“Really?” he asks again.
I gently nudge him with my shoulder. “Yeah.”
“It’s what I used to call you,” he blurts out.
“What?”
“Before, when I used to see you across the quad. I didn’t know your name. I had to come up with a name in my head. That’s what I called you.”
My heart melts into a gooey, Sutton-shaped mess. “I like it even more now. Though, Idoreserve the right to come up with an equally sweet name for you too.”
I give myself a pat on the back for seeing him fully relax again now. “You already call me doctor.”
I shrug. “Maybe that’ll stick. Maybe it won’t. I guess we’ll find out depending on how many more of these dates we go on.”
His eyes crinkle at the sides as he smiles again. “I guess we will. But first–”
“Firstyou’re going to show me your Gramps’s secret bunker that may or may not be a superhero lair.”
“You wish is my command.”
Chapter 12
Sutton
There’s something building between us. I’m more sure than ever now. But not knowing if she’s even got an inkling that the mountain spirit has brought her to town is distracting me to no end.
It’s not exactly the kind of thing I can just drop into conversation though. ‘By the way, what’s your thoughts on fate and soulmates?’
Right now though, I have a tour to start.
I carefully slide the latch aside and push open one of the heavy wooden doors to the bunker, revealing the old—but thankfully fixed—wooden ladder that leads down into the large dug out room beneath.
As it has always been, the air is cool and damp down there, the familiar musty scent tickling my nose and making me sneeze.
I enter first, pulling out my cell phone and using the torch function to light my way until I hop off the ladder and can flick the switch at the bottom.
“Bless you,” Blair says softly behind me as she carefully climbs down to join me while I stand at the bottom watching her descent.
She shoots me a beaming grin when her feet hit the ground and I try to imagine what it’s like seeing this for the first time.
It’s like a different world down here and despite me and my brothers using this as a storage space now, we’ve left a lot of Gramps’s collected wares down here too.
I stay quiet as we move deeper into the space, watching Blair’s face as she takes it all in.
First there are the walls which are lined with plastic sheeting behind years of collected wood panels that Gramps collected from other properties in the district. I remember helping him on a few trips when Case and I were twelve and asking why he didn’t just buy it from the timber mill.
‘There’s a lot of old things that people don’t need anymore, boy. We’re just reusin’ them, helpin’ people out, and gettin’ their help in return. It’s the way the world has always been around these parts, and this is my way of givin’ back.’
Even back then, I knew it wasn’t about taking people’s rubbish. It was about reusing and recycling rather than buying new things. And as for giving back, I think he was talking about more than just the land.
“What are you thinking so hard about over there?” Blair asks, sidling up next to me.
“My grandfather. I always feel closer to him when I'm down here.”
She grabs hold of my hand and gives me a gentle squeeze. “I can see why,” she says, looking around the room. “This must’ve taken years of work just tobuildit.”
I chuckle. “Just a bit. Accordin’ to Cap–our dad–Gramps started before we were even born. As we got older and started spendin’ our summer’s here, he recruited us to help him out.”
