“Would that be okay? Do you want me to come?”
Her question lands softly in my ear. I press my thumb to my brow, pacing slowly across the kitchen floor while my brain scrambles for the safest answer. The one that won’t give anything away.
The truth pushes harder than my pride does.
“Aye,” I manage. “I…yeah, I’d like it if you could come.”
A beat. Then her breath catches. “I’d love to.”
Just three words, and suddenly, I’m standing up straighter.
“What time were you thinking?” she asks.
“Can we pick you up in an hour?”
“That’s perfect. I’ll text you my address.”
We hang up, but my pulse is doing something fuckingweird, and I don’t know what the hell to do with that, so I shove it deep and walk it off.
At the foot of the stairs, Isla’s already dressed in her purple hiking outfit, beaming up at me.
“Did she say yes?”
I nod once. “She’s in.”
She fist pumps the air, and damn it, I feel the grin tugging at my mouth before I can stop it.
I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.
She said yes, and god help me, I wanted her to.
seventeen
LUCY
What if it’s weird?
That’s the question looping in my head as I pace around my flat, my hiking boots squeaking against the laminate floor. What if it’s awkward? Stilted? What if we run out of things to say halfway up the trail and end up spending the rest of the day pretending not to notice?
I’m good with people. I’ve built a career out of smiling and small talk and knowing when someone needs an extra drizzle of honey in their tea. But this isn’t that. This ishim.
A rumble of tires on gravel cuts through my spiral. I dart to the window just as Aidan’s truck pulls up outside. My stomach gives one of those traitorous little flips that makes me question if I’ve eaten or just swallowed a live bird.
Bag. Door. Go.
I force myself to move before I can start overthinking again.
When I step outside, he’s already out of the truck. Sunlight catches the edges of his broad frame, haloing him in gold like some blue-collar god.
He gives me a nod—his version of a greeting—and I can’t help but notice the slight softness in his expression today.
“Morning,” Aidan says, his voice a low rumble that slides easily into the quiet hush of the morning.
“Morning!” I chirp back, my nerves buzzing just under my skin. I’m just stepping up to the truck when a high-pitched voice bursts through the glass.
“Miss Lucy!”
Isla’s face appears in the back window. “We’re going hiking!”
