“You okay?”
“Of course,” she said. “The names kind of blindsided me, I guess. Until I heard them, I hadn’t realized how little I thought about the Fairee debacle anymore.”
“That’s a good thing.” And then he thought about kissing her again.
The slider opened and Theo was back. “Hey, I heard you went to the high school today and met with Coach McCabe.”
Lucy’s eyes widened, but Nick just glared at his brother. “How the hell did that get around?”
Theo shrugged. “I don’t know. I heard it at the fire station. You finally going to join the team?”
“I’m going to volunteer to help out some,” he said. “When I can. But I’m not officially on staff.”
Lucy’s hand gripped his arm, and Nick looked into her eyes to see them gleaming with excitement. “That’s wonderful! I’m so excited for you!”
And then she threw her arms around his neck, and he didn’t care if the entire population of Wayward Harbor was watching. He was helpless to do anything but hug her back, lifting her off her feet a little.
Beyond the cloud of her hair, he saw Theo’s eyebrows arch. Nick narrowed his eyes. Theo smiled. Nick gave him his best threatening big brother look.
Theo’s smile grew into a grin, but he went back outside and closed the slider.
Chapter Nineteen
I lost my phone! Can somebody who has my number call it, please? Maybe somebody will find it!
First comment: What ring tone are we listening for?
Original poster: I don’t know what the ring tone is. I always keep it silenced.
—Wayward Harbor Online Community Group
While there’d been plenty of nights in her younger days Lucy wasn’t coming in and going to bed until two o’clock, she thought this might be the first time she’d gotten out of bed to go out at that obscene hour.
But she rolled out when Nick nudged her because his alarm was going off. She’d stretched, naked and aching in all the right places, and he’d dropped his head back to his pillow and reached for her.
“Nope. We’ll fall back to sleep after, and we have shenanigans to get up to.”
There was creeping through the house and silently drinking a mug of coffee while Nick filled two large tumblers with the remainder of the carafe. After brewing another pot, he poured it into a thermos and, because he was a good guy, he took the time to set up a fresh carafe to brew at its usual time for his brothers.
Then there was what felt like forever of driving in the dark. Luckily, Nick knew the roads and was a confident driver, but Lucy felt some pressure to keep up the small talk so he’d stay awake. She was down to sharing her favorite internet conspiracy theories—not involving quarterbacks and actresses—when he turned into the national park.
When they reached the intersection where they scanned his reservation and he started driving up a narrow, windy road, through what looked in the dark to be very rugged terrain, she started getting nervous. Did this road even go all the way to the top?
“Wait. Does this shenanigan require actual hiking? Because I appreciate that this is something you’ve always wanted to do, but I’m not really dressed for it. Also, it’s very dark.”
“So if you had the proper footwear, a good coat and a flashlight, you’d want to go for a hike?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I would say yes just so you don’t feel bad, but I’m afraid you’ve hidden women’s hiking boots and some headlamps somewhere in this truck so…no. Hiking isn’t really my thing.”
“Obviously, it’s too dark right now, but on the way down you’ll be able to see the views from this road. They’re pretty amazing.”
“I thought you’ve never been up here,” she said. “Did I get up in the middle of the night to do something you’ve already done?”
“If I’d been up here, I wouldn’t have told you it was something I’ve always wanted to do and never have. I’ve seen pictures online, so I know what it looks like.”
Lucy was relieved when they reached the parking lot and she could see that they were at the top. She would have hiked a little bit for Nick’s sake, if she had to, but she’d rather not.
There were other vehicles in the lot and people roaming around, but Nick found a parking spot and turned off the truck. Once the headlights went out, it was dark again, though she could see the headlights of another vehicle coming up the hill bouncing in the trees.