One
If Claire weren’t already sure of her destiny as a perpetually single woman, she’d be taking notes. This party was the definition of making tradition work for you, personalizing a custom and deepening a community.
“It’s so them,” Hannah said, directly ahead of Claire on the narrow dirt trail. “Up at the crack of dawn to hike a nature preserve. Literally nobody picks this for a bachelor/bachelorette party.”
“Except Ryker and Leslie,” Logan called from farther down the trail.
Everybody cheered. From the front of their single-file group, Ryker waved back at them with a grin. Laughter rippled up and down the line of people and faded into the roar of the distant waterfall.
If Clairedidintend to get married one day, how would she make this party her own? Maybe she’d bring everyone horseback riding. Or maybe that was too obvious.
All around, while their group of ten celebrated the bride and groom, the state of Virginia celebrated spring. Trees werebursting with blossoms, and the humans in the group sneezed occasionally. Birdsong filled the air, though most of the birds stayed invisible among newly leafy tree branches. The wedding party had been hiking up an incline for the last half hour, but the glossy paper map folded and tucked into Claire’s backpack promised an abrupt slope within the next half-mile, the waterfall’s basin at the bottom.
“Who’s hiked here before?” Philippa’s voice came from the back of their group. “It’s new to me, and I didn’t know it would be so pretty.”
“What?” Hannah slowed her pace to turn back.
“Pilippa wants to know who’s hiked here before,” Claire said.
“Sorry!” Philippa called. “I keep forgetting to raise my voice for y’all!”
Turned out, the strangest part of a coed bachelor/bachelorette party wasn’t the mix of men and women; it was the mix of vampires and humans. Jake and Hannah Farthering had joined eight vampires on the moderate-difficulty hiking trail, proving themselves to be two of the three gamest humans Claire had ever met. The third was of course Ember Reed.
“We don’t mean to be a nuisance,” Hannah said, face flushing so hard Claire caught the scent of her blood in her cheeks. “I’ll try not to ask every time.”
“No worries,” Claire said, but Hannah only bit her lip and turned to face forward again, all but jogging uphill to catch up with Jake. Claire matched her pace. “Hey. Hannah. I mean it. I don’t mind repeating stuff until the rest of these vampires learn the habit of raising their voices for you.”
Hannah’s steps slowed again as she considered. “Huh. You haven’t forgotten all morning.”
“My best friend of the last two decades is human.”
“Oh, right! You’re the vampire who knows Ember. It’s my absolutely favorite wink from the universe that your best friendmoved to my little town, and now my best friend is half-moving here. Like we were all destined to meet or something.”
It wasn’t Claire’s favorite wink from the universe. Not by a long shot. Hannah continued up the path, and Claire squashed the melancholy that tried to open like a toxic flower in her chest. She loved Ember’s new life…for Ember. For herself, she hadn’t yet filled the hole. She suddenly wanted to dart ahead, alone to the waterfall. But she wasn’t alone. Everyone on the hike today—they weren’t only Ryker and Leslie’s friends. They were hers too, many of them belonging to her heart for years before Ryker or Leslie ever met them.
Well, with one exception. One very avoidable exception who currently hiked at the back of the line. He had just enough courtesy in his little finger to have ignored Claire since everyone convened in the parking lot of the state preserve six minutes before the trails opened for the day. He’d been uncharacteristically quiet all morning, though now he spoke to Nova in tones low enough that Claire had easily avoided overhearing.
Ignoring each other was easy while they hiked single file. When they reached the waterfall, when everybody jumped in for a swim, she and Tai would have to say hello, if nothing else.
Which was fine, of course. She was a mature twenty-nine-year-old woman who would bite her own hand off before she embarrassed her friends by snubbing their other friend. In fact, she wouldn’t give Tai a chance to say hello. She’d say it first.
As they neared the top of the incline, Hannah and Jake breathed harder, and their sweat grew stronger in Claire’s nose. She didn’t mind, but she couldn’t fail to notice.
“Now that Ryker’s a fixture in Harmony Ridge,” Hannah said around breaths, “will we be seeing more of you too? We’re getting downright blasé about vampires these days. You could totally come visit.”
“I have a few times,” Claire said. “But if Ember and I want a long weekend to ourselves, it’s easier on everybody for her to come here.”
“Ohh, you mean because she’s mated to a wolf.”
“Right.”
“Hey,” Philippa called, this time with enough volume for the humans, “nobody answered my question. Who’s hiked here before?”
They went down the line with their answers. Of course Hannah and Jake, living in the bride’s hometown, were new visitors. The vampires were split. Mackey, like Philippa, was new to the place. Nova and Logan had been here countless times. Leslie and Ryker had found it a few months back and turned it into a frequent haunt.
“What about you, Claire?” Hannah said as they hit the summit of the trail and began the gradual descent to the roaring waterfall.
“It’s new to me,” Claire said, “but I like it. I guess I need to get outside more.”
