Page 97 of His North Star
Well, my distraction wouldn’t work if Ty didn’t play along.
“Why not?”
“Because I’m with you.”
I’m with you.My chest blossomed with warmth, quickly followed by ice.Stop it, Maren.It doesn’t mean what you think it does. Get Charlie’s words out of your head.“She doesn’t know that we’re not together.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Huh.” I tilted my head. “You really aren’t interested?”
“Nope.”
“Why?”
He set the menu down, stacking his hands on top. “I already told you. I’m in love with someone.”
My heart picked up its pace triple time. “Who?” Was it me? Was it Jen? Someone else?
He shook his head. “Not here.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
Tonight?! Panic gripped me. Immediately followed by anticipation.What if it wasn’t me?What if she didn’t like how close Ty and I were? What if I couldn’t lean on him like I was used to?
Either way, his revelation would change me.
CHAPTER 25
Ty and I were back in our hotel room, changing out of our hiking clothes. We had about an hour before sunset, and another hour before it would be dark enough to see anything. We had to hurry though. The park ranger we spoke with earlier said that they often got hundreds of people coming to see through their telescope each night. We had to line up early, and that meant we were probably already late.
“I’m bringing my backpack with some water and snacks. Do you want to put anything in it?” Ty asked.
“Yeah, will you grab me the same? And I want my lip balm and hand sanitizer too.”
“Okay. Anything else?”
“Nope.”
“Great, let’s go.” He slung his pack onto his shoulder, and we made our way back to his truck.
“Can I see the pictures you took on our hike?” I asked.
“Sure.” He passed his cell over before climbing into the driver’s seat.
My breath caught. His background cover was the photos of us at the ranch dancing.
I put the phone right in his face. “How long has this been here?”
His gaze darted to his phone. He shrugged. “A while.”
How long was a while? Like right after we took it? During his “break” with Lys? Had she or James seen it? “We look good.”
“We do.”
I opened his photo app. The first picture was of Bearhat Mountain. It rose in a great mound in the background. Pine trees dotted the trail, with wildflowers sprinkled at the top of the overlook. The view from above was stunning. The long, slender lake that carved itself into the bottom of the mountain shone like a sapphire.
