Ugh.
“Have you ever been to the falls before?” he asks.
“Of course.”
“I forget that you’ve been here so long. I can’t place you here with my memories and it feels odd. Like you know this town, and I know this town, and yet I don’t know you.”
I shrug. “What do you want to know?”
Our feet crunch beneath the tiny white stones, and I shake a pebble free from my sandals.
The sound of rushing water grows louder, and it grows cooler as we step down into a gorge.
“What’s your favorite food?”
“Seaweed salad.”
He laughs. “Be serious.”
“I am. I can’t get enough of it.”
“They have seaweed salad in Cedar Brook Falls?”
“Yep. Mr. Balderson started ordering it and some other things for me since I asked him to.”
“Mr. Balderson? He has never allowed special requests before.”
“Well, I asked him nicely.”
He looks over at me and smiles. “I’m sure that was it.”
“What does that mean?”
“Only that I think it may have something to do with him wanting to please a pretty girl.”
I shrug. “Well, that’s his problem if that’s why he did it. I still get my seaweed salad every week.”
“Touché. Okay, what do you do for fun besides yoga?”
“Oh, yoga isn’t fun. It’s hard work. Mmm…” I take my time to think about this one. I used to go for walks with Charlotte every night or play catch with Charlie, but since they moved out, I’ve done those things less.
“I went to Vegas with Frankie a couple of weeks ago.”
“That’s right. You mentioned that at dinner. Was it fun?”
“Ah… it was memorable.”
He stops just before we make it to the falls. “What happened?”
“Oh, it’s not my story to tell. But let’s just say it gave me another reason not to trust anything that comes out of a man’s mouth.”
He touches his chest, acting wounded. “That hurts. I haven’t lied to you, have I?”
“No. You haven’t.”
I stop as the falls come into view. The white rushing water foams at the bottom and the rocks below my feet are now grey and slick from the moisture and stream. Casey holds my hand as we navigate closer to the feet of the falls.
I squeeze his hand. “This.”
