“We could go,” he offers. “I’ve flown over it, but never seen it close up. The falls are supposed to be beautiful, and there’s a Bigfoot museum nearby. That could be fun.”
“A Bigfoot museum?”
“Yeah. One of my buddies took his wife there while they were out visiting. He said it was pretty entertaining.”
I’m torn. On one hand, itdoessound like fun. And heading out to Mount Hood on my next day off sounds a heck of a lot better than moping in my apartment.
But I’m not looking for a relationship. And if Webb is… I don’t want to lead him on.
“I’m not sure,” I say. “I work a lot. And I’m not sure when we’d have the same day off.”
Webb replies, “I have to head up to Seattle tomorrow, but I’ll be back the day after. After that, my schedule’s pretty flexible. So I could—” He stops. “Maybe Mount Hood is too far. You probably don’t want to drive all that way, especially not knowing me well…”
“It’s not that.”
He rises from his chair and pulls out his wallet, then extracts a business card from it. On the front is a simple logo of twin arrows intersected by a blade. The text above it saysBlade and Arrow Security.
“It’s the company I work for,” he explains. “There are three branches, one in New York, one outside San Antonio, and ours, which is right nearby. You can look up the website. My name isn’t on there, but you can see we’re legit. I’m not some weird creeper who just wants to get you alone on a mountain.”
A beat later, he turns red. “Shit. That sounded bad.”
I can’t help laughing. “Maybe. But I don’t think you’re a creeper. Or that you want to get me alone on a mountain.”
“No?” He cocks his head. “That’s good.”
“No,” I affirm. “I already thought you were nice from the times you came into the diner. And what you did on the street, and bringing me here… making me drink my sugary coffee andgetting me ice… That doesn’t seem like something a creepy guy would do.”
A crooked smile quirks his lips. “Just a bossy one?”
My lips twitch. “Maybe a little.”
“Do you think,” he adds as his thumb strokes across the back of my hand, “you might want to go, then? Or if that’s too much, just dinner in Williston?”
The logical voice in my head pipes up, asking,Shouldn’t you be focused on getting your life back on track? And not going on a date with a man who already intrigues you more than he should?
Probably.
But itwouldbe nice to get away for a day. And I just know, without having to look up the website of Webb’s company, that he’s a good guy. One I’m pretty sure I can trust.
Friends can hang out,I remind the logical voice.Friends can take a perfectly innocent trip to Mount Hood to see the Bigfoot museum. And really, couldn’t I use another friend right now?
The logical voice doesn’t have an answer to that.
With silence echoing in my head, I meet Webb’s gaze and say, “Yes. I’d like to go to Mount Hood with you.”
He smiles, his eyes brightening along with it. “Great. It’s a date.”
I could tell him it’s not. That it’s just a friendly outing. But I don’t want to ruin the moment, so instead, I return his smile. “I can’t wait.”
CHAPTER 4
WEBB
As Mount Hoodemerges from behind the trees to our left, Noelle leans forward in her seat and gasps.
“Webb, look.” She puts her hand on my leg for emphasis. “I can’t believe how close we are.”
“It looks a lot different from here,” I agree. “I’m glad we got nice weather for the trip, so we have full visibility.”
