Last Summer(34)

“Whoa.” Her eyes bug out. “What did you do?”

“Nothing, not right away. I was too scared to move. This guy was huge, with a full beard. He nudged my mom’s foot and woke up her and Heather. He ordered us to douse the fire and pack up. Then he followed us to the car and waited until we left.”

“You’re lucky that’s all he did.”

“No kidding.” He laughs at the memory. “I think half the places she found for us to camp out were on private property. That’s the only time we got caught, though.”

“Your mother’s a daring woman. She met your dad at Tulane?” She recalls his Wikipedia page.

“Yep.” He holds back an errant branch so that Ella can pass without the needles scratching her face.

“How would you describe their relationship?”

“Perfect.”

“Come on.” She shoots his back a dubious look. Nobody’s relationship is perfect. “For real?”

“In their case, yes. My parents were as hot and cold as the next couple. But they were a perfect match for each other, which is why they worked.” His tone echoes of nostalgia and a trace of disappointment. He envied his parents.

“Were you looking for something similar with Stephanie?”

The trail widens and Nathan falls into step beside Ella. He sighs. “Steph found being married to me ‘taxing.’ Her description, not mine.”

“So you stressed her out?” Ella asks, trying to understand.

“Yep.”

Ella can see that. She’d worry, too, if Damien jumped out of planes on a regular basis. “Is that why she left you?”

He stops and slips off his pack, sets it on the ground. Rubbing the scruff on his jaw with both hands, he takes an unsteady breath.

“Everything all right?” she asks, concerned, only to realize her question about Steph leaving him was tactless. With any other celebrity, she’d ask without thinking twice. She couldn’t care less how she phrased the question as long as it got the answer she needed. But Nathan has clearly been wounded by the separation, so much so that he thinks the only way he can appeal to his wife is through a magazine article.

Nice going, Skye.

She reminds herself to be more sensitive.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he replies, then gestures at the view, which seems endless. From their vantage point, she can see granite peaks reaching for the blue heavens.

“Is this what you wanted to show me?”

He takes a beat, then looks down at her, his eyes intense. “I’ve been wanting to show you this since the day we met.”





CHAPTER 14

I’ve been wanting to show you this since the day we met.

He murmured the words, but they’d been spoken with an air of wonder, as if he couldn’t believe she’s there with him.

You only said something like that, in that way, when the person meant something to you.

Nathan nudges her. “You’ve got that spooked look. Relax, Skye. It’s not a big deal.”

But her being here seems like a big deal to him. Her heart beats a little faster as he looks at her. Then he turns and calls over the dogs. They obediently sit at his feet, panting, tongues lolling.

“There’re snacks in my pack. Help yourself,” he tells her.

At the mention of food, her stomach grumbles. She feels light-headed. She can’t tell if it’s from hunger, the altitude, Nathan’s comment, or her interpretation of its meaning. Maybe a little bit of all four.

She searches his daypack, finding a bag of trail mix and a couple of apples. She takes them out and settles on a flat granite boulder while Nathan sets up the dogs with their water. He’s downplaying the comment, Ella thinks. This is one of his favorite spots to think, he told her earlier as they hiked. She can see why, with a view like this, so broad and blue that when she squints her eyes, she can imagine she sees the curvature of the earth. She doubts Nathan’s brought anyone else here. So who is she to him?

A gust of wind pushes up from the canyon below, raising goose bumps across Ella’s arms. She worked up a sweat during their hike and had removed her jacket, tying it around her waist. She puts it back on.

“Cold?” Nathan asks, settling beside her.

“I’ll be fine now.” She zips up the jacket and gives him an apple. “Thanks for the snacks.”

“You doing okay? The hike wasn’t too much?” His gaze roams over her.

She shakes her head. “It wasn’t too bad.” She’s used to the pounding of pavement and steep inclines of Russian Hill, which should have prepared her for this. But she’s feeling a little nauseous, probably from the cold and the altitude. It should pass since they’re resting, but she’ll be sore in the morning.

“This spot is lovely.”

“Yeah. I come here about twice a week, and only in the past month since the snowpack started melting. It’s impassable most of the winter.” He removes his knit cap and scratches his head. “I think better when I’m moving.”

He finishes his apple and bags the core. Ella adds hers to the trash when she’s done and pulls out her voice recorder from her jacket’s deep side pocket. Time to get the official interview started. Time’s a wastin’.

“Nathan,” she begins.