“So I’ll see you…Oh, I guess not tomorrow night. Since I don’t need four-wheeler lessons.” I shrug. “So, see you around sometime?” I move toward the steps.
“Yes,” he says.
I look back at him.
“You will see me around, Mia.”
And that promise sends tingles skittering down my spine and adds a bounce to my step that I can’t deny even when I slide behind the steering wheel and Sloan looks over and simply laughs at my enormous grin.
The grin that doesn’t leave my face on the entire drive back to town, or after dropping Sloan off, or after getting home, showering, and slipping into bed.
And definitely not after my phone pings with a text from David that reads book delivery request from the Sapphire Falls Community Library for the following titles: Caleb’s Camping Catastrophe. The Most Horrifying Camping Trips Ever.
Then he includes my address as the delivery destination.
I laugh out loud as I look up both. Caleb’s Camping Catastrophe is a children’s book about a boy named Caleb who goes camping with his parents and hates the entire trip. The other is non-fiction and actually chronicles about fifty truly horrifying stories of real camping trips that went terribly wrong. There are four actual murders and the discovery of three dead bodies among the stories.
And I can’t help it… I download both to my e-reader app on my phone because that’s funny.
I wonder if David’s intended outcome was for me to like him even more.
If not, he’s screwing this all up.
Because I think I’m actually falling for him.
CHAPTER 14
DAVID
No bonfire or four-wheeling tonight.
I actually hesitate over the send button.
I look out over the bonfire site down by the river.
The bonfires have been happening in this same spot for years. Two generations of Sapphire Falls people have been cranking up the music, cracking open the jars of Booze and other drinks, and gathering around bonfires right here.
But not on nights after huge thunderstorms have pummeled the area for twelve hours straight.
The rain has stopped now, but the river is rushing only a few yards away, and the packed dirt area that was long ago cleared of grass, had an enormous fire pit dug into the center and then surrounded with cut logs, is basically a mud pit.
I knew it would be, but I drove out to confirm it before I disappointed Mia.
Yes, that’s why I’m hesitating to send the message cancelling the party tonight. Because Mia is going to be disappointed.
I sigh. I don’t worry about people’s emotions when it comes to telling them no, they can’t do something they think will be fun. I ruin people’s plans all the time. I tell them they need permits to do things like hunt, fish, and boat. I make them move their campsites to safer spots or off private land to public. I cite them for drinking too much, or for making a mess, or for disturbing other people. I make them put out fires, I take fireworks away, I confiscate alcohol from minors, I write tickets for all kinds of things.
I’m a total killjoy a lot of the time.
Of course, it’s all for their own good and for the good and safety of the people and environment around them.
I also spend a lot of time encouraging people to get out and enjoy nature and outdoor activities as well. And I educate them about how to do that safely and respectfully.
But yeah, often people hate to see me coming.
And I don’t care.
Except when it’s Mia.
