River's Destiny (River's End Series, #8)

by Leanne Davis

  ****

  Cami received the necessary permission and she worked hard to find skilled replacements before she could take her trip. She made sure every “i” was dotted and every “t” was crossed before finally leaving. Kianna had to shoo her out of the office at Shield Shelter. “Go. See the freaking world, Cami. Think how many kids here would leap at the opportunity. You deserve to experience it.”

  When Cami frowned, Kianna shook her head. “That’s not my version of a guilt trip. It’s intended to make you appreciate this wonderful chance and for you to be grateful for such a gift. After organizing this camp and facilitating the management, your karmic reward is this trip to Germany. It was intended for you. You earned it. Now go.”

  Cami grinned and finally left.

  Days later, Jacob just stared at Cami, and his eyes were red-rimmed. She asked him to drive her to the airport. “Are you okay? Are you high?” she questioned him.

  “No.”

  “But obviously, you were quite recently. You look awful, Jacob.” She leaned forward and sniffed. “You smell horrible too.”

  He grimaced. “Yeah, perhaps I hit it a little too hard this weekend,” he mumbled as he hefted her duffel bag and put it into the trunk.

  She held her small backpack and flopped onto the driver’s seat. “I’ll drive us there, and just be careful when you drive home alone. Maybe go to your dad’s house for a few days… if only to shower and eat. You need to drink more water and stay off all of that shit for a few days.”

  He nodded, running his hands through his hair but his expression was glum. “Yeah, yeah, sure. Maybe you’re right.”

  “I’m always right. Clean up, Jacob. You’re turning this into a problem. I’ll be totally on your case if you don’t slow down right now and start living in reality a little more. Go to your classes. See your dad and Brianna. She’s always calling me because she’s worried about you—”

  “Don’t be my sister. You’ve never been judgmental with me. Don’t start now.”

  “Okay.” She sighed. “Still, you’re making me worry.”

  “I’m just blowing off steam. And no, I’m not going home. I don’t need to see that asswipe.”

  “Still mad at your dad. Why? He’s so nice to me, I just don’t get it.”

  Jacob’s jaw clenched, and he turned to stare out the window. “Stuff.”

  She sighed. Yeah, that explains it. She rolled her eyes as she steered the car onto the freeway, restraining her urge to lecture Jacob about how lucky he was to have a dad, food, and shelter. She could have compared it to her upbringing and all the kids at Shield Shelter. But Jacob was too narcissistic to listen to other people’s problems. He didn’t get it at all. His response was to detail all of his problems. Nothing he could say could compare to what she was talking about. But she reminded herself once again that their idea of a “problem” was very different from hers. The baselines were different. Having a privileged upbringing, like Charlie, they were even more privileged than most.

  Eventually, Cami found a parking spot and they trudged towards the entrance, so Cami could check in. When they approached security, Jacob handed her backpack to her. She hugged him. “Thanks for driving.”

  “Yeah, of course. You’re one of the few people I would always do anything for. You know how special you are to me.” His arms were tightly wrapped around her. He was super tall now and Cami’s face was buried against his side, near his armpit.

  Her eyebrows jutted up in surprise. She didn’t expect him to give her so poignant a sendoff, much less, his emotional message. He rarely said anything like that. Alarmed, but determined to remain natural and friendly as they had always been, she patted his back.

  “Well, be careful. I’ll only be gone for ten days.”

  “I won’t forget you. I’ll be here at the airport to pick you up. July first, at eight o’clock.”

  “Thank you.” When she left him, a swarm of butterflies took off inside her stomach. Excitement that seemed to have eluded her until that exact moment suddenly overwhelmed her. She was going to freaking Germany. Abroad in Europe. Traveling across the world from River’s End, and even Seattle. Cami Reed was becoming continental, an international traveler. AJ very subtly let his chest swell as he nodded when she told him where she was going. But his eyes were sparkling with unmasked pride. He joked with her, but Cami knew he really meant it.

