Chapter 10
RAQUEL
The desert before sunrise had always felt like another planet to me. I loved this time of day, when it was so quiet that every sound carried and the air was still cool. Miley yawned in the passenger seat beside me, clearly not sharing my enthusiasm for being up so early.
“The view better be worth it this morning,” she muttered as I pulled into the packed parking lot at the Black Mesa Canyon trailhead. “If it’s hazy, I’m filing a complaint.”
“With who?” I asked. “God?”
“Humanity,” she said, rolling her eyes. “We’re the ones messing up the planet. Do you know the last time I came out here, it was so foggy, we couldn’t see a thing?”
“I don’t think humanity can be blamed for fog.”
“Maybe not, but it’s too early for this argument. I’m not entirely sure I’m not still asleep in my bed and this is all a dream.” I pinched her arm and she jumped. “Okay, okay, I’m not dreaming.”
I smirked as I put the truck in park. “If it helps, it seems to be clear this morning.”
“Until we get to the canyon.” She pulled her hoodie tighter around herself after unbuckling her seatbelt. “I just don’t understand why nature has to start so early. Couldn’t sunrise just be a little later?”
“You said you wanted to come.”
“Yeah, because it’s gorgeous, but I also volunteer for lots of things I regret later.”
I smiled. “That explains your dating history.”
She gasped and pressed a hand to her chest, feigning offense. “Wow, you’re mean first thing in the morning.”
I chuckled and killed the engine. “At least you’re awake now.”
“Regrettably,” she said, but then smiled as she reached for her door handle. “On the flip side, it’s been ages since we’ve done this. I’m glad we came. It was a good idea.”
“Yeah, it was. Too bad it wasn’t mine.”
“Speaking of, how are things going with your favorite customer?”
“He’s not my favorite anything and things aren’t going. Because there’s nothing between us that could be going.”
As I climbed out of the truck, the horizon was just barely starting to lighten, soft blue bleeding slowly into purple over the mountains. A handful of hikers moved around the lot, water bottles glowing beneath their headlamps.
Black Mesa wasn’t exactly a secret. The sunrise hike through the canyon was worth waking up offensively early for. Especially this time of year.
Miley followed me out of the truck, groaning like a creaky door as she looked around. “There’s more people here than I expected.”
I grabbed my backpack and glanced at her over my shoulder. “Everybody wants the sunrise.”
“Unlike you, who’s only here for Theo.” She shot me a wicked grin. “You want something to rise, and it’s not the sun.”
I snorted and locked the truck after she’d grabbed her own backpack. “How many times do I have to tell you that I didn’t agree to this because he was the one asking? It’s like you said, we haven’t been out here for ages, so when he brought it up, it seemed like a good idea to join him.”
She bumped her shoulder lightly into mine as we started toward the trail map. “Just admit it already. You have a little thing for him. And maybe he’s got a big thing for you, if you know what I mean.”
“Yeah, I think I cracked your code,” I said with a smile and shake of my head.
At this point, though, I honestly wasn’t sure if I had a thing for him.
The man had been popping up a lot recently and I genuinely enjoyed spending time with him.
And anyone with eyes could see how attractive he was.
“Even if I did, I don’t know how to date anymore.
I’m not ready to trust anyone. Everyone keeps secrets, and I can’t have my heart shattered again. ”
That much, at least, I was entirely sure of. I hadn’t dated anyone since Hunter and he’d been my high school sweetheart, so I hadn’t had much experience before him either.
Miley glanced at me. “You’d figure it out.”
“I doubt it. I think I skipped the phase where normal people learn how to date.”
She scoffed. “You’re acting like you were raised in a cult.”
Headlights swept across the parking lot as another vehicle pulled in behind us. I glanced at it without even really meaning to, but then my heart skipped when I saw Avery’s truck—with Theo in the passenger seat.
Naturally, Miley noticed him too. “Speak of the devil and he shall appear.”
She said it in a sing-song voice, nudging me as the guys climbed out of the truck. My stomach did this annoying, fluttery thing at the sight of Theo only half-awake, but looking unfairly good regardless.
“You totally have a thing for him,” she muttered. “Don’t let Avery catch you staring, though. I don’t think he wants to share his new best friend.”
“I’m not staring. I’m literally just looking in their direction. We are all here together. It would be weird if I pretended not to notice them.”
“Sure,” she agreed easily. “That’s why you’re staring. So you don’t look weird.”
The guys grabbed their backpacks and joined us. Theo fell into step beside me while Avery raced ahead and Miley made it her mission to keep up with him. Somehow, we ended up walking beside each other for most of the hike, the sky turning from black to a deep blue overhead.
“Thanks for joining me,” he said, smiling when I looked up to meet his gaze. “It’s nice to have some company for this.”
“It’s a beautiful hike,” I replied, sweeping a hand toward the rocky path. “You’ll see once we get clear of this. It’s the best view to wake up to.”
“The best, huh? That’s pretty confident. I’ve seen some pretty awesome views in my day.”
