Megs whirled, and he couldn’t make out the expression on her face when she realized it was him tromping through the trees. “Hey.” She looked behind him, but when nobody else came down the path, her eyes settled back on his.
“I’m sorry about the train.”
Megs bit her bottom lip. “I can’t miss that class. I just signed a rental contract Thursday.”
“You got your own place?” Gideon stopped next to her, and Megs nodded. “That’s something to celebrate.”
“I was going to get a shake at Sammy’s.”
Gideon grinned. “On your way up to class?” Why did it make him so happy that she loved that place?
“Are you going to lecture me about having dessert before dinner?”
Gideon couldn’t hide his amusement. She was adorable when she was indignant. “No, I was going to ask why you weren’t eating dinner, too.”
Megs’ hackles lowered, and she breathed a laugh. “Class is from five to seven tonight. Our instructor has a wedding reception to go to. I figured I’d probably eat a late lunch after this and wouldn’t be hungry.” She groaned and dropped her head back against the trunk. “Now I’ll be surviving on trail mix while I pray to the locomotive gods for a fix to this antiquated train. This is whyromancedoesn’t work in real life! Because trains break down, and there’s traffic, and—”
“There’s another way down.” Gideon wanted to show compassionate, but he also didn’t know how long it would take them to hike to the next town or find a ride back to the parking lot in Sugar Creek.
Megs blinked. “What are you talking about?”
Gideon held out the map and pointed to the circles. “We can hike down to the road, then it’s another two miles into the town there. Calling it a town is generous, I think there’s a gas station and corner store, but maybe we can find someone who’s heading into Sugar Creek.”
She looked up and searched his eyes. “We?”
Gideon nodded. “Yeah. You think I would tell you to hike down there alone?”
“But you have—” Megs closed her mouth. “Is Alli okay with this?”
Gideon’s brow furrowed. Why was she asking about Alli? “I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Alli had never been one for the outdoors, so she’d be more than happy to sit at the gift shop and relax while they waited for the train.
“What if we can’t find a ride?”
Gideon motioned for her to walk with him back to the others. “We’ll find a ride.”
“You don’t have to do this,” Megs murmured as they left the trees. “I doubt you planned to hike an extra three miles today.”
He hadn’t planned on extra hiking, but walking with Megs alone in the trees for a reason he could justify was so enticing, it ached. “It’s barely even hiking, we’re going downhill.” Gideon nodded to Matt as his friend noticed them approaching. “Hey, I’m going to walk with Megs down to the road. If this train doesn’t get fixed in time, she’ll miss her class.”
Matt frowned. “Is there a trail?” Gideon held out the map, and Matt inspected it. “Are you sure it’s worth that? The train might be fixed any minute.”
Megs stepped forward. “There’s a much larger chance that it won’t be. I rode this train every day last Christmas, and when there was a mechanical issue, we were always entertaining guests for hours.”
Gideon turned to her. “You worked on this train?”
Megs held out her hands with a flourish. “Can’t you see me as an elf?” She turned back to Matt. “I have to be at this class tonight. If I don’t get my certification, I won’t be able to start work Monday.”
Matt considered this. “Got it. But I can go with her, Gideon.” He picked up his water bottle and shook it.
Gideon’s bottle was still almost full. Their hike hadn’t been arduous, and with the cooler weather, he hadn’t even broken a sweat. “No, you’ve got the other contestants and your team to worry about. We’ll be fine.”
Matt pulled him into a hug and clapped his shoulder, then turned to the others. “Anyone else want to hike to town?”
Alli opened her mouth, then closed it. Before she could change her mind, Gideon said, “I’ll text you later,” then turned and started off across the clearing.
Megs didn’t say another word before they reached the trailhead, which wasn’t difficult to find. The path wasn’t overly steep, and more importantly, there were no other hikers on it. Considering he’d grown up here and had never even known there were hiking trails at the top of the loop, he wasn’t surprised. The only ones he knew about were at the bottom of Rosie Peak.
“An elf, huh?” Gideon moved to the left. The trail was wide enough that they could walk side by side. His blood hummed, and not from exertion, as she fell into step next to him.
