10. Chapter Ten
We finally arrive at Hemlock Cliffs, and I unbuckle my seatbelt before Tyler can put the car in park. I’m more than ready to be out of this confined space with him. As soon as the car rolls to a stop, I open the passenger door and all but jump out. If I thought holding each other for all of a minute in the dance studio was awful, sitting beside Tyler freaking Reed for an hour—which felt like four—was pure torture .
I had a front-row seat to his smug face and fresh sandalwood scent, reminiscent of the forest or a hot lumberjack. Not that I’m calling him hot. I’m purely stating a fact. When women smell something woodsy, I bet most of their minds immediately jump to hot lumberjack. It’s a thing.
He also rolled up the sleeves of his quarter zip, showing off his rippling, veiny forearms. As if the thin, athletic material clinging to every contour of his arm muscles wasn’t already enough. Not that I noticed… Again, purely stating the facts here. Tyler can have muscles without me finding him attractive. The two are mutually exclusive. Tyler equals muscular. Tyler does not equal attractive.
On the bright side, we didn’t have to converse, thanks to Evie. She talked about school and dance and asked us questions the entire ride. Most of them wondering if we were there yet, but I’d take that any day over trying to converse with Tyler to pass the time.
“Come on, Winston,” I call, opening the back door. He gives me a pitiful look, clearly stating he would rather cuddle with Evie the rest of the day than get in some exercise. When I call his name again, he reluctantly jumps out of the car, but I swear he rolls his eyes. I attach the leash to his collar and slide my backpack on.
As soon as Tyler lets Evie out, she runs over to us. Winston’s tongue lolls, and his tail thumps against my leg as she pets him. I think he has a new favorite person, and I’m only a little bit offended that it’s not me since I just adopted him. I can’t blame him for loving the adorable five-year-old in front of us. It’s impossible not to.
Tyler rounds the car. “Who’s ready to hike?”
Evie bounces on her feet, shooting her hand in the air. “Me!”
He smiles at her, but his mouth falls when he moves his gaze to me. “You ready?”
“Whenever you are.”
Tyler slings his backpack on and locks the car before walking toward the head of the trail. Tyler echoes Evie’s earlier words: “To the waterfall we go.”
A forest of lush green hemlock trees line the path. The earthy scent of the woods and the gentle autumn breeze make me feel alive. I tug my sweater sleeves down over my hands.
Tyler and Evie get a few yards ahead of us, with Winston stopping to sniff and mark his territory on every tree he passes.
Tyler turns around and calls out, “Better hurry up, slow poke.” His mouth pulls up on one side, and I wish I could wipe the smug expression off his face.
I pick up the pace, pulling a begrudged Winston along. He doesn’t seem upset about stopping his sniffing duty when he gets to walk alongside Evie, though. She points out everything to Winston as we walk, and his eyes eagerly follow her finger.
We walk down a long wooden staircase overlooking a beautiful valley with a creek visible up ahead. Upon reaching the bottom, there are two rock ledges with stone steps between them. The descent down looks steep, with only a small rope tied to a tree above to help hikers down the steps.
Tyler and Evie climb down with ease, and look back up waiting for me. I pass Winston’s leash to Tyler, and he scrambles down the steps and sits dutifully at Evie’s feet.
I glance back at Tyler, and his eyes tell me he’d love to see me attempt to come down myself, holding onto the rope for dear life. But the hand he extends my way says, I’m a gentleman .
I warily wrap my fingers around his. His hand is warm and strong around mine. And the way his thumb grazes my skin almost has me tripping anyway. I’m waiting for him to yank his hand back and run it through his hair, yelling psych , but he doesn’t. He lets me grip his hand the whole way down.
When I slip on a slick area of the last step, his hand holding the leash comes up and settles on my waist, steadying me.
His normal, smug expression falters for a moment. “You good?”
I nod.
“Great.” A smirk pulls at his lips. “Now try to keep up, Anderson.”
Remembering how my touch caused goosebumps to erupt across his skin, I decide to get back at him the best way I can think of—with my feminine charm. I drag my fingertips along his arm, feeling every ridge of his muscles.
Maybe this was a bad idea, but it’s too late to stop now. I move my fingers the rest of the way down until they wrap around the handle of the leash. I gently tug it off his wrist and wrap it around mine. “I think I can manage.” My voice comes out slightly raspy, and I hope he doesn’t notice.
He looks down at the path. “We—We should keep going.”
His throaty tone shows he’s just as affected by my touch as I was by his, so I count my mission a success.
We continue moving forward, and the sound of rushing water pulls my attention to the creek. The water is flowing at a steady pace from the rain the area got earlier in the week, filling me with excited anticipation that we’re bound to see some beautiful waterfalls soon.
Evie runs over to me, reaching for Winston’s leash. “Can I walk Winston by the water? I promise I’ll be so careful.”
I look to Tyler. “If it’s okay with your uncle.”
He nods. “Stay back from the water and in my sight, please.”
She gives her word, eagerly takes the leash, and Winston prances at her side like a show horse as they walk to the creek. I smile at them, looking like two peas in a pod while Evie talks about something excitedly with animated gestures.
Tyler clears his throat beside me. “Have you hiked here before?” When I shake my head, he asks, “What do you think?”