“None as awesome as what you’re about to see,” I said. “Trust me. Sunrise in the canyon is phenomenal.”
“Phenomenal? Now there’s a word you don’t hear every day, but alright, let’s hope I don’t die before I see this phenomenal view.”
“You’re ten minutes into a moderate hike,” I said. “You’ll be fine.”
“Unless a coyote gets me,” he muttered, grinning. “Lu would actually get a real kick out of that, though.”
Even though the predawn cold had turned his nose slightly pink in the gloom, he was somehow even more attractive for it. Thankfully, the fact that he’d mentioned an actual name was so surprising that I managed to focus on something that wasn’t staring.
“Who’s Lu?”
“Oh, right. She’s my five-year-old niece.” He leaned a little closer to me. “She ran away once and her sister was concerned about her getting eaten by coyotes. If that does actually happen to me, at least Lu would feel like her original fears were justified.”
I chuckled. “Well, I hate to break it to you, but it’s unlikely you’re going to get eaten on this trail. It’s way too busy. You’ll have to find a different way to reassure your niece.”
“To be fair, she wasn’t actually eaten by coyotes. Hell, she didn’t even make it all the way down the first street before my brother found her.”
“She’s lucky.” I smiled. “Once when I ran away, I ended up sitting on the corner for hours, waiting for someone to come after me.”
“It took them that long to go looking for you?”
I groaned. “They didn’t have to go looking for me at all. It turns out that our kitchen window had a line of sight to my corner. They could see me the whole time.”
Theo laughed, the sound so warm and easy that I got all tingly when I heard it. “Kids, man. They’re the greatest. Why do we have to grow up? I bet you thought you were miles from home while you were sitting on that corner, all innocent and pouty.”
“I really did,” I admitted. “I packed myself a lunchbox and everything, fully ready to commit to life on the mean streets of Quartz Pass.”
“That sounds bad ass.”
“Until you realize I didn’t even make a whole flipping block.” I shook my head, chuckling before I glanced up at him again. “You must really enjoy your nieces and nephews if you love kids so much.”
“Oh, yeah. I adore them.” A fond smile curved his lips. “The whole damn army.”
“A whole army, huh? How many are there exactly?”
“I’ve lost count,” he said between measured breaths. “My siblings are reproducing at a truly alarming rate. It’s like they’re trying to repopulate the earth, but every new addition to our family makes me wonder how we ever thought we were complete without them.”
“Wow, you really do love them.”
“Yeah. Kids are way better than most people.”
Honestly, the way he was talking kind of made me want a whole bunch of nieces and nephews of my own. He wasn’t vague or detached about it like people sometimes were when talking about kids. This was different. It was sincere and genuinely warm, like he truly missed them.
“You must be cool uncle,” I said. “I bet your siblings love that. You feed their kids sugar at bedtime, don’t you?”
“You know it.” He grinned. “Getting in good with them is way more important than whatever my brothers’ rules are.”
“Only your brothers’ rules? What about your sister’s rules? Don’t they count?”
He snorted softly. “She’s younger. Around your age, actually, but her rules are a whole different ballgame.
I’ll definitely follow those. Her kid is still just a baby.
I haven’t been able to feed him sugar yet, at bedtime or at all, but I don’t think I will.
She can be real mean when she wants to be. ”
“That’s a sister thing,” I said. “We had a meeting about it and consensus was reached that we’re allowed to be mean whenever we want.”
“That sounds about right,” he teased. “The mean-sister club. It has a nice ring to it.”
I laughed, asking a little more about his family as we walked. “Where do they live? Your siblings, I mean.”
“Oh, they’re all over.”
Very informative.
But I was coming to expect that from him. Theo was weirdly careful about how he answered questions about himself. He wasn’t outright evasive, but he didn’t really mention any specifics either.
At first, I’d thought maybe he was hiding something bad, but now, I wasn’t so sure. I was starting to think his family situation might just be complicated, so I didn’t push.
The trail opened ahead of us, effectively ending our conversation for the moment. Black Mesa Canyon at sunrise still took my breath away, despite how many times I’d seen it in the past.
Sunlight spilled over the cliffs above. The narrow river below reflected streaks of pink and red. The massive canyon walls glowed like gold, slowly swallowing the shadows stretching across the stone.
“Holy shit,” Theo breathed, slamming to an abrupt halt beside me.
I smiled. “I hate to say it, but I told you so.”
“No, seriously.” The sunrise caught his green eyes as he looked around in complete awe, his head shaking like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “It’s a shame my bike is broken.”
I blinked hard, a little startled by the comment. “Why?”
“Because I would’ve liked to take you on it as a thank you for this.
” He looked out at the view, his voice hushed and his jaw a little slack.
“It might actually be the most beautiful sunrise I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been all over, but you were right.
It really is phenomenal. Absolutely the best view ever to wake up to. Top two at least.”
Theo glanced at me and I wondered what that meant.