Page 26 of Wild About the Mountain Guide
“How do you feel?” he asks.
“Tired. Sore. Exhilarated. Completely overwhelmed.” I lean against his shoulder without thinking about it. “Like I’ve become a completely different person in the span of a week.”
“I don’t think you’re different. Just more yourself than you were before.”
“Is that your professional opinion, Dr. Mountain Guide?”
He nods, holding my gaze. “That’s my personal opinion.”
My pulse quickens. Before I can overthink it, before I can worry about what’s sensible, I lean in and crash my lips against his. Our kiss is just as good as the first one, if not better.
When we break apart this time, he locks eyes with me. “Peyton, I…”
“I know,” I whisper. “This is complicated. I live in the city, you live here. I know all the reasons this doesn’t make sense.”
“But?”
“But I’m falling for you,” I tell him. “And I think, I hope, you’re falling for me too.”
He doesn’t say anything. Instead, he kisses me again, and I almost faint from the intensity of his lips on mine.
“Yeah,” he murmurs against my mouth. “I’m falling head over heels for you.”
Epilogue
Knox
One year later
The sun has barely crested the horizon as Peyton and I start up the familiar trail toward Mount Hartley. It’s been exactly one year since our first summit together, and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate our anniversary than retracing our steps to the spot where everything changed.
Peyton moves with the confidence of someone who’s spent the past year exploring every trail within fifty miles of Maplewood Springs. She’s grown to love the outdoors as much as I do. I think she could probably guide this route herself now.
“Remember when you thought this trail was going to kill you?” I tease, watching her navigate a tricky section of loose scree like she’s been doing it her whole life.
“I remember thinking you were going to kill me when you made me cross that first stream,” she shoots back with a laugh. “What was I thinking, trusting some mountain man I’d just met?”
“Best decision you ever made?”
“Second best. The best was moving here to start my life with you.”
It still amazes me that she actually did it. Three months after that retreat, Peyton packed up her life and moved to Maplewood Springs. Her writer’s block vanished completely after our week in the mountains, and she wrote her new thriller in a creative frenzy that surprised even her. The book released last month and is smashing record after record.
Peyton also insisted on helping Grandma and me, which meant we could finally afford all the pre-transplant testing and evaluations. She got her new kidney four months ago, and she’s doing better than she has in years. No more dialysis, no more exhaustion, and no more home nurse. The anti-rejection medications are expensive, but manageable now. Last week, she asked when I was bringing Peyton by for Sunday dinner again because she wanted to teach her how to make her famous apple pie.
“Are you nervous about Saturday’s party?” I ask, offering her my hand as we climb over a fallen log.
Her book release party is in three days, and half the town is planning to attend. Even the original retreat group is flying in. Harmony from her new crystal shop in Sedona, Christine from her yoga studio in Portland, Brandon from his tech job in Seattle, and Alex and Alexandra from their newlywed life in Denver. It’ll be the first time we’ve all been together since that week that changed everything for me. I’m super nervous about it. Not to see everyone again, but because I’m going to ask Peyton to marry me at the party.
“A little,” she admits. “It’s weird having everyone make such a fuss. I still feel like the same person who couldn’t get a word on paper last year.”
“You’re still the same person, Peyton, just wildly successful. You should be proud of yourself. I still can’t believe I’m dating the most famous person in Maplewood Springs,” I say.
“Didn’t that NFL player, Travis Steelbird, used to live here? He’s way more famous than me.”
I laugh. “Used tobeing the key phrase. He moved away years ago, so you’re technically still our reigning celebrity.”
“Lucky me,” she says with mock seriousness. “Though Reese told me he still comes home for the holidays.”
