Page 67 of Leo and His Love Bunny

“Yep. By the time Easter came around, people were doing it with me, and showing up at the bottom of the trail just to see if I would keep going. I actually have a thing in my junior year yearbook about it.”

“Wow. She’s more than a cupcake girl.”

I laugh. It’s funny how he can always do that to me. Just take something benign and turn it into something funny.

“That’s me. Hidden talents all the way.”

“What about your senior year?”

“I didn’t want that pressure. I started doing it because I enjoyed it, because it gave me something to focus on rather than my teenaged problems. But, when everyone was expecting me to, it took the fun out of it, if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah. I know exactly what you mean.”

There is too much empathy in his voice for me not to know for sure that he knows what I am talking about, but I’m not exactly sure what it relates to in his life.

“Hockey?” I ask.

He nods. “That, and after you’ve been successful for so long, people just expect you to be a success in whatever you do. And, you can end up putting a lot of pressure on yourself.”

“I guess you know that more than me. I couldn’t take that kind of pressure, and my senior year is when I really started getting serious about baking.”

The boys are having fun, not standing under the waterfall exactly, but putting their heads and hands under. It’s just a stream, and the waterfall is only maybe six feet high. Plus, it’s been a little bit dry this summer, and while it’s more than a trickle, it’s definitely not the roaring that it is in the spring.

“They’re having a really good time. This was awfully nice of you.”

I had noticed a difference in the boys when we went to pick them up. Their dad is dying, and I think they know it.

“You know, I guess I haven’t said anything, but it was because of you that I’m doing this.”

“No. It’s because you want to,” I say with confidence. I know he’s not doing it just to impress me.

“No, really. It’s not something I’m doing thinking I’m going to win brownie points with you or something, but it’s because you help me live to a higher standard. I don’t even think you realize it, but it’s just a real blessing to have a friend to push me to be better than what I am, and not in a pushy, mean way, but in a way that really inspires me to want to be better.”

I am glad he clarifies, because I don’t like the idea that I am pushing him to do anything.

The boys are done playing in the water, and I almost envy them, because while I’m still hot and sweaty, they look like they really cooled off. Of course, they’re going to be in wet clothes for the rest of the hike, but we’re more than half done.

Getting to the top is almost as good as stopping at the waterfall, since the view is amazing. We can’t see the town, but we can see miles and miles of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which I’ll never grow tired of looking at. They’re beautiful, and they always make me feel closer to the Lord. I just don’t know how anyone can look at them and not be in awe of their Creator. The idea that something that amazing and majestic formed out of an explosion is beyond my comprehension.

“I’ll never get tired of that view,” Leo says. I get the feeling that he loves the mountains as much as I do.

“It’s worth the walk up.” That’s what I figured when I started. I just love the view. And it was a way to destress after a hard day at school. I suppose all kids go through an awkward year or two, but it’s usually in junior high. For me, it was my junior year when I realized that a friend that I had had since elementary school had taken things that I had told her in confidence and used them against me and turned David, the guy I had a crush on, against me.

I guess I could have forgiven that, but she spent the entire year getting everybody she could to make fun of me. It had started at the end of my sophomore year and I guess going back to school stressed me out.

The hike helped. And, it helped my standing in the school as well, once people caught on. I looked like a trendsetter instead of a victim. Which I preferred for sure.

We make it back down, and the boys’ chatter beside us make it obvious that they had a great time, and it’s also obvious that they idolize their step-brother.

Our water bottles are empty by the time we head into town, and when Leo suggests stopping at the local burger joint for burgers, fries and shakes, the boys cheer.

The four of us sit at a table, with the boys talking about the hike and how they were able to make it the entire way tothe top. They had a lot of fun playing in the water, and they’re satisfyingly dirty and muddy and look like healthy boys who spent the day outside.

Leo and I smile at each other and at the boys, listening and occasionally answering questions or interjecting a comment.

Leo is proud of his brothers, and I can’t say I blame him.

It feels very... Cozy I guess. And it makes me think that this is what having a family with Leo would be like.

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