Page 56 of City of Love

“What?” I say when he trails off.

“I thought about going back to school,” he says. “Last night, actually.”

I crane my neck to smile at him. “I think that’s a great idea!” Then I frown. “Why did you stop in the first place? What were you studying?”

He shrugs, and I look back to face forward again so he doesn’t feel uncomfortable with me staring at him.

“Nonprofit management. I got frustrated with how long the degree was taking, not to mention how long it would take to move things along in the real world. Bureaucracy and red tape and all. But that seems to be the best legal way to do things.”

“I mean, on a large scale, probably,” I say, turning over his words. Nonprofit management…that sounds interesting. “You can always hold bake sales or something though,” I say, tucking that idea away to look at later.

He laughs softly as he continues to massage my shoulders. I’m pretty sure there’s no sunscreen left on his hands anymore, but I’m not going to stop him. This feels heavenly.

Maybe a littletoogood, considering I’d like to convince myself I don’t have feelings for him.

“And what are you going to do?” he says, his hands still working. “You said you wanted to figure out what to study. What have you decided so far?”

“I haven’t,” I say with a sigh, pushing away thoughts of any sort of romance with this man. “I’ve crossed out social work so far. I’ve also considered event planning—”

“I could see you as an event planner,” he says mildly. “Flitting around with an earpiece, stressed out of your mind, making sure all the flowers—”

“I would not be stressed out of my mind—”

“Reassuring a sobbing bride that she’s making the right choice—”

“You paint a grim picture,” I cut him off again, turning my head and glaring at him.

He laughs, his eyes sparkling at me. “Fine,” he says, his hands finally stopping. He pulls his knees up, wrapping his arms around them as he says, “So what do you think about event planning, then?”

I look wistfully at his hands before saying, “I’d probably like event planning.” I pause, thinking for a minute. “All the things that originally appealed to me about the career still sound great, but then I remember the stuff you mentioned last night—about the guys you worked with—and I might want to do something…bigger? Something that can help more people,” I say, shrugging. “So event planning might be off the list too.”

He nods. “That makes sense.”

We just look at each other for a moment. I try not to notice that his eyes are never as gentle as they are when they look at me. I try not to notice the tripping of my pulse. I try to tell my heart that this man is not for me.

But my heart is not particularly interested in what I have to say. I was hoping the impromptu shoulder massage might prove that I was imagining the sparks between us, but…

As I look at Noel, I watch his green eyes drift slowly to my lips. Just as that happens, though, he seems to realize it. He jerks back and then shuffles back on the blanket, looking everywhere but at me.

“Are you done eating?” he says, glancing over at my plate.

“Yes,” I say, trying not to let any of my emotions show. Because there are alotof emotions, and they’re contradictory and confusing. Hurt and embarrassment that he pulled away so quickly, but also relief. Frustration at myself for developing feelings for him.

Just…a lot of emotions. Emotions, and a question. Noel is so controlled, so rigidly contained all the time—what would it look like if he let go? What would it look like if that restraint snapped?

“Can we go see the waterfall?” I say, injecting my tone with normalcy and pulling our conversation away from whatever just happened.

“Yeah,” he says, holding out his hand, and I pass him my plate. “You’ll like it.”

He sounds completely normal and not awkward or weird, and my insides flutter with relief. I smile. “I’m excited.” Maybe I’ll be able to go in the water. That would be nice; it’s surprisingly hot today considering it’s still June.

We get the basket packed up and then begin the walk to the waterfall. It takes us a few minutes to get there, and when we round a corner, I at last see the entrance—what looks like a big hole in the rock. We follow the path up and through the entry, stepping into what looks like some sort of cave or cavern.

The waterfall rushes down one of the walls, flowing through a hole at the top. It empties into a tiny little stream that runs through the floor of the cavern. I’m not sure if it’s natural or man-made, but either way it’s beautiful.

I turn to Noel, my smile stretching wide. This seems to put an apprehensive look on his face, but I ignore that.

“Let’s get in,” I say, reminding myself of his mother as I bounce excitedly on the balls of my feet.

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