His movements were stiff, lacking most of his usual grace. “Is there anything I can say to make you change your mind?”

“Nope.” I stood up and tossed my sleeping bag into the trunk. Then I grabbed my pack. I was ready to go. I looked at him expectantly.

“All right. Do we have everything?” Paul managed to sound exasperated and fond at the same time.

I glanced around the campsite. “Looks like it. Let me gather up the trash, and we’ll toss it in the dumpster on the way out. Do we have to do anything to check out?”

He shook his head. “No, I paid on the way in, and that covered it.”

He threw his sleeping bag and pack into the car while I gathered up all the trash into a plastic bag and tied it closed.

“I...

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