“It would be a perfect, tranquil hike if not for the company.” I look at him pointedly. “And by company, I mean you. Evie’s welcome anytime.”
He holds his hand to his back. “Ouch?”
“Did you pull something, Mr. Long Legs?”
“Mr. Long Legs?” He pulls his water bottle out of his pack and takes a sip.
“Well, I’m not about to call you Daddy.”
He does a spit-take, spraying water onto the path before us. “Thanks to you, I’m never going to look at those spiders the same.” He wipes his sleeve along his mouth. “And I was pulling something—the knife you stabbed me in the back with from your company comment.”
I look him dead in the eyes, having to crane my neck to meet his gaze. “Trust me, if I was going to stab you with a knife, it would be in the front.”
“Ah, I should’ve known your hot doctor fantasy would deal more with stabbing.”
“Referring to yourself as a hot doctor is a little conceited. Don’t you want to teach your niece humility?”
Tyler shoves his hands into his pockets, looking the picture of calm, even with our heated banter. “You’re the one who said the phrase hot doctor fantasy .”
I fist my hands on my hips. “And you’re the one who told me never to mention it again, so why are you bringing it up?”
He groans and mutters something under his breath that sounds strangely close to exasperating woman . I don’t know why he’d ever say that though. He’s clearly the problem here.
“Fine, no more doctor talk.”
Evie meets us back on the main path as we near the canyon. The canopy of trees overhead leaves me feeling the drop in temperature. I wrap my arms around myself, trying to conserve my body heat.
“What are these?” Evie looks around in awe at the rock formations.
“They’re shelters, caves, and cliffs made of sandstone,” Tyler says.
“It looks cool.”
I take in my surroundings, just as awed as Evie. The sandstone is honeycombed from weathering over time, and it adds a beautiful effect to the rock shelters, outcrops, and cliffs it forms. Where we are in the canyon, there are several pocket caves in the stone, only big enough for a few people to fit in. I definitely wouldn’t want to be trapped in one of those with Tyler.
Looking further ahead, I notice multiple waterfalls, and it’s obvious Evie has spotted them too.
She squeals and runs ahead, still holding tightly to the leash. “Look, Winston!”
Tyler folds his arms across his chest and shakes his head. “I think I’ve been demoted.”
“Same.”
He takes another chug of water, and I watch his throat bob with the movement. “At least we can agree on something.”
“Even if it’s just that we’re playing third and fourth wheel to Evie and Winston.”
Tyler motions toward his niece. “We should go make sure they don’t get hurt.”
When we reach them, he walks over to Evie, but I can’t help but stare at the waterfalls. You don’t always have to travel far to see beautiful views. Sometimes beauty is only as far as your own backyard.
Tyler returns, handing me Winston’s leash. “I’m going to take Evie a little closer to the falls. We’ll be back soon.” He walks away, and Winston whines at my feet.
“I know you want to be with her, buddy, but the mean man didn’t offer to take you with him.”
He groans, laying down with his legs up in the air like he’s playing dead.
My overdramatic dog remains this way until Tyler and Evie rejoin us on the trail.
“What’s wrong with him?” Tyler asks.
“I think it’s his way of rebelling against the man who stole his best friend.”
He rolls his eyes. “Your dog is a drama queen.”
I cross my arms defensively. “You shouldn’t judge someone for expressing their emotions.”
“He’s a dog.”
I bend over and cover Winston’s ears. “He can hear you.”
“Like I said, he’s a dog.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I grit my teeth.
He presses his lips into a firm line. “I don’t know why you’re making this out to be a big deal. All I said is that he’s a drama queen. But he’s also a dog. He might have emotions, but it’s not like he understands everything we say. He’ll be fine.”
Tyler might think I have my dog-walking job as a quick way to earn cash. I couldn’t expect him to know about my dream of opening a dog rescue because I’ve never vocalized that, but I’m sure even if he knew, he’d still say the same thing because my neighbor hasn’t changed. He’s still the uncivil jerk I’ve always thought him to be. Now, he’s confirmed my thought was actually fact.
I’m quiet as we continue the loop back to the parking lot. Evie and Tyler talk in front of me while I grip Winston’s leash like it’s my last bit of willpower.
“Uncle Ty.” Evie’s sweet voice carries on the light breeze. “Since we drove Ms. Kelsey, does that mean she’s getting grilled cheese with us?”
Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit. In the time we were here, I forgot that we drove together.
Tyler glances over his shoulder at me, a steely look in his eyes that I can’t quite decipher. “If Ms. Kelsey wants to. Otherwise, we’ll drop her off, and you can get grilled cheese for dinner.”
Oh, thank the heavens. There’s the out I needed.
“I don’t want to leave Winston in the car, so I think we’ll take a raincheck this time.”
Evie sighs and wraps her arms around Winston’s neck.
Once in the car, I get on my phone and pull up a local Louisville newspaper. I follow the instructions necessary to take out an advertisement, letting all my frustration toward Tyler over the past years come out.
He’ll regret every day he blasted his hip-hop music at four in the morning. I’ll make sure of it.
I finish filling out the form, hit enter, and put my phone back in my bag. I’m not ashamed to admit that I feign sleep for the rest of the car ride home.
Sometimes, a girl just needs an hour of peace—and to pretend she’s not currently in the car with her jerk of a next-door neighbor.