She laughed. “Oh, yeah.”
We passed a bunch of other hikers waiting in line to take a selfie in front of a tree that was painted hot pink, and I rolled my eyes.
“You didn’t see a lot of that side to me. Back home,there was a lot more going on.”
Nairie looked at me sadly and brushed my arm with her fingertips. “I’m sorry. Why didn’t you say anything?”
I shrugged and gently grabbed her elbow to steer her away from stepping in a pile of coyote poop. “Didn’t want to drag either of you into it. Visiting you guys was supposed to be my vacation. Well, as much of a vacation as you could hope for with my brother around.”
Nairie nodded. “He was quite the asshole.”
“He was and still is, indeed. Not a very good brother at all, but once I got into the service, I made a new family. Coming back home and running the inn was an adjustment. But I’m grateful because it allows me to take care of my mum. And it’s a legacy I want to leave for my kids one day. Something I can build from the ground up.”
Nairie smiled, her brown eyes appearing to sparkle, and dare I say, I almost blushed. I felt like a teenager around her, and it was unnerving as hell. There seemed to be a constant buzz of anxiety and excitement whenever I got to spend time alone with her.
We started walking up one of the inclines, and I tried not to notice the way her breasts heaved. “How are you coping with everything?”
Nairie looked at me breathless and laughed.
“What?”
Nairie answered between huffs. “How are you not out of breath right now?”
I smiled.
“Don’t answer that. Just give me a second.”
We got to a place where the ground leveled out so Nairie could catch her breath. A pretty flush colored her cheeks, and I gave her some water. She wrapped her lips around the top, and I averted my gaze to a couple ofsquirrels fighting over a discarded protein bar.
“Okay. Your question. I’m coping with it. Totally got a handle on this coping stuff. I’m the Francis Ford Coppola of coping.”
We continued up another incline as two men coming down the hill locked in on Nairie’s ample cleavage. I gave them a death glare, which caught their attention, and they scurried faster past us.
I looked back at her. “Yeah, you sound super normal talking about it.”
Nairie wasn’t going to be an easy nut to crack, so I kept opening up. “Lindsey was kind of like a second mum to me.”
“Really?”
We encountered a ledge in the path, and I went up first, offering my hand to help her up. Her small hand gripped mine as she smiled widely. It was that look of absolute trust that gave me a gut punch every time. I let her go, and we continued as I shook out my hand to try and focus on my words and not her touch.
“My mum was so busy all the time. She worked multiple jobs, so Angus and I were left to our own devices, and he was shit for company. Whenever I’d come visit here, Lindsey had the time to ask me questions a normal mum would ask. She was always such a good hugger too. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mum, but she’s a tough lady. She’s been through a lot and was trying to keep our family above water. Lindsey was lucky she had her family’s pub and that it was doing well. So when I came here, it was nice to be taken care of for a change.”
Nairie looked at me with pity.
I stopped and gazed at the expanse of the canyon. Cars bustled on the streets down below, and the smogcleared enough at this time of day so you could see the mountains across the valley.
“Don’t do that,” I said.
“Do what?”
“Don’t look at me like I’m a sick puppy.” I nudged her shoulder with my own. “I’m okay, love. Me and Mum are on better terms now. I don’t blame her for anything, but I’m glad I had someone like Lindsey. Her death hit me hard.”
Nairie was quieter now. “She was like a second mom to me too.”
Nairie was super close to her family, so this was a surprise.
She huffed out a breath. “My family loves so damn hard sometimes it’s suffocating.”
