Page 23 of Mountain Freedom
When I looked up, Allison was looking at me with that same empathy. I could tell there were a million things she wanted to say, but she seemed to settle on just one.
“I get it,” she finally said. “I do. It’s a different thing altogether, but I know how hard residency was on my last relationship. When you’re working long hours and the job comes first, it’s really difficult to make something work. And I know how I avoid making a habit of anything that could be addictive, because of my father, even though I’ve never struggled with addiction myself.”
“So we understand each other,” I said. “Neither one of us wants a relationship. But we could both use a friend.”
She smiled. “Yeah.”
“We’ll make a pact.” I grinned, knowing it would bring back memories of the pact we had made as kids on our final night together.
Sadness flooded Allison’s face. “I’m sorry I broke it.”
“You didn’t,” I said, shaking my head firmly. “You’re not the one who made the decision to move away. Besides, the pact held. We’re still friends, right? And now that we’ve found each other again, we’ll keep it.
Allison grinned, her sadness lessening at my words. “You’re right. We’re adults now. Nobody can separate us.”
“Exactly. So we’ll shake on it.” I stretched my arm across the table, waiting with my hand open.
She put her tiny hand in mine and I swore I felt electricity snake up my arm, like something incredible had just happened and the world had somehow changed. But I ignored it, kept my customary grin on my face, and shook.
“Friends,” I said.
“Bestfriends,” she corrected.
“Forever,” I said, repeating the words from our youth.
“Forever.”
Chapter Nine
Allison
Pizza with Jacksonturned out to be exactly what I’d needed. I had debated canceling all afternoon, torn between wanting to hang out with him and knowing it was a bad idea. I was attracted to him, but the more I thought about it, the more I knew getting involved romantically was a terrible idea. If I wanted any chance of staying here permanently, I needed to establish trust with my patients. A failed relationship with the town hero would ruin any chance of that.
So I had picked up my phone to cancel three times but couldn’t bring myself to send the message. He had said it wasn’t a date, and it was possible I had imagined the challenge in his eyes.
Once we got any potential awkwardness out of the way by putting it all on the table and agreeing to keep things platonic, any last concerns about spending time with him faded. We had reminisced all night about some of the best memories of my childhood—things I would never dream of doing now, like whenwe bribed a teenager into driving us up the mountain so we could sneak onto Old Man Murphy’s property. There had been a rumor that if you made it into his barn at midnight on the night of a full moon, you’d see him turn into a werewolf. He hadn’t—in fact, his fully human self had chased us out of his barn with a pitchfork, yelling about how he’d take the law into his own hands if we rascals didn’t stop harassing him. As adults, we knew we had been one hundred percent in the wrong for that one. But back then, it had been a bigger thrill than any rollercoaster or theme park the rich kids had ever experienced.
I was giggling so hard I snorted my drink up my nose before we finally let the conversation wind down so we could say goodnight.
“Come on,” Jackson said, pulling out some cash and tossing it onto the table as a tip for the teenager who was staring at us from the kitchen doorway, obviously willing us to leave. “I’ll walk you to your car.”
“Such a gentleman,” I said, teasing him as I grabbed my purse.
“That’s how we do it in Tennessee, ma’am.” He deliberately thickened his Southern accent and tipped a pretend hat toward me.
I laughed, but this time it was half-hearted. “Not every man in Tennessee is a gentleman.”
His eyes narrowed. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah.” I shrugged it off. “Long story.”
“I’ve got time,” he said, falling into step beside me as we walked through the restaurant toward the exit.
“Yes, but I don’t have the emotional energy to tell it. Not tonight. Tonight has been pure fun, and I needed that.”
“I did too.”
I looked up and saw he was looking at me fondly, almost the way a big brother would look at a little sister. But my reactionto his platonic affection wasn’t the relief I’d expected. A wave of regret rolled through me before I squashed it down. We had a pact, and it was better this way. Fewer complications.
