Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64527 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64527 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
I walked out of my room and into the living room, where Dillon was already sitting at his work terminal. The warm feeling that I got in my gut when I saw that was disturbing; I didn’t think that I was in a place to start a relationship with anyone, much less to fall for someone new who definitely had some issues of his own.
And yet… it didn’t stop me from checking to see whether his mug was empty, picking it up and refilling it with coffee.
Why? Why was I acting like a girlfriend when it wasn’t my intention to enter a relationship?
When I set down the coffee next to him, he smiled up at me, a much softer and sweeter expression than I was used to.
“Thanks,” he said. I saw his hand reach out for a second, as if it was going to land on my hip before he thought better of it.
“What would you say to driving me out to the trailhead again today? I’d really like to talk to my mom.”
His face fell, and I could tell that he was about to give me an answer that he wasn’t excited about.
“That’s not a great idea,” he said, looking back at his computer screen. “It’s still too soon since the last time, and we don’t want to draw too many eyes or attention to where you’re calling from.”
“It’s been a week,” I said, annoyed. “And Alex knows where I am. He’s still in town, right?”
“As far as I know, yes, but we’re trying to get him to move on. That’s not gonna happen if you keep calling her from a number with this area code.”
I was dying to yell at him and stomp my feet like a petulant child.
But I didn’t want to fight with him again. And even more than that, I didn’t want to do something, or say something that would finally be enough for him to ask me to leave the cabin.
15
DILLON
Macy had never kept it a secret how annoyed she was that she needed to be confined to the cabin, but it was easy to tell she was getting even antsier than usual. Instead of sitting and reading on the couch, relaxed the way she normally was, she couldn’t stop getting up and walking around as if she were a pot about to boil over.
Soon enough, her tapping on the kitchen island was enough to drive me up the wall, so I turned off my console and got up from my seat to go talk to her. We hadn’t really spoken since she’d asked me to call her mother the day before, and I needed to do something to relieve the tension.
I walked up next to her and simply waited for her to turn around and acknowledge the fact that I was standing there. It took her a few seconds, but eventually she did look up at me, raising her eyebrow curiously.
“We’re going for a hike,” I said, leaning forward on my hands.
“Oh, we are, are we? That’s nice to know,” she said, leaning back and crossing her arms.
I knew she hated it when I got high-handed with her, but I couldn’t help needling her, just a little bit. “Why? Did you have something else on your agenda for the day?”
She made a face at me before closing the book I knew she wasn’t reading. “Fine.”
She got down and pushed past me to put on her shoes, and I felt the heat of her as she brushed me. It made every hair on my body rise up, and I went out to the front of the house to wait for her.
It took her all of a second to come out and meet me, her long hair wrapped up into a bun on top of her head, and we started walking out into the forest. It was a beautiful day, and we made our way onto a path that was pretty overgrown with brush.
“How does this compare to all those trails you told me you have out in LA?”
“It’s like night and day,” she said, unable to keep from looking at everything with wide eyes. “LA is a desert, so the trails out there aren’t verdant like this.”
“I’ve never been out there. Are they all completely dry?” Now that we were out of the house, I was finding it easier to talk to her without that layer of tension that usually lingered between us.
“No, not really. There’s still a lot of life out there, but it’s not a forest like this. It’s still beautiful in its own way, though.”
“Do you have a favorite trail?”
“Escondido Falls, out near Malibu,” she said, her face lighting up as she thought about her old home. “It starts out as this easy little walk, and you end up at a tiny waterfall, and then you have to climb up these rocks to get to a much bigger waterfall at the top.”