Hot River

Hot River (Box Set)
Kate Hill
All rights reserved.
Excerpt from Triple Shot Tracy
Copyright ©2013 Kate Hill

Tracy sighed and flopped into a chair in the employees' lounge at the office where she'd worked for the past ten years. At the moment she was the only one there, and that's how she liked it. It gave her a break from the same old gossip she heard every working day of her life. It wasn't that she disliked her coworkers. Most of them were nice enough, but she never felt as if she fit in. Not just at work but anywhere.

She'd lived a normal life. College. Finding a decent job. Dating men her family and friends thought were just fine but who lacked that certain something she was looking for.

Friends. She couldn't even honestly call them that. They were more like acquaintances. Why? Because she couldn't be honest with them. Whenever she started talking about her expectations, her longing for some kind of excitement, for love, they told her she was a dreamer.

"Girl, unless you want to spend the rest of your life going home to an empty apartment, you better get your head out of the clouds and down here in the real world with the rest of us." Those were words of wisdom from Crissa, the woman who worked in the cubicle beside her.

It's funny how lately their office reminded Tracy of an obstacle course for mice. All the identical little cream-colored cubicles created the maze that led to the exit door where everyone would race at the end of another tedious day. Most of the workers tried to personalize their cookie-cutter spaces with knickknacks from home -- framed pictures of their spouses, kids, even their pets. Mini stuffed animals, trinkets that looked like they'd been purchased from those stores where everything from cereal to garden decorations cost a dollar. Somehow these attempts at making the workspaces unique only seemed to make them look more like each other.

Tracy didn't bother with the decorations. She left her cubicle empty, just like she felt as soon as she stepped into the office. She refused to waste time decorating because she didn't intend to spend the rest of her life working here. Deep down inside she knew she was meant for something else. Until then, the office was simply a borrowed space. To her bringing in those trinkets from home meant surrender, that she'd accepted a life she hated.

She knew in order to change her life she needed a plan. The trouble was, she still had to figure it out.

One happy thought was that at the close of work today, she was on vacation for two weeks. She'd been thinking about what she'd like to do. Maybe go to the movies, spend some extra time at the gym, work on her art projects.

She picked up the paper and glanced through the Living section.

"Hey, how's it going?" Crissa said, stepping into the lounge with her usual bright red backpack slung over her shoulder and a paper bag from the local doughnut shop in her hand. There wouldn't be any doughnuts in that bag, however. Each and every day for the past ten years she'd eat a plain bagel with low fat cream cheese.

Crissa took a seat at the same table as Tracy, unwrapped her bagel, and spread on the cream cheese.

"Damn. I forgot my coffee," Crissa said and glanced toward the coffeemaker across the room. "I suppose there's nothing but mud in there."

"I'm not sure," Tracy said with a forced smile. She'd been enjoying her time alone, daydreaming.

Crissa went to fix her coffee. "So your vacation starts this afternoon. Any big plans?"

"Not really."

"Why am I not surprised?" Crissa turned to Tracy and raised her eyes to the heavens. "You should do something fun."

"I know. I have a few ideas…" Tracy paused and squinted at a rather small ad at the bottom of the page, right near an article about the country's best beaches.

Hot River Campground

Relax and enjoy nature.

Let your fantasies come true.

A strange feeling of excitement and apprehension shot through her. "This is where I'm going," Tracy stated with conviction. "Hot River Campground."