what?” Her expression remained blank, but the gleam
in her eye let me know she knew exactly what I was asking.
“This is what people around here do for fun?”
“You could say that.” She laughed. “I have other things I
consider ‘fun’ but I come here for Lily’s sake. Your uncle doesn’t like Ryan
too much. He was the bad boy of our high school class and hasn’t been able to
live down the string of women and wild parties of his past. He’s calmed down,
though, and he’s been good to her, so I tag along to give her an excuse to come
see him.”
“So, what do you do for fun?” I couldn’t help but inquire. I
was intrigued to talk to a girl whose life didn’t revolve around socializing
and partying. Back home, that’s all the girls did and Tiffany was their
ringleader.
“A lot of stuff. Mainly, hiking, but I also ride my bike
through the trails sometimes and fishing, swimming, camping, stuff like that. I
enjoy being outside if you couldn’t tell by that list.”
Crap. She was a nature lover. I’d already suspected, but to
have her openly admit that she and my arch nemesis were tight? That put a kink
in my sail. As I’d mentioned earlier, nature and I didn’t get along. I’d
attempted her aforementioned activities at least once in my life — each
time returning home with scrapes and bruises, odd itchy rashes, and enough bug
bites to drive any sane man mad. I wasn’t sure how I was going to find anything
in common with her, but I was too damn stubborn not to try.
“Sounds like a good time.” Really it didn’t, but I had to
play along. Well, maybe fishing. I’d seen it on television once and it didn’t
look all that difficult. I mean, how much trouble could a fish give someone my
size?
“I also read a lot, and play guitar … stuff like that.”
Okay, now we were getting somewhere. I continued my
interrogation and about three pitchers later, I’d somehow agreed to go hiking
with Ellison the following day. She mentioned something about starting me off
on the “easy” trail, but I had to act like a badass and insist on taking
whatever trail it was that she normally walked. There was too much alcohol in
my system to concern myself with what that would entail, but I had a sneaking
suspicion I would be kicking myself for it the next morning.
Ellison and I didn’t have much to talk about and I was
putting away tall ones faster than I wanted to admit. With the liquid courage
running through my system, I decided to break up the boredom by asking Ellison
to dance. Lily was still sitting with Ryan and I was dying to get up and move
around. Ellison accepted my offer and we made our way out onto the dance floor.
“I have to warn you that I don’t dance all that well. I can
get through the basic steps but I wouldn’t attempt anything fancy.” Her cheeks
reddened with her admission and I couldn’t help but grin.
“You don’t dance? How is that even possible? Pretty girl
like you, I’m shocked you don’t have guys hanging all over you.”
“You can stop with the cheesy lines, and, no, I don’t dance.
As for guys, I’ve only really dated Finn and we’ve been off and on for a little
over two years.”
I stopped moving almost instantly. “Wait, Finn? That guy
with your brother yesterday was your boyfriend?” I wasn’t quite sure why I was
so bothered by it. I was only going to know this girl for the summer and then I
was heading back to real life — but for some damn reason I had the
overwhelming urge to escort Finn to a boat and send him on his way to his own
little island in the Caribbean — far away from Ellison.
She shook her head. “No. We broke up over a year ago, but he
still hangs around because of his friendship with my brother.” She rolled her
eyes and I chuckled at the look of dismay plastered across her face.
“Judging by the look he was giving me yesterday, things aren’t
completely over between you and him — at least in his head, it isn’t. He
looked like he
in her eye let me know she knew exactly what I was asking.
“This is what people around here do for fun?”
“You could say that.” She laughed. “I have other things I
consider ‘fun’ but I come here for Lily’s sake. Your uncle doesn’t like Ryan
too much. He was the bad boy of our high school class and hasn’t been able to
live down the string of women and wild parties of his past. He’s calmed down,
though, and he’s been good to her, so I tag along to give her an excuse to come
see him.”
“So, what do you do for fun?” I couldn’t help but inquire. I
was intrigued to talk to a girl whose life didn’t revolve around socializing
and partying. Back home, that’s all the girls did and Tiffany was their
ringleader.
“A lot of stuff. Mainly, hiking, but I also ride my bike
through the trails sometimes and fishing, swimming, camping, stuff like that. I
enjoy being outside if you couldn’t tell by that list.”
Crap. She was a nature lover. I’d already suspected, but to
have her openly admit that she and my arch nemesis were tight? That put a kink
in my sail. As I’d mentioned earlier, nature and I didn’t get along. I’d
attempted her aforementioned activities at least once in my life — each
time returning home with scrapes and bruises, odd itchy rashes, and enough bug
bites to drive any sane man mad. I wasn’t sure how I was going to find anything
in common with her, but I was too damn stubborn not to try.
“Sounds like a good time.” Really it didn’t, but I had to
play along. Well, maybe fishing. I’d seen it on television once and it didn’t
look all that difficult. I mean, how much trouble could a fish give someone my
size?
“I also read a lot, and play guitar … stuff like that.”
Okay, now we were getting somewhere. I continued my
interrogation and about three pitchers later, I’d somehow agreed to go hiking
with Ellison the following day. She mentioned something about starting me off
on the “easy” trail, but I had to act like a badass and insist on taking
whatever trail it was that she normally walked. There was too much alcohol in
my system to concern myself with what that would entail, but I had a sneaking
suspicion I would be kicking myself for it the next morning.
Ellison and I didn’t have much to talk about and I was
putting away tall ones faster than I wanted to admit. With the liquid courage
running through my system, I decided to break up the boredom by asking Ellison
to dance. Lily was still sitting with Ryan and I was dying to get up and move
around. Ellison accepted my offer and we made our way out onto the dance floor.
“I have to warn you that I don’t dance all that well. I can
get through the basic steps but I wouldn’t attempt anything fancy.” Her cheeks
reddened with her admission and I couldn’t help but grin.
“You don’t dance? How is that even possible? Pretty girl
like you, I’m shocked you don’t have guys hanging all over you.”
“You can stop with the cheesy lines, and, no, I don’t dance.
As for guys, I’ve only really dated Finn and we’ve been off and on for a little
over two years.”
I stopped moving almost instantly. “Wait, Finn? That guy
with your brother yesterday was your boyfriend?” I wasn’t quite sure why I was
so bothered by it. I was only going to know this girl for the summer and then I
was heading back to real life — but for some damn reason I had the
overwhelming urge to escort Finn to a boat and send him on his way to his own
little island in the Caribbean — far away from Ellison.
She shook her head. “No. We broke up over a year ago, but he
still hangs around because of his friendship with my brother.” She rolled her
eyes and I chuckled at the look of dismay plastered across her face.
“Judging by the look he was giving me yesterday, things aren’t
completely over between you and him — at least in his head, it isn’t. He
looked like he
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