‘Not at all.’
‘You’re really going to sit here on your own?’ I asked. ‘For three hours?’
With slightly too much ease, she swung her legs up onto the bench and stretched out, unzipping a neon-pink bumbag.
‘I’ll meditate,’ she replied before holding up her phone. ‘Plus I have a bunch of stuff downloaded on Netflix. I figured we wouldn’t have a signal out here.’
How convenient.
‘If you’re sure, I guess we’ll see you in a couple of hours,’ Ren said as he handed her the car keys. ‘And be on the lookout for bears.’
‘You will,’ she replied sweetly. ‘You’re joking about the bears, right?’
He hoisted his backpack over his shoulders and bent down to kiss her gently on the lips. Bel pressed her hands against the sides of his face and sighed happily as they parted, eyes still locked on one another.
Your feelings for Ren are just a crush, I reminded myself as I started off down the trail on my own, seething with jealousy. You were upset when Harry Styles started going out with Olivia Wilde as well, but you got over that soon enough. I would get over Ren eventually.
‘As long as you don’t fall off the side of a mountain first,’ I said cheerfully as I ploughed ahead, onwards and upwards.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
‘You planning to do this without me?’
Ren jogged up at the side of me and nudged me with his walking sticks. I marched on, one foot in front of the other.
‘Just giving you some alone time,’ I replied. ‘No one wants their creepy mate watching them kiss their new girlfriend.’
‘It’s a little early to be throwing the word girlfriend around.’ He tucked his thumbs into the straps of his backpack, his cheeks flushed. ‘We’ve only had one date.’
‘But you like her?’
‘I do,’ he replied readily. ‘She’s so …’ He looked up to the trees for help completing his sentence. ‘She’s not what I expected. Unpredictable.’
I hoisted my backpack up onto my shoulders and nodded. ‘You mean like how she keeps letting herself in my house without knocking?’
He laughed but didn’t correct me.
We turned a corner and found ourselves deep in thedense woods, dappled sunlight flickering through the trees to light our way. It was beautiful and if I hadn’t already stepped in a puddle and soaked one foot all the way through to my socks, I would have been utterly charmed.
‘I know it’s only been one date, but I can’t figure her out,’ Ren said. ‘Some of the things she says, I can’t tell if she’s joking or not. Nothing about her makes sense.’
‘Since when did other people make sense?’ I stepped carefully over a creek to avoid another piss-wet-through shoe. ‘What exactly are you trying to figure out?’
‘You really want to know?’
No, I thought, I really don’t.
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I really do.’
‘It’s the letter. The one you delivered.’
Oh good, no way this could go badly.
‘What about the letter?’ I asked, with a gulp.
The sound of his sigh settled softly in the woods.
‘I fell in love with it.’
