Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
I couldn’t go back to my table and try not to stare at the man who had returned my bluebird charm. Instead, I started walking back to Maria’s.
It was only about three miles. Maria called me after I’d texted her.
“What happened? Are you alright?”
Answering that question was beginning to make me flinch. “Just tired. I barely slept last night.”
“Wait, you’re walking—in heels?”
“They’re low. I’m a good walker.”
She sighed. “Now I feel like a jerk for dragging you out.”
“No—please don’t.”
“Okay. Wouldn’t have lasted long anyway—I’m really good at pretending it never happened. What’s your plan for tomorrow?”
I paused on the uphill sidewalk. “Multnomah Falls in the morning. Grocery shopping.” Except I didn’t have any money. You’re so screwed.
“Morning hikes are not my thing. Or mornings, in general. Wait for me to shop—and I should clean out my fridge. Dinner with my parents, don’t forget. They’ll want us there at five on the dot.”
“Right, I won’t forget.”
A little nervously, I made my way around the grand house, trying to walk slowly and confidently like I belonged there.
“Is that you, Kelsey?” Pippa called from the far side of the big deck behind the house.
Pressing on my racing heart, I cleared my throat. “Yes. Headed to bed.”
“Are you hungry? Thirsty? I have cookies.”
I smiled a little. “No, thanks, Pippa. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, honey. You’re a good girl.”
I snorted softly and went into my room.
Halting, I glanced around. It was as if I’d been transported to a vacation rental. I turned on the gas fireplace after putting on my soft flannel pajamas. For a moment, I could see through the tunnel of my doomed life to the light on the other side.
It’s your fault for staying. You were too much of a coward to do anything.
Needing to distract myself, I opened my laptop. There was a notification that I had a new message—from my high school sweetheart.
Brad
Hi, Kelsey. Just wanted to check in with you and see how you are. It’s been a long time. Brad
A little tingly warmth spread out in my chest. Brad Swanson had made high school bearable. We’d huddled together, both of us far too reserved to enjoy school—unless we were alone.
Me
Hi, Brad. It’s nice to hear from you. I’m in River Gorge, working as an accountant. Are you in Troutdale? Does the farm have all the grass in for the season?
There wasn’t an immediate reply. He’d sent the message early in the afternoon. The Swansons had a big grass seed farm, and if he was working for his father, he’d be on his tractor by five in the morning.
I closed my computer and sank into the mountain of pillows on the bed. Brad had been engaged a few years ago, the last time my mother mentioned him. She’d given me a sharp glare and a shake of her head for running away from a good farm life to chase a career in the city.
In the morning, I woke up and had to get outside. I started my coffee maker, which I’d kept in my bedroom. Moving very quietly, I let myself into Maria’s apartment for juice and toast—some of the food I’d grabbed from the townhouse. By eight-thirty, I was on the road and on track to be at the waterfall park when it opened at nine.
Multnomah Falls was the most visited park in the entire Pacific Northwest. Surrounded by lush rainforest, the falls drop over six hundred feet, with a concrete footbridge arching over the span of the lower section of basalt cliff. Late October qualified as the off-season, and early in the morning, I could trek the two-and-a-half miles up to the top with long stretches of the trail to myself.
By the time I made it back to the base, I was staring longingly at the restaurant lodge—why hadn’t I thought to bring a peanut butter sandwich?
I turned away and stared up at the falls, still close enough for the mist to pepper my skin. A flock of slate-gray American Dippers rose from the pool of water at the base of the falls. I anchored my tripod pole in the ground and hit record on my phone, capturing the birds’ chubby little bodies darting in and out of the spray.
A throat cleared behind me—oddly familiar. I glanced around and startled. It was the man who had found my bird charm.
“Good morning,” he said.
Immediately, my face flushed. I stared at him, my brain producing static. In the dark stillness of my bedroom, I’d thought about him for too long during the night—imagining all the adventurous things I might have made happen. If I wasn’t a coward.
“Hi.”
His eyes crinkled at the corners, his mouth slightly quirking up. “Strange that we’re running into each other again.”
I turned my camera off. “Very strange.” I swallowed. “Is this your first time at the falls?” The question came out of me almost involuntarily as I struggled for air—and to appear like a normal woman. Are you really going to chat with a strange man? A thrill ran down the back of my neck.
He nodded. “It is. I’ve been waiting until the off-season to see it.”
“Right.” My waffling was almost painful— should I ask more questions? My stomach clenched.
“You left last night.” He propped himself on the railing next to me and stared toward the water. “I’d been planning to coax you into having a drink with me.”
Coax? He made me sound like a timid animal. I forced myself to stand up straighter. Wait, he’d wanted to have a drink with me? I pulled on my ear lobe, my face flaming even hotter. “It was a really long day.”
He glanced at me, and I looked away before our eyes could meet. “Well,” he said. “Can I buy you lunch?”
The waterfall crashing onto the rocks was too loud in my ears. I adjusted the brim of my ball cap. Was he serious? I snuck a peek at him—was that amusement on his face?
“Oh, um…” My stomach growled.
He cleared his throat. “My aunt is holding our table. I recognized you and ran out here.”
I bit my lip, the tips of my ears burning. He definitely had not run. My heart thumped wildly in my chest. I didn’t know a thing about him. Your mother would slap you for thinking about it.
“Well,” I said, my voice squeaking, still not sure what I was going to say. A Blue Jay landed on the railing behind him. My shoulders dropped and I raised my eyes to about his chin. “I could come in for a bit. Maybe have a coffee.”
His mouth curved up into a sardonic seeming smile. What’s happening? Why had this man zeroed in on me, of all people? He appeared expensive, even while wearing jeans and a sweater. His aquiline nose, his confident bearing, the sparkle of his watch, all indicating to me someone who was probably a dangerous playboy who liked to slum around.
“No pressure. You can fly out of there any time you choose.”
I huffed. Did he have to acknowledge my jumpiness so openly? “Do you do this sort of thing often?”
The narrow-eyed look he gave me made the tips of my toes tingle. “Not really.”
I didn’t believe him. We kept staring at each other. My nipples were tight—and probably showing through my shirt. My chest constricted. God, I hate flirting .
“Come,” he said. “I’m very well-behaved. In public.”
I gasped but took a step in the direction he indicated.
“My name is Dominic,” he said conversationally as we walked toward the lodge.
“Kelsey.”
“My great-aunt Ophelia…” He sighed. “Is eccentric. Says she has a right at her age.”
“I like eccentric.”
“Wonderful,” he said dryly.