  “My daughter, savior of children and international jet-setter, who could have guessed? I still can’t believe you came from me.”

  Cami hugged him especially hard. “Oh, Dad, you are the whole reason I became anything, and don’t feign modesty, because you know it’s the truth.” Since her miscarriage, Cami and AJ managed to breach the last wall that had separated them for so long. Cami’s residual fear of his massive form and the flashbacks from her childhood that led to her distrust of older men vanished. Cami had accepted AJ and become his daughter.

  Sitting on the plane, Cami stared out the tiny window as the pilot started to line up for take-off from Sea-Tac’s runway. She couldn’t stop smiling and her heart swelled with excitement as high and as fast as the plane rose. When they left the ground, Cami could hardly contain her exhilaration. She was becoming an international commuter. Her first ride on an airplane was a trip to Europe. Best of all, she had no fear, just curious enthusiasm. She loved the speed and altitude while staring out the airplane window. Seattle slowly faded and blue water and sky replaced it. The plane turned around over the Pacific Ocean before flying to Minneapolis. From there, Cami would catch a connecting flight into Hamburg. Charlie was waiting there. She realized how long it had been. At ten months, it was the longest separation yet. They’d been apart for three quarters of a year and yet, Cami was so busy, she never realized it. She spent no time ruminating over it, having been too tired during her free moments, which were rare between working and managing the camp. Now that Cami could relax, she enjoyed the idea of flying to see him. She finally had a few hours to herself to think. Letting the music play in her ears, Cami could not wait to see Charlie.

  Germany. Deutschland. The polar opposite of River’s End. And a complete change in her life. If she’d stayed with her mother, and her mother had lived, Cami doubted she’d ever find herself on an airplane, much less flying to Europe. In the last few months, she felt very different, like she’d finally grown up. She was discovering herself, and no longer identified as just Charlie’s girlfriend or AJ and Kate’s needy daughter. Maybe she wasn’t so fragile anymore. She could also be helpful, capable and strong.

  She could now fly across the whole country and see another continent. She smiled smugly to herself, imagining herself only three years ago. She could never have comprehended doing this. No way could the insecure, mousey, scared Cami do something like this. Now? After the initial excitement of take-off, the long hours of sitting grew tedious as they passed several time zones. It was kinda boring, actually.

  Cami leaned back and smiled again. Life was full of lessons, and she knew the thing you were most scared of usually turned out to be half as scary as you imagined.

  Yes, Cami had definitely turned some kind of corner and she was well on her way now.

  Chapter Fifteen

  CHARLIE STOOD BEHIND SECURITY at Hamburg International Airport. Holding a single red rose, his red hair was a bit longer on top than normal and it fell forward over his forehead. His eyes were bright and his smile huge as he patiently waited for Cami. He wore a suit. Cami paused for a long moment when she spotted Charlie dressed in a suit. He looked much older. More grown-up, more like someone who went to an office every day and bossed people around. He looked mature. The confidence surrounding him belonged to a man, not a boy. It was also new for Charlie. And here they were, old enough to arrange for a tryst at an international airport. Cami had a typical case of jet lag and fatigue, but she exploded with surprise when she caught sight of him. He saw her, and her smile mirrored the giant one on his face. She tried to fluff her hair a bit, and look a little less
bedraggled, but her makeup was faded and all but gone. Her hair was flat and tangled, refusing to unkink after hours of leaning against the airplane headrest.

  None of that mattered. Cami had to restrain her instantaneous urge to shove her way through the throng of people that were disembarking the plane with her. She longed to scream out from pure frustration, move. After waiting so long to see Charlie and feeling relatively content with herself and life in general up until then, now she wasn’t. Her anxiety to see him overtook her mind and nearly made her hysterical. When they were finally within a few steps of each other and no one blocked them, she let her bag slide off her shoulders to put her arms out and he did the same, catching her and holding her against his chest at the exact moment she stepped towards him. They just stood there together, embracing. Sharing a long, tight hug, she closed her eyes to relish the feel of him, all of him, pressed against her finally. She leaned back, and her eyes were full of happy tears as she grinned up at him. “Hi, boyfriend.”

