Page 7 of Break Away
Chapter Three
Why had she accepted his offer of company?Levi Gallagher was the last person Zoey should be going on sunsethikes with, yet here he was, walking with her on the trail, alltall, dark, and irritatingly sexy in a scruffy, easygoing kind ofway.
There were many guys who’d been plenty cutein high school who had grown out of their looks. But not Levi. TheGallagher family DNA came in a variety of color combinations, andLevi’s worked exceptionally well together. He shared his brother’srich, dark brown hair, and his sister Maddy’s bold blue eyes thatcontrasted strikingly with his tanned complexion. Kind of like thesuper hottie Bradley Cooper, who was Zoey’s one and only celebritycrush.
But her high school infatuation with theyoungest Gallagher sibling was long over and done with. Back thenshe’d been a defiant misfit. The one with the little brother withautism, the one who dyed her hair weird colors, and the one andonly girl to play drums in the marching band. When the cute girlswere straightening their hair, she embraced her curls. If crop topswere in fashion, she was all about the long and loose fitting. Backthen, she hadn’t stood a prayer of gaining the attention of starfirst baseman and popular cool kid Levi Gallagher.
Yet here they were, hiking along like theywere buddies. Lucy tugged on her harness and Zoey let her go. Thedog took the trail at a run, charging up the switchbacks like themountain dog she was.
“What breed is she?”
“Bernese Mountain dog. They’re fromSwitzerland.”
“Cool. She won’t run off?”
“No, she stops every now and then to let mecatch up, but then she’s off again. She’s got a lot of pent-upenergy and I let her burn it out. She’s friendly and won’t botherother hikers.”
“What about you, should you be doingthis?”
“Doing what?”
“Hiking. You have a limp from theaccident.”
“I’m fine. Make sure you pass that along toyour brother.” Or she would be fine.
The steady upslope grade made her bruisedthigh muscle ache, but not so much that she couldn’t do it. Shehated people worrying about her. No way was she telling Levi thishike was a test. Her job depended on being able to go a lot fartherthan three miles and over much more difficult terrain thanthis.
The trail gained in elevation and they didn’ttalk much. Zoey could admit to herself that it wasn’t so bad goingon a hike with another person. She didn’t need a companion and herjob often meant trekking on her own, but still, it was kind of niceto share the evening.
The trail leveled out, cutting around themountain. They followed the curve and reached the view that madethe hike worth it.
The jagged peaks of the Minarets gleamed inthe distance, the setting sun casting purple light that gaveeverything a monochromatic gleam, the little gem of a lakereflecting back the twilight sky. A meadow dotted with yellow andpurple flowers spread before them, and in the shade of a groupingof trees, Lucy found the snowy remnant of a spring storm.
The dog bounded through the drift, then begandigging furiously, snow flying behind her.
“This is why I came back home.” Levi spreadhis arms and tipped back his head with his eyes closed, the utterpeace on his face making Zoey feel like he was sharing a privatemoment with her.
He made her remember how she’d felt whenshe’d finally made her way back to the little mountain town ofHangman’s Loss, which had been her home for three short years whenshe’d been a teenager.
“It’s not your family that brought you backto Hangman’s Loss?”
He dropped his arms and opened his eyes tolook at her. “They were a huge part of it, but I got to see themoccasionally when I lived in Oakland. I visited them here. Theyvisited me at my condo. But I was never happy there. In the pastsix months shit happened and I wanted to break away from my lifethere. The need to come home to this perfect corner of the worldbecame huge.”
He shook his head as if clearing it, thengestured to the scene before them. “You know the John Muir quote,‘The mountains are calling and I must go’? That pretty much sums itup for me. I think I lost myself when I was living in thecity.”
She swallowed an uncomfortable lump in herthroat. She felt strange they had something so elemental incommon.
“It’s the same for you, isn’t it?”
His gaze snagged hers, but she shruggedbefore turning away. She wanted to say yes, it was the same forher. She wanted to ask him what “shit” had happened in Oakland, butcouldn’t bring herself to pry.
Taking a step back was safer. She didn’t dovulnerability.
Lucy, done with her digging, launched herselfinto the snow, bellying down, then flipped onto her back. Zoey letthe dog play until finally giving a shrill whistle that brought herbounding up to them, shaking, which sent snow flying. Her new packwas snow encrusted but was supposed to be watertight. Guess they’dsee about that.
Zoey turned her head to Levi. “We better headback before the light is totally gone.”
They set out, Lucy again charging ahead.
