Page 21 of Axe Backwards
He gave me one of his cocky smiles. “Get changed. We’re going hiking.”
Even as a thrill shot through me, I lazily leaned on the doorframe. “Really?”
He had mentioned it the other day, but I hadn’t thought he was serious. For the last ten days, I had spent most evenings upstairs. We took turns making dinner and playing with Tess, then we slept in shifts between episodes ofSchitt’s Creek. We’d already made it halfway through season two.
“Tess is going stir crazy.” He kissed the top of her head, making me melt a little inside. “She requested a waterfall. So we’re gonna do the Waterford trail to Moxie falls.”
With a huff of a laugh, I straightened. “She requested X falls?”
The girl’s signing game was on point, but at ten months old, her conversation mostly revolved around food.
Moxie falls was about forty minutes outside of town. The short hike there was challenging, but the exquisite views and the small wading pools made it worth the effort.
He nodded. “My girl gets itchy if she doesn’t get enough forest time. Come on. It’s gonna be a beautiful day.”
Tess held her free hand out to me and shouted, “Ick-Ick.”
In the last couple of days, she’d started calling me “Ick-Ick,” and though it wasn’t the most flattering moniker, I was shamelessly thrilled she’d given me a name. I felt like the coolest kid in the world when she smiled at me and shouted it at full volume.
“Okay, give me ten minutes.”
“Meet us at the Caffeinated Moose. We’ll pick up coffee and sandwiches for the road.”
I dug my beat-up old daypack out of the bottom of the closet and tossed a hat and gloves into it, then threw on a few layers. May in Maine was far colder than most realized. A water bottle, granola bars, and an extra pair of socks rounded out the extent of my hiking prep. Knowing Noah, he’d have every type of emergency supply ever created in his truck, so my minimalist approach would be fine.
When I stepped into the coffee shop, Tess was beaming. Several locals were cooing at her, and she was basking in the attention. She wasn’t the only one being fawned over, either. There were more than a few women cooing at Noah as well.
The hot dad look was really working for him. The tight T-shirts, the backward hat, and the full sleeve of tattoos only made the babywearing look sexier.
With a big smile, he reached past Mrs. Dupont, holding out a large latte.
Before I could take a sip, she was watching me, her focus intense. “I knew it.” She stomped her foot. “You two are dating.”
“Uh,” I said, mouth full of lava-hot coffee.
“Jodie, Steph,” she called to a small group of women in the back corner of the shop. “You owe me. They are together.”
Jodie, or Miss Wetherbee, as I called her when she was my elementary school PE teacher, gave us a thumbs-up.
“Actually,” I said, nudging Noah, who was chuckling. “We are not dating. We’re friends.”
“And neighbors,” he added.
Tess yelled, “Ick-Ick,” the sound ear-piercing, and reached for me.
Cheeks heating, I took her from Noah and balanced her on my hip, turning away so I could take another sip of coffee without her getting her hands on it. It was the best I could do to avoid speaking more about this.
Mrs. Dupont frowned and looked from Noah to me and back again. “Sure, you’re not.”
Noah smiled. “We’re neighbors. Victoria came upstairs last week because I was making a lot of noise trying to get Tess to sleep. From there, we became friends.”
It sounded so simple when he explained it. It was true. Though we’d only really gotten to know each other over the last several days, we’d become good friends. And I adored Tess. She was a bright ray of sunshine in my life. Day after day, I looked forward to seeing her.
Noah himself was good company. He was funny and relaxed and so adorably in over his head with an infant to care for.
Our friendship came with no pressure, no expectations. The antithesis of being with Graham. Even being in the same room with my ex would make me anxious and self-conscious. Did I look okay? Was I saying and doing the right things? Talking too much? Too little?
In the little cocoon of Noah’s apartment, we played with the baby, shared casual dinners, and laughed at a funny sitcom. I never wore makeup or put effort into sounding intelligent. It was refreshing, being 100 percent myself.
