“Mom?”
She looked up from the soup she was stirring on the stove. “Yes?”
“I thought we’d go to the falls.”
“I figured as much.”
“I was going to show her that trail Dad showed me. And I was going to tell her she could go there. You know, if she wanted to. From her place. Without asking.”
“Do you think that’s safe?”
“She’s not as good as Meredith, but she knows how to hike, Mom.”
“Fair enough. Of course it’s fine.” His mom set the spoon across the pot, then walked over to where he stood. She put her arm around him and whispered, “She’s special to you, isn’t she?”
Mo shrugged. “She’s Bronwyn.”
“Yes, she is. And I adore her. But you need to be careful and respectful of her emotions. Do you like her? As more than a friend?”
Mo squirmed away. “I don’t know. Maybe. She’s Bronwyn.” Did he need to say more than that?
His mom’s sigh was cut off by Bronwyn’s entrance into the kitchen. “I’m ready.”
Bronwyn had braided her long hair into a single strand down her back. Meredith’s clothes were a little baggy on Bronwyn’s leaner frame, but she looked comfortable. And excited.
“Let’s go.”
They took the four-wheelers to the trailhead. Then they hiked for thirty minutes to Catherine’s Falls, kicked off their boots, and walked around in the river at the base. Eventually Bronwyn climbed up on a large stone at the edge and lay down. Mo joined her. The rock was warm against his back, and they lay there, eyes closed for a while.
Mo had the weirdest urge to touch her. To reach out and hold her hand. What was with him? She wouldn’t want to—
Her hand slid into his.
His heart exploded. He laced their fingers together and held on.
Nine
Present Day
Bronwyn stood by her door and welcomed Cal, Landry, and Eliza into her home. Meredith and Mo were a few steps behind them.
At the first opportunity, she slipped into the kitchen and ran her hands down the towel hanging from her dishwasher. What was wrong with her? Why was she so sweaty? And nervous? She hadn’t felt like this since...
She froze. Thoughts of waterfalls and small hands reaching across the bond of friendship to become something more crashed through her. She forced the memories from her mind. She couldn’t go there. Not tonight.
But she watched Mo out of the corner of her eye. He took in every detail of her home, and she saw the moment he spotted the tiny rock on the shelf. A rock she’d found the first time they held hands. It was heavily lined with orange veins, and she’d carried it with her everywhere she’d gone since.
His gaze met hers, and the turmoil she saw there nearly melted her on the spot. Was he angry? Hurt? Both? She didn’t know. But he definitely wasn’t apathetic.
Eliza rushed in. “Aunt Bronwyn?”
“Yes, darling?”
“Did you ask Aunt Cassie to make the chocolate cookies for me like you had last time?”
“You know it.”
“Thank you!” Eliza threw her arms around Bronwyn’s waist. “You’re the best.”
