We weren'tdue in New Bedford for dinner with my family until later in the afternoon so I talked Jasper into a post-breakfast walk in the woods. She wanted to make lists about her lists, or something of that sort, and I could not allow that while the conditions were bright and dry.
I couldn't allow us to stay in bed all day either. Regardless of what I'd vowed on Friday evening, sixty hours of sex wasn't going to fly. Aside from the fact I was not twenty-five anymore, I didn't want to use Jasper. Not even one bit more than was right—which was a line that never clearly materialized in the moment but glared obviously after the fact.
Enough people had used Jasper and they'd used her in ways that were wrong from the start. I wasn't going to be one of those people.
"Are we looking for anything today?" she asked. "A specific tree or something?"
"Nothing in particular," I said, watching as she picked her way around a cluster of rocks. "We might be able to find some chanterelles though. We've had a good amount of overnight rain in the past couple of weeks."
"And chanterelles are…?"
"Mushrooms," I replied, reaching for my phone. "Here. I'll find a photo so you can keep an eye out."
She leaned against my chest while I searched for a good image. Her hair was coiled in a low bun and smelled so lovely, just so lovely, and I could see down her shirt from this angle. Life was really good.
"Why are we looking for these mushrooms?"
"My mother likes them," I replied. "She doesn't have much patience for foraging but she's appreciative whenever I bring some home."
Jasper nodded as she studied the image on my screen. "So, you're trying to butter her up with fungus? Are you that worried about bringing me home to meet the family?"
I pocketed my phone, giving her a bland stare. "No. I'm not worried."
"But you'd like to get on your mother's good side. With the fungus."
"Believe me, Peach, bringing you home by itself lands me on the good side." I grabbed a fallen branch and tossed it out of the path. I wasn't sure how much I wanted to tell her—if anything—about my mother's anniversary party deadline. I didn't want Jasper thinking any part of this was a game to me. I really didn't want her to think I was manipulating her. "My mother is very interested in seeing me paired up."
"That is not new information." She glanced over at me, a cheeky grin stretched across her face. "She did not hide her enthusiasm the other day. There was definitely a minute when she looked me up and down and said to herself, 'Yep, those are some good birthing hips.'"
I barked out a laugh but didn't disagree because my mother would absolutely do that. "The chanterelles will give her something else to focus on for five and a half minutes. That will help with the overall hovering and gushing. She might even hold off on asking you how many kids you'd like to have."
"Not for long," Jasper said with a laugh.
"Just ask her about Magnolia and the babies or Ash and Zelda's wedding," I said. "That will distract her."
"Okay, got it." She gave me the cutest wink in the world, one I was certain she didn't intend to be cute but came out that way nonetheless. Then, "So, family dinners are a pretty big deal for y'all, huh?"
This part of the trail was completely empty. That was normal around here. We were far from the primary trails, and even in the busiest of seasons, these woods rarely reached anything resembling busy.
"I can't decide if I'd call it a big deal or a normal mechanism of my family's functioning. The truth lies somewhere in between."
"Then you've made a tradition of it."
"I think we inherited the tradition, at least some parts of it. I think it goes back to my grandparents or even my great-grandparents."
"Yeah, that's a tradition." Jasper pointed at an oak tree ahead. "Is that your mushroom?"
"That's chicken of the woods. Not a chanterelle."
"Do we like that?"
I shook my head. "Not a ton, no."
"Okay, well, back to your multigenerational traditions, please. I want the full briefing before you send me in."
"It's not a multigenerational tradition, that much I know." I laughed because my parents were some of the least traditional people I knew. At least they'd started out that way. "Look, this might come as a shock but my parents were pretty countercultural before they had us. Anti-establishment, fight the power, down with the man."
"Is that why you and your siblings have botanical names?"
