The truth was, she was very happy with how her life was shaping up. Truly.
Then this guy showed up, with Goth-hound howling along with her songs, interrupting that happiness with a tingle of “aren’t you lonely?”
It was inconvenient.
Did she want to think of Gabriel with those kinds of thoughts—thoughts of past loneliness and possible companionship?
When he didn’t answer, she said, “So the woman who moved to Indiana, she didn’t move to meet a guy? She wasn’t cheating?”
“Not that I know of.” He turned and caught her gaze, and his eyes got stormy.
“Did you cheat on her?”
“Nope.” He stepped over a log, then took her hand to help her step over. They reached down to lift Whiskey over.
Every time he did that, Whiskey would stiffen her spine and stretch her legs long, holding them rigid like the taxidermy of a dog.
It wigged Sommer out a little.
“Why does she do that?”
“I have no idea. My guess is she hates to be lifted off the ground, and that’s the posture that keeps her from freaking out.”
“Poor baby,” Sommer put her hand back on his pack and made sure her feet weren’t tangling with Whiskey’s lead. “So how do you define that? What does cheating mean to you?”
“Me personally? If I’m in a committed relationship, I don’t give anything else the kind of energy that belongs to my relationship. Not physical attention in mind or body, not emotional attention. I mean, I care about my friends. I show up for them emotionally. But when I’m in a couple relationship, my partner is my priority, and that’s where my energy goes. I’m trying to follow this conversation. Are you trying to let me know you’re a swinger, and you wouldn’t mind inviting me for a ménage à trois or something?”
“Would you be down for that?” she asked.
“No. But thank you.”
“Any special reason why not?”
“I’m just not a sexual daredevil. I take my health and the health of my future partners seriously. I prefer intimate and emotionally connected relationships with my sexual partners.”
“Future partners,” Sommer repeated. “Because you had focused, rightly so, on your brother. How is your family doing?”
“My family situation has shifted; we’re no longer in crisis. Now, we’re trying to grieve and heal.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thank you.”
They walked in silence.
“Sexual daredevil.” She laughed.
“Hey, if that’s the way you roll,” Gabriel said, sending her a grin, “good for you.”
“It is most certainly not how I roll.”
“I see tents,” Gabriel said.
“Green and orange? That’s them.” Sommer pushed his back, and they both raced forward.
The stench hit them hard.
Flies swarmed the area.
