Chapter 8
Eight
Twenty Years Earlier
Thirteen-year-old Mo waited by the side of the school building. Bronwyn climbed out from the limo.
They’d sent her to school in a limo. The driver was probably headed to Asheville to pick up a guest for The Haven and Bronwyn’s trip to school was tacked on to the route.
Even though he was out of her line of sight, Bronwyn came straight to him.
“Hey.” Her voice was tight, but her smile was real.
“Hey.” He rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion. “Nice wheels.”
She groaned, and they fell into step beside each other.
“Mother saw no reason whatsoever to miss her Pilates class this morning. There’s another one in an hour.
She could have taken me and gone to that one.
But no. A future senator and his wife are attending the eight thirty class, and she wants to make a good impression. ”
Mo bumped her arm with his. “Sorry.” She hated coming to school in the limo. The last time it happened, some girls had made fun of her in the bathroom. Meredith had been in there with her. That time. It made him wonder how much teasing she endured.
“My parents shouldn’t have had a child. They have no clue what to do with one.”
Mo didn’t have words for his reaction to her words. Anger? Frustration? Fear? Horror? “I’m glad they had you, even if they’re clueless.”
“Yeah. I matter to six people. And none of them are my parents. Not sure what that says about me.”
“It says you don’t understand how many people care about you.”
He guessed she was counting Meredith, Cal, and of course him in that number, but who were the other three? His parents maybe. And his grandparents. And Cal’s parents. See. He’d come up with more than six without even trying.
“They’re sending me to a camp this summer,” she said suddenly.
“What? No!”
Her eyes glistened. “I don’t want to talk about it now. Later?”
He nodded. “After school. How are you getting home?”
She shrugged.
“Come home with me. We’ll go for a hike.”
She looked down at herself. Her clothes were too nice for hiking.
“You can wear some of Meredith’s stuff.”
“We aren’t the same size, Mo.”
“We’ll figure it out. Say yes?”
It took her longer to reply than he would have liked, but she said, “Sure. Why not. It’s better than going home.”
“Great.” He paused at the door to her first class. “Bronwyn?”
“Yeah?”
“I really am sorry.”
“I know. Thanks.”
Mo walked four doors down to his next class.
He liked school. But today, all he wanted to do was escape and get into the forest. Bronwyn was sad, and he wanted to show her something that would make her happy.
He wouldn’t be inviting Meredith or Cal.
Not that either of them could come, anyway.
Cal had work and Meredith had play practice.
But even if they could, he didn’t want them there. Not today.
The school day dragged worse than ever before. When the final bell rang, Mo met Bronwyn in the carpool line. When his mom paused at the curb, he opened the door, and Bronwyn climbed in first. “Hey, Mrs. Quinn.”
“Bronwyn, hello! How are you?”
“I’m fine. You?”
“Lovely.” She turned her attention to Mo, and he understood the question in her gaze.
“I want to take Bronwyn hiking this afternoon. Can you take her home when you pick up Meredith from practice?”
“Of course, but does she have permission?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Bronwyn piped up. “I called home at lunch. My parents won’t be home this afternoon, anyway. They don’t care. Mother said I should be home by nine. She has one of the staff ready to sit with me.”
Mo’s mom’s face pinched, but her words were welcoming. “Then that works out beautifully. I’m coming back to pick Meredith up around eight thirty. We’ll grab her and run you home.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Quinn.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart.”
They rode the rest of the way in silence, and as soon as they were home, Mo dashed inside, found clothes for Bronwyn, changed his own clothes, and met his mom in the kitchen.
“Mom?”
She looked up from the soup she was stirring on the stove. “Yes?”
“I thought we’d go to the falls.”
“I figured as much.”
“I was going to show her that trail Dad showed me. And I was going to tell her she could go there. You know, if she wanted to. From her place. Without asking.”
“Do you think that’s safe?”
“She’s not as good as Meredith, but she knows how to hike, Mom.”
“Fair enough. Of course it’s fine.” His mom set the spoon across the pot, then walked over to where he stood. She put her arm around him and whispered, “She’s special to you, isn’t she?”
Mo shrugged. “She’s Bronwyn.”
“Yes, she is. And I adore her. But you need to be careful and respectful of her emotions. Do you like her? As more than a friend?”
Mo squirmed away. “I don’t know. Maybe. She’s Bronwyn.” Did he need to say more than that?
His mom’s sigh was cut off by Bronwyn’s entrance into the kitchen. “I’m ready.”
Bronwyn had braided her long hair into a single strand down her back. Meredith’s clothes were a little baggy on Bronwyn’s leaner frame, but she looked comfortable. And excited.
“Let’s go.”
They took the four-wheelers to the trailhead.
Then they hiked for thirty minutes to Catherine’s Falls, kicked off their boots, and walked around in the river at the base.
Eventually Bronwyn climbed up on a large stone at the edge and lay down.
Mo joined her. The rock was warm against his back, and they lay there, eyes closed for a while.
Mo had the weirdest urge to touch her. To reach out and hold her hand. What was with him? She wouldn’t want to—
Her hand slid into his.
His heart exploded. He laced their fingers together and held on.