Page 20 of Major Love

Yeah. She’s a knockout.

No change there.

I run a hand through my hair and lift a corner of the tarp, showing her what’s beneath it.

“You dug a hole,” she says teasingly, and I breathe out a laugh as I look up at her.

Sometimes when we were in high school she would get playful like this, when she got the courage to come and hang out with her older brother and his friends.

She was smart, funny, and so pretty it was fucking crazy, and I used to love making her laugh, even when she got all shy for sitting with upperclassmen.

She was the sweetest thing I’d ever seen and I would have done anything to keep her forever.

I drop the tarp back over the hole and get to my feet, the height and breadth of my body shielding Sunday from the rain.

“Want me to tell you what I’m building, or d’you want it to be a surprise?”

“A surprise,” she says breathlessly, and my eyes crinkle at the corners.

“Okay,” I murmur back to her. “A surprise it is. I need to set up a canopy this morning, and then I’ll be on my way. The tarp’s been fine so far but the winter weather’s been holding out on us. So in a couple of days’ time, it’s gonna come down tenfold.”

Sunday nods up at me, still shielding her eyes from the rain with her hands.

And despite the increasing rainfall, neither one of us makes a move to head back inside the cabin. Probably because as soon as we’re back in there, Sunday will get ready to head out herself. And then I’ll be standing in her brother’s yard, looking at the pine trees and wondering if this even happened.

“What are you gonna do while you’re in Phoenix Falls?” I ask, not sure how to broach the question that I really want answering.

Like, “how long are you staying for?” followed by, “I wanna take you on a date.”

“There’s some stuff that I need to do for Casey,” she says, soft and honest. “And after that, I’m gonna take his truck and go see the mountains. Drive up some of the passes so that I can see the forests in the snow. I’m not doing any hiking, but…”

She shrugs and glances toward the emerald evergreens behind her brother’s cabin.

“It’s been a long time for me,” she says gently, “since I’ve been in a place as beautiful as Phoenix Falls.”

I nod down at her in understanding, unable to imagine what living in Nashville must have been like. I’ve got Phoenix Falls running through my blood, and as soon as I left the Army I knew where I wanted to be.

“If you’re driving through the mountains, make sure you check the weather before you head. And let someone know where you’re going, just in case a blizzard hits out of the blue.”

“Does that happen a lot?” she asks, her brow creasing with concern.

“More than you’d want it to,” I admit, before tipping my head back toward the cabin, signalling for her to go inside because she’s getting drenched out here.

She heads in first and I follow behind her, keeping my gaze strictly eye-level as we ascend the back porch.

And then a thought flashes through my mind as I pull open the door for her.

“Avoid Bear Pass if you can. Don’t know why, but it’s been a hotspot with hikers lately.”

Sunday turns around with a naughty smile, lightly perching her behind on the back of the sofa once we’re inside.

Her feet dangle above the floor before she crosses one golden thigh over the other.

“What are you, the mountain police?” she teases, her voice light and husky.

I give her a smirk of my own before pulling out my wallet and showing her what’s inside.

Her eyes widen as she leans forward to look at the authorised search-and-rescue card, and then she blinks back up at me, whispering, “Oh… you actually are.”

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