“Am not.”
“Are too. I just want to get a good look at it.”
Meanwhile the snake continues to rattle its tail and now it’s coiling into a tight ball.
“Anna—”
She looks back and smiles at me and just as she starts to turn around the snake lunges towards her.
I scream, the sound echoes around the dense forest. Then she starts to scream as well. I grab her hand and start running. I only slow down after we clear the trees.
She’s breathing heavy next to me and I have to lean over, placing my hands on top of my knees to try to catch my breath.
“That was so stupid! Are you hurt? Did it get you?!” I ask in between labored breaths.
Anna starts laughing, “no it didn’t get me, but you should have seen your face!”
“Hey!” I say, suddenly offended. “You screamed too!”
“Only because you did! It wasn’t even close to me. I wasn’t scared.”
I roll my eyes, then close them, asking for patience. I love her so much but sometimes I want to kill her. “Next time, can we just not get that close, okay?” I need my racing heart to calm down, and I need my best friend to learn some semblance of survival skills.
She shrugs her shoulders, “I’ll think about it. Now let’s go eat. My mom said she would make us grilled cheese.”
“You’re going to be the death of me one day.”
She smiles as she takes off towards her house and I have to run twice as hard to keep up because my heart’s still racing.
“Maybe we should start with something less—adventurous on your list.” I can hear the hesitation in his voice and that has my stomach pitching.
“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.” I know he doesn’t owe me anything, we don’t know each other very well and this is my list, not his, but I won’t lie and say I’m not disappointed that he’s bailing on me.
He puts the paint roller down on the tray that’s almost empty. We’ve been working on painting the house all week and for some reason we keep getting paired together. Something I’mnotdisappointed about.
“I didn’t say I didn’t want to. I just think we need an icebreaker before we pull out the big guns and go straight to diving off a bridge.” That last part comes out a little strangled and he shifts uncomfortably. The amount of relief I feel when he says he still wants to should be concerning, but I try not to think too hard about it.
“Okay,” I say as I timidly smile.
His shoulders drop in relief, only making his reaction even more puzzling. Maybe he’s scared, or afraid of heights?
The left side of his mouth kicks up into a half smile, “Okay.”
When I don’t say anything, his eyebrows rise up on his forehead and he asks, “What else is on your list?”
“Oh, right!” I reach up and playfully slap my forehead with my palm. Of course he was waiting for me to offer other suggestions.
I pull out my phone and go to the Notes app on my home screen. Over the years, my list has grown to an astronomical size.There’s no way I could get to all of it, but since checking things off has become a reality, I did sort them into three categories depending on my level of interest. Plus the ones I'm doing with my parents.
One being extremely interested—it’s a must-do. Two being moderately interested—it’s a want, not a need. And lastly, the least interested category—these are theif it happens, it happens, but I won’t cry myself to sleep if I miss out on them.
Surprisingly, there are only ten on my must-do list. I’m too busy reading my list to realize Rowan has come up and is standing right behind me, peering over my shoulder. I feel his hot breath across my ear and shiver.
I sneak a peek over my shoulder. As soon as our eyes connect, a slow and sexy smirk grows on his face. My heart rate increases and I feel a warmth spread low in my belly at the sight.
I turn back around before my heated cheeks give me away. One I added last minute after meeting Rowan and would be a perfect icebreaker—no pun intended. “Can you teach me how to ice skate?”
He chuckles, the sound kicks up that warmth in my lower belly to another level. “Can I teach you how to ice skate? What kind of question is that?Hell yeah,I can.”
