Page 35 of Known By You
“Hey, Ethan. Good to see you again.”
I almost made the idiot mistake of asking how they knew each other, but she must’ve met him on her last visit. Plus, her sister was marrying his brother.
They were basically family so them dating was essentially incest, right? Like,hello, taboo.
“Likewise. I hear you’re in town for an extended stay this time,” he said, still hitting her with his perfect smile.
Ugh. Why did the Carter men have to be so handsome and nice?
Actually, no. I didn’t like that thought. My dudes were handsome and smart and awesome, and if Liz was interested in Ethan then…
Well, she could go right ahead. Because this wasn’t a date, and I wasn’t looking for anything from her, and I knew darn well she wasn’t looking for anything from me. She had, what? Maybe two months here anyway? What kind of future with someone was that?
So I needed to stop getting all bent out of shape about this and be a real friend to both of these human beings.
“Yep. A month or two at least, probably a while longer.”
So maybe a little more than two months?My heart leaped before I crushed the thought.
She glanced at me and I ignored the swoopy feeling in my chest. “Should we order?”
Ethan took our orders and we paid. A few minutes later, we retrieved our drinks and got out of there with anotherwave to Ethan, and not without him giving me a meaningful look.
Once outside, we moved quickly down the street to the Saint lot and slipped into my car. The wind had stopped, but after being inside surrounded by the coziness of the coffee shop and its warm lighting and espresso scent, exiting into the bitter day was brutal.
Fortunately, the drive didn’t take long, and soon, we were parking. I grabbed a pack and strapped it on, then took our donuts and my coffee.
“I promise you this is worth going back out into the cold.” Maybe I shouldn’t have planned something so outdoorsy on such a chilly day, but if you waited for warmth in Utah winter, you weren’t likely to come by it.
She didn’t speak but followed me and didn’t seem too inclined to revolt. I was getting used to her tendency toward quiet. Two of my best friends tended towardnottalking, and really, even Cookie’s default was not talking, whereas mine was the opposite, to say the least.
The bench I had in mind came into view around a corner and Liz’s slightly louder exhale behind me sounded like confirmation this hadn’t been a fool’s errand.
“This is stunning,” she said, her frozen breath rolling off her lips like fog on a lake.
A wanting hit me low in the chest. Good grief, I wanted to steal this very breath from her lips, to touch my chilled ones to hers and warm them up.
Not helpful. Not happening.
“It’s nothing compared to longer hikes but those aren’t great options this time of year. I wanted to get you outside and give you a scenic view, at least.”
In front of us was Silver Ridge Resort and the small town. We weren’t high up enough to make the people turninto ants or anything so grand, but we were at a different perspective. Most importantly, we were nestled next to a frozen river and to the right rose the mountains. We were just above the town, and sitting at the feet of the peaks.
“Thank you.” Her voice was nearly all breath.
We sat quietly, each sipping our coffees and savoring the view.
I wished I could reach out and hold her hand or do something to connect us. I needed that closeness sometimes and I’d been missing it. But more than a base need, it was the desire to connect withher. Right here, right now.
“Thank you,” she said again, a little bolder now, and I swore I saw her swipe at her cheek from the corner of my eye.
There it was. A glimpse at something soft inside her—the part of her that called to me in a way I couldn’t explain. It was dangerous and all kinds of stupid, but I wanted to dig and pry her open until I learned about that part of her, and every other aspect of the woman who was Elizabeth Malcom.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Elizabeth
I’m not crying, you’re crying.