  He grinned and blinked back his tears as well. The pools of moisture in his eyes nearly fell but Charlie managed to hold them back. “Hi, girlfriend,” he replied in his deep, calm voice. Despite being able to hear him and see him during the separation, Cami missed the in-person encounters when she could observe his facial muscles and expressions and mannerisms. Damn. There was no substitute. Nothing could replace live communication and being together in-person. Charlie leaned down, and his lips touched hers as she moved her hands. She was clinging to his neck as they kissed long and deep. When they stopped, they could only grin at each other and their eyes said it all.

  “I missed you,” he said softly.

  “I’m really glad to be here.”

  He nodded. “Yes, you are finally here. Now that you are, I’m not letting you go,” he teased as he clutched her even closer to him. She shook her head and separated far enough to scan down his body.

  “Wow. Look at you. You leave me as a college grad and now I get to meet an international business man of mystery.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Hardly. I’m like the tenth in line on the intern list. But everyone who works in the offices of FINA look this way.”

  Charlie’s business classes had landed him an internship that blended his fluent expertise in the German language with his degree in international finance. The company he worked for was called the Federal Investment Network Associates (FINA). It was an international company headquartered in Hamburg. Charlie’s division was one of the real estate arms. His division was tasked with the job of diversifying their portfolio and making significant acquisitions in Washington State, California, and British Columbia, Canada. They currently owned real estate in New York and Washington, D.C. so the west coast was a new venture for them. And Charlie was sure part of their motivation to expand to the west coast had a lot to do with why they offered him the scholarship as compared to the other applicants.

  “They are interested in buying a significant portion of the Meridian Tower in Seattle. The numbers they talk about? Suffice to say it’s a long way from River’s End,” he told her on the phone recently. Her mind spun at all the figures she imagined he was dealing with. Trying to earn his master’s and manage the internship, she knew Charlie had zero downtime. She did not want the two jobs to run him ragged but seeing him now, he looked it.

  He seemed exhausted. His skin was always white, but now it was very pale. His freckles seemed brighter too, although his professional attire made him look like a young Robert Redford. He had a bit of scruff around his chin and neck that only enhanced the rest of his masculine look. He told her he rarely spent any time outside anymore and feared he was becoming a vampire.

  Eventually, Cami and Charlie let each other go and held hands as they fell into step together. He picked up her bag at the luggage carousel and they left the airport.

  Hamburg was huge. Leaving the airport, Cami’s eyes glowed with awe as she gazed all around. “Do you mind if we leave tonight for a place I rented? Out of the city. I want this to be a real vacation and something special with you, so, surprise.”

  “But… all that…” she waved towards the city as they started to walk, and she wondered towards where? Charlie carried her duffel bag and she followed him, getting instantly confused by all the traffic and throngs of people. She was very unsure of where to go.

  “Charlie, where are you going?”

  “Train station. We’ll take a shuttle over there.”

  Charlie acted like a local and looked like one. Of course, he could read the signs and knew what they meant, and she couldn’t. When they were seated together, she caught glimpses of a large body of water and saw ornate buildings hugging it. Cruise ships and other large vessels were harbored. The new and old architecture seemed to blend perfectly.

  “So you don’t want to explore Hamburg together?”

  “I do. But let’s do it when we come back, okay? I’ll show you everything. The port and the older district and anything you want to see. I just need to relax. A few days up north at this little resort town and then we’ll come back, and I’ll show you all around. Hamburg is where I work and rather ordinary. I really long to get away from it. I can’t wait.”

  Excitement overcame her anxiety. What did she care where they went? It was all new to her. A foreign country. Another damn continent. She was clear across the Atlantic Ocean.

  “Which waterway is that?” Cami inquired.

  Charlie glanced over toward where she pointed. “Port of Hamburg, which is on the river Elbe, which empties into the North Sea. Tor zur Welt.”

