“Breathtaking, isn’t it?”
“Stunning.” If he wasn’t mistaken, tears glistened in the corners of her eyes. Either she was overcome with awe—an effect this spot tended to have on people—or she was sad about something.
“Everything okay?”
“What?” She sniffed and rubbed the back of her hand against the corner of one eye. “Yep. Fine.”
He let it go and leaned on the railing. “I’ve been a lot of places in Alaska, but this is one that makes me feel the smallest. Like the world is so much bigger than we can even comprehend.” Something about the vastness of this view, how it seemed to go on forever, made Ford feel insignificant.
“You want to know something?” She wouldn’t look at him, but she wiped at her cheek again. Her other hand curled around the fence. “I wish I could stay and open the lodge. I feel I’m letting the town down by leaving.”
Ford’s breath caught in his throat. His heart thrummed in his chest. The words he’d been waiting to hear all week were finally spoken. He battled a smile that threatened to crack his straight, expressionless lips.I knew it!“Then why don’t you?”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Sure it is.”
Cadence pushed off the fence, turning back toward the trail. He wasn’t ready to leave this place yet. Not with her so close to making a life-altering decision for them both. He reached for her hand, snagging the tips of her fingers with his own. He pulled her back toward him.
“What’s keeping you in Kansas?”
“My job,” she said. “My apartment. My whole life.”
No boyfriend. Though, if she’d had one, he would probably know that by now. “Family?”
She shook her head. “Not anymore.”
“Then what else?”
“Let’s just head back, okay?”
She wasn’t telling him something, but he suspected whatever was holding her back might not be in Kansas at all. It didn’t leave Ford any closer to guessing, though. He followed her back onto the trail, wishing he knew the right words to bring that wistful smile back to Cadence’s face.
He followed close behind as they wove their way back along the trail, his eyes mostly on the ground to watch for protruding roots. When Cadence shrieked and spun around right into his arms, he wasn’t prepared.
Scanning the immediate area for a bear, he found Ed instead.
The moose stood in the trail, blocking the entire width as he munched on a piece of tree bark. With the trail’s sharp curve blocking the view, Ed caught them both off guard. And now Cadence was tucked in Ford’s arms, cheek plastered to his chest. The scent of lilac floated up to him. So much more subtle and pleasant than the perfume Tanya had bathed in earlier.
“What do we do?” she whispered against his chest.
Ford was more used to seeing Ed out and about than probably anyone in Sunset Ridge. The moose tended to favor the lodge and surrounding grounds to anywhere else in town. Though he had respect for his enormous size and what the animal was capable of doing if he felt threatened, he wasn’t worried.
“Just stay calm.” He gently stroked her arm, holding her against him. This wasn’t necessary at all, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. They could cut around Ed on a side trail that circled back to the same trailhead if this went on too long. “We’ll give him a few minutes to finish his snack and move on.”
Ed kept an eye on them as he chomped away. As long as he kept eating and his ears remained standing, they were in no immediate danger of being charged.
“He wasn’t so scary in the kitchen window. A little smaller.” Ford could feel her lips move against his shirt as she spoke up to him.What would it be like to kiss her?“He’s a little bigger down here on the ground.”
Much too early, Ed lost interest in his snacking and sauntered off into the trees, away from the lodge. Ford waited as long as was reasonable before relaxing his arms around Cadence. He couldn’t seem to let her go completely, and she didn’t make any immediate attempt to move away.
Surely, she could feel the erratic beat of his heart against her ear. Maybe she’d mistake it for an adrenaline rush.
He lowered his head, resting his chin atop her head. The feel of her wrapped up against him would haunt him for weeks. She fit so perfectly in his arms like this.Weeks? Maybe months.Especially if she decided to leave. Exhausted from the grief of losing the ones he loved, he’d never planned to fall for anyone again. But Cadence was wedging her way into his heart, and Ford wasn’t sure he could stop it. “You want to know something?” he asked in a low, quiet voice.
“What?”
“I wish you would stay, too.”
