Page 38 of Fight Or Flight

He’d learned his lesson about starting something without thinking. He swore he would never do it again. Getting involved with her would leave him worse off than he was now. He had to be smarter about things this time.

He broke eye contact and pulled his arm away from her. The cool air that replaced her warm body was like a slap to the face.

“We should . . . probably get going.”

She nodded, then stood. “Yeah. Probably.”

He stood up and backed away from her, putting more distance between them. That’s what he needed. Distance would clear his mind. He turned away from the cliff and started back to the path when her voice stopped him.

“Wait, I need a picture here.”

She pulled her phone from her pocket, and he stepped back and reached out for it, but she didn’t hand it to him.

“Do you want to take one with me?”

“Uh, sure,” he said. He wasn’t capable of any more denials. The last one took every ounce of willpower from him.

He stood next to her, and she held the phone out to take a selfie.

“Closer,” she said. “Now squat.” When their faces aligned, she took a picture. He moved, but she held him in place.

“Are you that eager to hear Michael Bublé again?”

Ethan rolled his eyes as she laughed at him, then snapped another picture. Finally, she pulled away and looked at it with a smile.

“That’s a good one. Do you mind if I post it to Instagram?”

Ethan laughed and shook his head. “No, I don’t mind. You know, when we first met, I thought you were some silly influencer trying to get a picture in the waterfall.”

Her smile turned up a notch, and she beamed at him. “Really?”

“Yup.”

“And what do you think of me now?”

Ethan’s smile slowly retreated as he thought about the question. What did he think of her? He wasn’t sure. But he’d be better off not trying to make sense of his warring body and brain.

“I think I need more empirical evidence before I can make a conclusive judgment.”

“How very analytical of you, doctor.”

Ethan gave a nod. “Come on, let’s get this day song over with.”

Ethan swung his baseball bag over his shoulder and jogged from the parking lot to the diamond. He was ten minutes late. His team was already on the field warming up. It had taken longer than he thought to drop Natalie off and get his work done. When he got closer, he saw that Adam was sitting alone in the dugout, staring at his phone, waiting for him. They usually warmed up together.

“Hey, sorry I’m late.”

He sat down on the bench to change into his cleats.

“Would your lateness have anything to do with the scary hot homeless girl?”

“What?”

Adam lifted his phone and pointed the screen at Ethan.

He was bent over, pulling on his cleats. He glanced up at Adam’s phone. It took him a second to register that he was looking at Natalie’s Instagram. More specifically, the selfie she’d taken at the top of the lookout.

Her smile was otherworldly.

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