Chapter Ten
Cole turned his truck off the road and rolled down the windows, gravel crunching under the tires as he pulled to a stop at the edge of the trees.
“Where are we?” Sienna asked, blinking like she was waking up from a dream. She’d been in her own world since they left Jase and Emily’s, staring out the front window while she rubbed a finger over the tiny scar on her wrist.
They hadn’t spoken because she seemed to need quiet and Cole respected that. He understood the need to process things and didn’t want to push her too hard or fast. But he also wasn’t willing to let her go just yet.
She might not realize it, but alone was the last thing Sienna needed to be at the moment.
“One of my favorite spots in Crimson.” He turned off the truck and opened his door. “Come on.”
“I should go home,” she protested weakly.
He glanced over his shoulder, arching a brow in her direction. “Where is home for you right now?” he asked, not to be unkind but because he was truly curious how she would answer.
She tugged her bottom lip between her teeth and sucked in a breath. “Fine,” she said after a moment, not answering his question. “Show me this special spot of yours.”
He led her down the dirt path, holding back branches that hung across the trail, partially obstructing it and hiding it from plain sight. It was one of the things Cole liked best about this area—not many people knew it existed so even at the height of summer tourist season, it wasn’t crowded.
The sun was just beginning to dip behind the peak, the evening light that played through the trees soft and warm.
“Watch your step,” he told her as they navigated a rocky section of the trail.
A minute later, the forest ended and they emerged onto a grassy knoll with the river flowing in front of them. From the spot they were standing, there was a view of the tip of Crimson Mountain in the distance, along with a hillside covered in aspen trees and early season wildflowers on the other side of the bank.
“It’s beautiful,” Sienna whispered.
The look of wonder playing across her face was far more to Cole’s liking than the confusion and pain in her gaze right before she’d rushed from the table at Jase’s.
His heart skipped a beat, and he smiled. “The river is high right now because of runoff from the snow. It will be half this size by August if we have another dry summer.”
“Look, there’s deer over there.” Sienna pointed to a spot in front of the trees near the bend in the river. “Those are the biggest deer I’ve ever seen.”
“Because they’re elk,” Cole explained. “They come down to the river this time of day. They’ll go back up to higher ground as the weather gets warmer.”
He stepped back and pointed to a bench tucked at the base of two pine trees about ten feet away. “Want to sit down?”
Sienna glanced between him and the rustic wooden bench. “Did you build that?”
“I wish I had that talent,” he said, shaking his head as they moved toward the trees. “I found out about this place from one of the guys who ran the snowplow when I first got a job with the sheriff’s department. Manny’s retired now and moved to Pueblo last year to be closer to his daughter. He and his wife used to come out here so he could fish.” Cole brushed a few pine needles off the bench, then took a seat next to Sienna on it. “He built this so his wife would have a comfortable place to sit and read while he did his thing.”
“That’s sweet,” Sienna murmured.
“Yeah. There’s a few popular fishing spots about a half mile down on either side, but not many people come right here because the trailhead isn’t obvious.”
“Do you fish?” she asked.
“Not nearly as much as I’d like,” he admitted. He pointed to a section of the river where the current wasn’t running so hard. “But that’s about as perfect of a spot as you can get.”
“My dad used to fish. I remember it now.”
Sienna was back to worrying the tip of one finger against the scar on her wrist.
“He still does.” Cole took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together. “Want to talk about earlier?”
“No.”
He lifted her hand and grazed a kiss over her knuckles. “Talk to me anyway.”
