Page 34 of Aim for Love

Scott laughs. “Mollie, wouldIneed to ask before every time I corrected your form?”

I make a face at him. Of course he would. I like Scott, but I don’t want his hands on me. Especially right now, when he’s half-way drunk and trying to start trouble. Nora is laughing at him, encouraging him to keep going.

“It’s OK, you know,” Tom announces then. “I know you boys date around. It makes sense you would meet people while working.”

While I’m watching Scott exchange a smirk with Tyler, I catch Hunter’s grimace out of the corner of my eye.

“In fairness, I’m only dating the one girl,” Tyler offers. “And we didn’t meet on the job.”

“I worry about other things with you,” Tom says, mouth quirking.

“Hey! Like what?”

“And I don’t worry about Hunter dating a nice young woman who went on one of my tours,” Tom continues, ignoring Tyler. He looks at Hunter and claps him on the back, swaying into him a little. “You’re a good kid, Hunter. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“That doesn’t leave very much off the list,” Scott teases.

Tom nods and wipes his brow. “That’s true. But I don’t have to tell you not to do anythingHunterwouldn’t do, now do I?”

Scott snorts. “You mean, likeanythingfun?”

“No seriously, like what?” Tyler insists, returning to the topic.

Tom turns to him and starts to explain or soothe him, but I ignore them in favor of Hunter, who whispers in my ear, “Are you ready to go?”

Nora, Sophie, and Scott are starting the dance party portion of the evening. The owner is gathering up axes and hurriedly putting them away. “Yes, definitely,” I say.

We go back to Hunter’s room at Tom’s place. With the house empty, I wander around a little more than I did last time. There are Uncrustables in the freezer and a lot of different kinds of deli meat in the fridge. The pantry is full of trail mix and peanut butter. The bathroom smells a bit like a wet dog, and there’s a book about orienteering on the back of the toilet.

“Are you done exploring?” Hunter asks when I join him in his bedroom. He’s stretched out on his bed reading a book, and puts a bookmark at his place when he looks up at me. I wonder if this is what it’d be like if we lived together: me always catching Hunter with a book. I like the way he looks, relaxed and unconcerned about me being nosy.

“For now,” I tease. “It’s funny—it’s easy to tell what stuff is yours versus the other guys.”

“You think?”

“You can test me later.” I climb onto the bed and stretch out parallel to him. He smiles at me and moves some hair off my face that’s fallen there. “What are you reading?” I dip the cover of the book he’s holding toward me. It’s calledThe Art of Letting Go.

“It’s a book about rewiring your brain.”

“Hmm…Is it working?”

His smile is a little sad. “I don’t think so.”

“Well, that’s pretty hard to do. What needs rewiring exactly?”

“Oh, my worries about the future, I guess. My asking questions like…what happens next? And what does this mean.” He strokes the back of my hand where it rests on the bed between us.

“Those all seem normal to me.” Those same questions are on almost constant repeat in my own head. About Hunter, about life. Are we actually going to talk aboutus? I’m not sure I’m ready. That conversation may lead to talking about our ending, and I don’t think I’m ready for this to end yet.

“Normal,” he agrees, gaze skipping past mine to the other side of the room. “And maybe not helpful.”

I nod and flop onto my back. His pillow smells like him. Like the outdoors and some kind of harsh soap. “Do you worry about things like your job?”

“Yeah,” he agrees, leaning over me to put the book on the floor by his bed. “I worry about how long I can do it and what Iwill do after I can’t anymore.” He stays like that, half resting on me and half on the bed beside me. I like the weight of him over my body, the sense of safety it gives me.

“What did you want to be when you grew up?” I ask him.

“A cowboy.” He smiles. “And I kind of am now, in some ways. Still, when you’re a kid, you don’t think about all the problems that come with a career, do you?”

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