Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
“What?” I asked, flushing even deeper at the fact that I was calling him out on staring.
He swallowed. “You look beautiful.”
My lips parted, and distantly I realized it was my own hand reaching up to touch the curls in my hair, the foundation covering my skin. “Oh,” I said, embarrassed as I looked at my lap before meeting his gaze again. “Hair and makeup trial.”
He nodded, watching me with a lazy smile a little longer before he turned toward the stairs. “See you in ten.”
As tired as the day had made me, I came alive in the evening glow breaking through the trees on the quiet forest trail Tyler took me to. It happened quickly, automatically, with a welcome sigh from my chest. It was as if my body had been waiting all day for this moment, and the longer we ran, the more my sneakers carried me through the muddy trail, the faster the breeze swept over my face and the more my chest ached with the familiar tightness of a good run — the more I felt at home.
It hadn’t rained since I’d been in town, but the shade from the forest somehow kept the trail damp, and the wet dirt made everything feel fresh and new somehow, like childhood in a scent. Birds and insects sang their evening songs all around us as Tyler and I ran, weaving in and out of trees, hopping over exposed branches and logs, crossing a bridge over a creek and alternating patches of steep incline with comfortable, steady stretches of flat meadow.
Every step, every minute that passed, every mile under our feet stripped away another layer of tension until I was smiling and feeling the unique ecstasy that only a good run ever provided. It was still burning through me when we made it back to where we’d started, the head of the trail with an impressive vantage point over a valley and creek, with the White Mountains as a backdrop against the setting sun.
Tyler stopped by the car long enough to grab us the bottles of water he’d packed, and he handed one to me, draining half of his before he plopped down on the dark rock that extended out past the edge of the cliff. His feet dangled under him just like they had the other night on the dock, and I lowered myself down next to him, folding my legs underneath me as our eyes danced over the scenery around us.
“That was amazing,” I said once I caught my breath.
Tyler smiled. “I’m no runner like you, but every now and then, I get the itch. And I always come out here.”
“I didn’t even know this place existed.”
“Most people don’t. It’s a sort of hidden gem, and I do my best to keep it off all the trail sites so tourists don’t change that.”
I chuckled, sipping my water before I stretched my legs out in front of me and bent forward, hugging my chest to my knees and pulling back on the toes of my sneakers for a stretch.
“Alright,” Tyler said from above me as I exhaled to deepen the stretch. “Let’s talk finances.”
I groaned. “Do we have to?”
“We don’t have to. But, you said you needed help. And I just so happen to be a financial advisor, in case you forgot.”
I glared at him over my shoulder before taking one last moment in the stretch and releasing. Then, I pulled an arm across my chest, getting a tricep stretch in as I sighed in concession. “Fine. But… no judgment, okay? I told you, I’m not exactly the most responsible.”
“You really think I would ever judge you?” he asked, and it was so sincere, so… hurt, as if he were truly offended I ever thought he could pass judgment on me.
But I knew the him who looked me in the eyes and said the word mistake like it was nothing.
I knew the him who shattered my already broken heart just seven years ago.
I decided not to answer his question, or to dwell on the past. Somehow, Tyler and I had found ourselves in a sort of truce, in a white flag area, and for some reason, I didn’t want to lose it.
So I just switched arms and smiled. “Alright. Where do we start?”
Tyler talked me through, asking me questions about my average monthly income, my business account versus my personal account, my debt, my future financial goals. He asked if I’d be comfortable with him looking over my statements, if I wanted to save aggressively for retirement or go for a more stable and slow growth. He teased me about my addiction to athleisure, but also assured me that he wasn’t going to tell me how to spend my money, rather just help me with whatever my financial goals were — even if one of them was to have more sneakers than I knew what to do with.