Page 50 of The Moonlight Healers

* * *

The air was heavy as they made their way back to the parking lot, a summer storm approaching from the valley. Louise’shair and clothes were soaked, and her shoes squeaked with each step, but she felt lighter, happier than she’d been in days. They had spent nearly two hours swimming, lying in the sun, talking about music and TV shows and books.

But despite the reprieve of the afternoon, reality loomed larger with every step down the trail. She would have to face her mother and grandmother when she got back. Peter and Caroline had grown quieter too, as though they also sensed the realities of life waiting for them. She knew Peter was dreading the fall, staying home in Richmond while all his friends left for college, and Caroline was likely lost in her own, much more serious concerns, navigating the catastrophe of her mother’s illness.

A rumble of thunder echoed as they arrived at a steep bend in the trail.

“Not much farther,” Caroline said.

The sky was still blue above them, but Louise knew how fast storms could hurtle down from the mountains.

They increased their pace, Caroline in the front and Louise in the back.

Between them, Peter looked down at his phone. “My mom is so pissed. I told her I’d be back by now.”

“Sorry, I didn’t realize how long this trail is,” Louise said as she stumbled slightly over one of the many loose rocks in that stretch. She was about to warn Peter to watch his step when one of his legs rolled to the left and he fell hard onto the ground.

Louise reached him first and knelt beside him.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Peter muttered, grabbing his ankle as he pushed himself up to a seated position. “This is a joke. Freaking car accident two days ago and now this? You’re bad luck, you know that?” he said, humor in his eyes despite the pain.

“Can you put weight on it?” Caroline asked as the wind picked up out of nowhere, gusting through the tree canopy, swirling leaves through the air.

Peter gritted his teeth and tried to move his ankle. “I think I tore something.”

Louise placed her hand on his ankle, and before she realized what she was doing, it was too late. She felt the heat immediately as her skin made contact with his skin, her nerve endings buzzing.

“I don’t…” Peter fell silent as more thunder rumbled above them. His eyes traveled from her face to her hand on his ankle.

There was a quiet so distinct that Louise felt it curl around her body, as though the three of them were inside a little pocket of stillness.

She drew away quickly, fingering the strap of her backpack. “We should get back to the car. Before the storm starts. We’ll help you, Peter.” She stood and hugged her arms to her body.

Slowly, Peter got to his feet. He stepped cautiously at first, then put his full weight on the injured ankle. “I don’t think I need help. It doesn’t hurt anymore. Not even a little.”

“Great,” Louise said, her chest tightening, avoiding their eyes.

She took off down the trail, the wind howling violently after her. With one more enormous clap of thunder, the sky cracked open and the forest turned gray with rain.

* * *

Rain pounded the windshield. By the time they arrived at Caroline’s house the driveway was a river of red clay mud.

“Thanks for…for the afternoon,” Caroline said from the back seat. She got out and hurried toward her house.

“The storm should be over soon,” Louise said to Peter, hoping to break the tension, so that they could both ignore what had happened on the trail. “The sky is brightening up. Should be fine for your drive home.”

Peter only nodded.

Louise wanted nothing more than to spend the next two dayswith him in Richmond. And yet she might have ruined any chance at normalcy by being so reckless.

When they passed the farm stand a few minutes later, he turned abruptly into the empty parking lot. The rain had finally stopped.

“I thought you were going to drop me at the house.”

Peter put the car in Park and shook his wet curly hair out of his eyes. “What happened out there, Louise?”

Louise felt suddenly claustrophobic, trapped inside the tight space with only Peter and the sound of the car AC. “What do you mean?”

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