“You did the same thing to a maple the other night when I walked you home from Avery’s.”
“I did?”
He nods.
“Sorry. I don’t know why I do that.” Apparently, ruthlessly plucking leaves is a favorite nervous habit of mine.
He grins. “Because you’re a heartless criminal?”
“And you came out here to the woods with me alone?” I narrow my eyes, trying my best to look sinister.
“Scary.”
“I know, right?”
He lets go of my hand, drawing my gaze back to the victim of my crime. Unsure what to do with the corpse, I look up at Leo for instruction. Chuckling, he takes the leaf from me and, with a gentle flick, sends it floating toward the river. I can’t imagine how it could make it to the water, it’s too far and there’s not enough wind here among the trees, but the leaf soars more out than up. It’s airborne for what feels like a moment longer than what natural law would allow, sending a shiver up my back. I shudder and blink and the feeling disappears. Leo is gazing out at the river, but I no longer see the leaf. I have no idea where it landed.
“Come here. Let me show you something.” He summons me to a tall, shapeless evergreen tree, takes my gloved hand, and places it, palm flat, on the trunk. Beside me, he does the same thing.
“What arewe doing?”
“Shhh.”
“What?” I snatch away my hand. Are there bees in there? “Why do you want me to shush?”
He whispers through his patient smile, “So you can concentrate.”
“On…?”
“Just do it. Shut your eyes.”
I watch his flutter closed as he rests a cheek against the bark. Good god, those eyelashes.
Although it’s hard not to stare at him, I follow suit. Because the tree feels kind of good. The bark is rough, but it doesn’t scratch my skin, and it’s neither too warm nor too cold. The tree draws me closer, as if it were a magnet. I lean my chest against it, wrap an arm around its girth. For god’s sake, I’m hugging a tree, literally hugging a tree, and I swear it’s hugging me back.
“How does it feel?” Leo asks.
“Nice.” There’s a good chance he’s watching me, but I don’t care. I keep my eyes shut, unwilling to break the spell I’m under.
“You’re an English major. You can do better thannice.”
“Okay, let me see.” The tree is teeming with life, filling me with a sort of nourishing energy. “How aboutfortifying?”
I chance a glimpse at Leo. His eyes are still closed and, like me, his whole upper body is flush with the trunk. “That makes sense,” he murmurs. “Trees are supposed to be grounding.”
Grounding. That’s exactly what the tree is. Safe and supportive.
“Oh!” My eyes pop open again. “You know what it feels like?”
Leo peers back at me. “What?”
“Trust.”
He doesn’t say anything. Or blink.
“You know, like, if trust were a tangible thing, it would be this tree.” I step back and take off a glove so I can touch the bark with the pads of my fingers. I can feel its vitality even more intensely with my bare hand. How can something this solid and strong exist in our shallow, transient world?
Voice low, Leo says to me, “I knew you would feel it.”
