Chapter Five
Lauren’s Story
Lunch was scheduled for an hour-long stop at one of the more remote state parks. From the main picnic grove near the parking area, gentle rolling hills fanned outward, heavily wooded, and still weed-grown and wild, left purposely untamed to achieve that “natural look” so favored by the tourists. Lauren handed out the box lunches, pausing when the German, reached out to take his, to favor him a special smile. Not a flicker of recognition crossed those handsome Teutonic features; he only held her with those cloudy blue eyes for just a second before turning away to find a seat at the far end of one of the wooden trestle tables. The French couple, Armand and Celeste, snatched the boxes from her hands and eagerly turned to run off, hand in hand, racing down a shade