  She saw him smirk as he rattled off the words in what she assumed was a perfect local accent. “Which means what to the rest of us uneducated Americans?”

  “Gateway to the world. It’s the second largest port in Europe.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m in Europe. Everything feels so exotic. It’s all new to me. So, where exactly are we going?”

  “To a fantastic place that’s right on the Baltic Sea. The guy I intern for took his wife there last year. It’s called Timmendorfer Strand. He asked his friend to let us stay there for a ridiculous price. And it’s right on the beach.”

  “The Baltic Sea? Why does every single thing you say sound so glamorous? And did you say beach?”

  “Yeah, the Baltic Sea will remind you of the Pacific Ocean.”

  “Okay. How are we getting there?”

  “By train.”

  “I’ve never been on a train before.”

  “Pretty common here, not like where we come from. We’ll leave from the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, or the main train station. We’ll take it to Lubeck, stay two nights there and then move onto the beach. I think you’ll love Lubeck. It’s smaller than Hamburg and when I first saw it, all I could think of was showing it to you,” he said, squeezing her closer to his side. Cami’s heart swelled with joy. She was long beyond excited and magically entranced.

  Lubeck was the quaintest town she could ever imagine. A hamlet comprised of red roofs and bluish-colored spires on the churches that glowed under the summer sun. Ignoring her jet lag, Cami wanted to melt when she saw their old-world, picturesque hotel. Charlie had everything prearranged. Cami succumbed to his warm kisses and, in a matter of brief moments, they fell into the bed, both of them eager to reunite after their long separation.

  Cami instantly fell into a deep and much-needed sleep. When she woke up, she was hungry and thirsty. Charlie was feeling her upper body before her eyes fully opened and she smiled, stretching. She let him finish her off without ever reopening her eyes and his mouth remained planted securely on hers.

  The next morning, however, Cami had different plans. “We must see Germany. We aren’t in River’s End anymore. Please.”

  He nodded and laughed. “Okay, a city tour is required.” Thank God for Charlie. Cami would have been hopelessly lost and turned around in the old city. First, they went to the Holsten Gate, which was built in 1464 and part of the original fortification for the once
medieval town. To Cami’s American eyes, it was old. Super, crazy old. The oldest thing she’d ever toured in Washington State was an unused military fort called Fort Spokane, that was first established in the late 1800s. However, there was very little she could explore since most of it was dismantled. Cami had never seen anything from the freaking medieval times. Her culturally deprived eyes stared at the gate. It looked like a castle with two round towers and an arched walkway underneath. It was brick and very gothic. She loved seeing it and made Charlie stand at every possible angle in front of it, so she could take pictures. She instantly sent them to AJ and Kate. She kept a running travelogue with her parents, as if she were trying to let them experience her trip with her. The regular roadway was split around the gate and cars zipped past. People just came and went, leading their regular, old lives, and Cami was rendered speechless as she gazed at the relics of ancient history.

  To the left, she saw more brick buildings with deep burgundy rooftops. There were other streets that featured cream and white facades, and again, red, brown, and burgundy rooftops. The fronts of the homes were a pleasing array of square and angles, curves, and attractively tapered points. Many of them still used the old cobblestone streets and others were made of bricks. Some roads followed the canal that ran throughout the city. Cami and Charlie took a walking bridge over it and stopped dead center to stare into the water. They looked up the river at the charming city that surrounded them. He put his arms around her, briefly trapping her against the iron guardrail. They stood there staring out, talking quietly, and exchanging frequent smiles. He turned, and they kept talking as they kissed and smooched until goofy smiles brightened their faces. “It’s like that first summer when we were together, huh?”

  “Kind of. Except, you know, we’re in freaking Europe,” she said, waving her hand around. “Sooo, nothing like River’s End.” She reached up and cupped his square chin in her hand, rubbing his smooth skin. “You’ve… we’ve come a long way, huh?”