned if there wasn't a trailer hitch on the back of Mom's mini-van. I didn't think it was there last week.

By the time I had the trailer hooked up—I'd never done one by myself before—the girls all had their luggage stowed and were settled in the van. Tami had moved to the passenger seat, where she was sharing a seat belt with Kelly. Mikee and Darlene were sitting in the middle seats, and Traci and Robbie were in the back. By default, I climbed in behind the wheel.

That's when Tami uttered her line, "Go west, young man, go west." So I drove west. First toward Wenatchee, then on toward Seattle. Twenty minutes out of town, all the girls were sleeping peacefully. Me, I was awake and going west. Like I said, life isn't fair.

Tami stirred, stretched, and opened her eyes. She looked at me over Kelly's sleeping form and smiled. I didn't smile back. I was a little annoyed, and like I said, life isn't fair.

The Beatles tape had ended sixty miles back, and I hadn't bothered to find a new one from my mom's collection, so it was quiet except for the noises of the road. My car, the one that Tami had traded in, had a built in MP3 system with a couple thousand songs.

"Where are we?" she asked, stretching again.

I thought about not answering. On the one hand, it would serve her right, but on the other hand, if I kept going we were going to get very wet when I hit the Puget Sound. "About forty minutes out of Seattle."

She smiled again. "You made good time."

I considered asking her, 'How would you know?' but decided silence was a better option.

Tami reached down between her feet and got her laptop, the one she'd won for the story that almost got me kicked out of school. She pulled it up and onto her lap. She opened it and powered up, humming as she waited for Windows to boot. I couldn't make out what song. You know the old saying, "She couldn't carry a tune in a bucket?" Well, Tami couldn't carry one in a wheelbarrow, but I love her anyway.

Windows booted, which, considering that it came from Bill's house of smoke and mirrors, was always pretty amazing, and Tami typed in her password, ILOVETONY. I'm not supposed to know that by the way. The password, not the sentiment.

She looked up from the computer to the road signs we were passing, then back at the screen. "Take the third exit, then a left and go about a mile to the park."

"What park?"

She smiled, pushed the F4 key to put her computer to sleep, and closed the cover.

I sighed internally. Life isn't... well, you get the idea.

"Everybody up!" Tami yelled as we turned into the state park a few minutes later.

"Where are we?" Robbie asked.

"Not a clue," I told her. "I just kept driving while everybody else slept."

"At least you're good for something," she muttered.

Sometimes I get real annoyed with my mother for teaching me not to hit girls.

Tami pointed at a picnic table as I parked. "Everybody out and meet over there. Tony, there's a cooler in the back. Would you get it?"

I was beginning to feel like some kind of Egyptian slave, the kind who spent their lives pushing big stones uphill to the tops of pyramids. That is, unless the aliens did it for them.

"I got to pee," Kelly announced.

"I wish you hadn't said that," her sister moaned. The doors all popped open and everybody headed for the restrooms about a hundred yards past the picnic table. I got out and stretched, wondering how long before I got some feeling back in my ass.

I opened the back and there was the cooler, buried under everybody's suitcases. I sighed again and started taking everything out, set the cooler aside, then reloaded the suitcases.

"Took you long enough," Robbie said as I carried the cooler to the table a few minutes later. I had a brief mental image of Robbie tied naked to a tree, dripping with honey and waiting for a bear. A big bear.

I set the cooler on the edge of the table and started toward the restrooms, wondering if Egyptian slaves got bathroom breaks. Or aliens for that matter.

When I got back the girls were all sitting around the table sipping drinks. Tami, Robbie and Mikee had Cokes. Kelly and Darlene root beer, and Traci a Seven-Up.

I opened the cooler and started rooting around.

"I got the last Coke. Sorry about that." As I looked over the lid at Robbie, she didn't seem very sorry. I decided that bears weren't enough. Hyenas. A pack of them. I took a root beer and sat down next to Tami.

She patted my thigh, then settled her hand there, her hand warm against my skin.

It was another beautiful June day. It had been a good summer so far. The temperature was in the mid-seventies, and all of us were wearing shorts or cut-offs. The girls all wore t-shirts except Mikee, who had her bikini top. Tami and Darlene had their shirts tied just below their breasts.