“Brad’s the only person I’ve ever, umm. Y’know.”
My brain took a moment to catch up to what we were talking about.
“Slept with?” I asked.
Devin nodded. “Yeah. Is that sad? I can’t tell.”
I shrugged. “My list isn’t super long,” I said. “Never really had time.”
“I guess you don’t, you seem to work every hour of the day. You get up so early.”
“You get up at six,” I pointed out. “I’m not up that much earlier than you are.”
“Made for each other,” Devin said softly, and he couldn’t haveknownhow desperately I wanted that to be true, but it still hit me right in the center of my chest.
“Maybe.” I chewed on my lip. What else was I supposed to say to that?
“Will you walk with me?” Devin asked. “I don’t think this is serious, I think I just need to walk it out. It’ll get stiff if I don’t.”
“Sure.” I hesitated, and then set down the grocery bag I was still carrying at the edge of the path, nestled against the foot of a tree. “Remind me to grab that on the way back.”
“Is that for me?” Devin asked, pushing off the tree.
“Yeah.” I followed him down the trail, looking for signs that he needed help. I was sure he didn’t want to be treated like a porcelain doll, but he’d scared me. “Might be a treat in there for later.”
“Oooh, treats.” Devin grinned, touching a nearby tree trunk for stability.
I caught up to him and offered my arm instead, like I had for Julie.
My heart did a backflip when he took it, and then another one when he put his other hand over my arm, clinging to me. There’d been a lot of worst things that had ever happened to me over the course of this trip so far, but this was thebestthing that’d ever happened to me.
“Figured you could use the boost. Plus, I wanted to apologize for earlier,” I said.
“Apologize forwhat?” Devin asked.
“For not being able to help you. For not even being able to get in the water. I’m sorry.”
Devin made a soft noise and clung a little more tightly to my arm. “I’ll teach you to swim when we get back. If you want.”
“Sure,” I said, without really processingeverythinghe was offering. More time alone. Very little clothing.
At least it was proof that he didn’t hate me now that he knew justhownot-athletic I was.
We walked for maybe another thirty seconds before Devin sat down on a fallen log that I suspected had been moved to the edge of the path for the purpose, dragging me with him.
Between my foot, I spotted a tiny purple flower I couldn’t immediately identify, reaching down to touch the delicate petals without conscious thought.
“In Spring comes,” I murmured. “A mender of things with eager fingers.”
“Shakespeare?” Devin asked.
“Cummings,” I said, flattered that he was interested at all.
“I was close.” Devin laughed, self-conscious.
“I’d offer to teach you about poetry,” I said. “But I’m not sure you’d be interested.”
“I think that’d depend on the teacher,” Devin said, shuffling closer and leaning his weight against me. “I was wrong about my ankle,” he added. “It hurts.”
