Page 68 of The Lost Book of First Loves

She could even call Adam and have him send one of the corporate planes for her. He would do it in an instant, she knew.

And then what?

She would be stuck in her apartment in Seattle by herself. What would she be going back to? Adam had already told her she needed to take more time off before she returned to work. She knew they were handling things in her absence. The company wouldn’t fall apart without her.

She wasn’t ready to go back. Thatdidn’tmean she was ready to jump into something romantic with Beckett Hunter.

The rain started to fall as she reached the cabin, sizzling in the dirt and undergrowth with huge drops that smelled earthy and clean.

She made it up the steps with only a few drops hitting her, and she stood for several moments on the protected porch, listening to the rain plopping onto the roof.

She was torn between hoping it would stop so they could go on their hike and wishing it would rain all afternoon, rendering any trails impassable.

Rain or not, she ought to call Beckett right now and tell him she had changed her mind and wouldn’t be going on any hike with him.

Spending more time with the man was a recipe for disaster.He gave her thoughts she didn’t want to think and dreams she couldn’t afford to indulge.

She gripped the railing to keep from reaching for her phone and chickening out. Surely, she could go on a simple hike with the man without trying to jump him, for heaven’s sake.

She had nearly died, butnearlywas the operative word.

She was still alive. Somehow, she had to shift her mindset and start acting that way, embracing all the chances life was offering her. She didn’t want to hide away, afraid, in a little cabin in the woods.

She wanted to see the wonder of a mountain lake at sunset, even if it meant she had to take a few risks and push herself outside her comfort zone.

That didn’t mean she was ready to fall in love with the man. She certainly wasn’t. Anything lasting between them was completely impossible. She understood that.

But what would it hurt to indulge in a little crush? They were both unattached adults. If he wanted to kiss her, why shouldn’t she let him? She was smart enough to know it would only be a few kisses.

She could worry about that later. For now, she planned to go back to Carson Wells’s journals and all his angst and yearning for a woman he couldn’t have, writings that suddenly seemed to feel far more relatable.

Chapter 23

Alison

“Ooh. This one looks good.”

Ali picked a book out of a box she was supposed to be shelving. The colorful cover featured a bright cartoonish image of a woman in a lab coat being kissed by a nerdy-looking guy in glasses.

“Oh, man. I need it.” Tess Hutchins picked up another copy from the box. “I read her last book in, like, a day and a half. It was sooo good.”

Ali grinned. “I can’t wait to finally have time to read all the books I want to. As soon as I finish the bar exam, I’m going to curl up for days and work my way through my entire epic to-be-read stack.”

“Do you remember that summer when we devoured every single one ofThe Hunger Gamesbooks?” Tess asked as she pulled out more books to stack on the table of new releases in the front section of Bridger Books.

“Yes,” Alison admitted. “I reread that whole series a few years ago and enjoyed it every bit as much as I did when we were fourteen.”

She and Tess had been friends since middle school, when they had been assigned a partner project in their Wyoming History class and had extensively researched the fossil fields near the small, rugged mining town of Kemmerer. Her dad had taken them on a field trip there so they could wander through the museum, and she and Tess had been firm friends ever since.

Tess was a second-grade teacher at the elementary school now, but worked in the evenings and summers at the bookstore. Ali was thrilled to be able to spend time with her, too.

She was suddenly aware her time in Bridger Peak would be gone before she knew it, and she hadn’t spent nearly enough time with her friends.

“I hear there’s a concert tonight on the roof of the Bison Brew House,” she said on impulse. “I haven’t been there yet.”

“It’s really fun. The drinks are good and the sound system is fantastic. I saw J.C. Wyatt there a month ago.”

“This band is The Canyon Drifters. I’ve heard good things about them. Want to go with me?”

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