Page 87 of The Lost Book of First Loves

Outside, the air smelled sweet and clean. She soaked it into her lungs. It would be hard to leave this restful paradise in a few weeks to return to Seattle and the hectic frenzy of her life there.

“Make sure you tell me if I’m going too fast,” Beck said, then took off behind the cabin in a direction she hadn’t yet explored, following a trail through the woods that sloped up a low hill.

She was relieved she had no problem keeping up with him, though he paused a few times along the way, ostensibly to point out something in the terrain, but she knew it was mostly to allow her to catch her breath.

After a short walk, much of it uphill, they reached a clearing and what looked like an old stone foundation about twenty feet by twenty feet.

It was positioned at the top of a small hill with commanding views in every direction.

“How beautiful. I had no idea this was up here.”

“It’s well hidden by the trees. You have to know where you’re going or you will miss it.”

From here, she could see the rooftop of the large ranch house where Ali and her grandmother lived and the smaller cabin where she was staying.

The two of them sat on the higher of the foundation remnants, the one wall that remained about thirty inches above the ground.

She pulled out her water bottle and sipped. “Why would they move the ranch house from here? It’s so beautiful.”

“The spring that used to be here dried up. As the ranching family living here at the time had to dig a new well anyway,they moved down the hill. It’s better protected from the elements, too, especially the wind.”

“That makes sense.”

They sat in silence, enjoying the soft breeze while Hank sniffed at everything in sight.

She was intensely aware of him beside her. “Thank you for bringing me up here. I’ll definitely come back.”

“It’s a bit of a climb. If you’re worried about making the trip on your own, I’m happy to come with you.”

She studied him in the afternoon sunlight. “Why are you being so nice to me?Everyonearound here is so nice. I can’t figure it out.”

“You say that like it’s unusual in your life. Why shouldn’t we be nice?”

“It all feels so... over-the-top. Alison has invited me to stay in her father’s writing cabin, and the two of you have given me a task I value by trusting me to look through Carson’s papers. You have also let me watch you work when you obviously didn’t want to, and twice now you’ve dropped everything to take me on a hike.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call this hiking. We walked five hundred yards up a well-worn path.”

“Well, thank you, anyway. I am grateful for your kindness, even if I am not sure I will ever understand it.”

“You’re welcome,” he said. “And I’m sorry more people haven’t been kind to you in your life.”

He spoke with a sincerity that made her want to turn to him, wrap her arms around his neck and rest her cheek against his broad chest.

The impulse shocked her, especially after she had spent nearly an entire day telling herself all the reasons why nurturing this attraction to him was a bad idea.

“We can head back down whenever you’re ready,” he said.

Pushing away the sudden yearning, she focused on the captivating view for another few moments before standing up.

As before, Hank led the way down the trail.

If she hadn’t been admiring the chaos of wildflowers growing around them, she might have noticed the softball-size rock on the path. Instead, she didn’t know it was there until her foot came down unevenly on it and she started to stumble.

She might have pitched forward if Beck hadn’t reached for her, his hands sure and steady.

“Easy there.”

“Thank you,” she said, painfully aware her voice sounded far more breathless than it should have, simply because she suddenly found herself in the arms of her very attractive temporary neighbor.

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