But this wasn’t Pinecrest. People here didn’t know, or care about, Audrey Young, daughter of Darryl and Patrice. I was just Audrey, the new girl who worked for the newspaper.
Plus, I had a date with Josiah Haven tonight. That was enough to chase away the unsettled feeling trying to worm its way through me.
July 5th
I hate seeing her happy.
Hate it.
Seeing her at all twists my gut with anger but seeing her happy makes it so much worse. She’s always happy. Always with that fucking smile. Because no matter what, her life is great. It’s perfect.
Always better than mine.
Maybe I shouldn’t have taken those pictures. But now that I have them, I can’t stop staring at them. She’s on her tiptoes, reaching up to kiss that hairy Neanderthal mountain man. I don’t know what she sees in him and I don’t really care.
I just hate seeing her so fucking happy.
I have to do something about that. She came here. She’s the one who came back. Everything was fine before. I don’t want her here. Can’t stand it.
I need to make her leave. She needs to go.
CHAPTER 21
Josiah
I wasn’t nervous.
A guy like me didn’t get nervous for a date. I’d been on tons of them. Maybe it had been a while, but that was by choice, not for lack of opportunity. Hell, Aunt Louise tried to set me up on dates all the time.
But there was something going on inside me when I pulled up to Audrey’s house. A buzz, like from a shot of good tequila. I kind of liked it.
I got out and went to her front door. Max stood with his front paws on the windowsill, bushy tail wagging like crazy.
“Tell your mommy I’m here, okay?”
I didn’t know why I was talking to her dog through the window. Maybe she was rubbing off on me; she talked to him all the time. I knocked and Max disappeared for a few seconds before reappearing in the window, wagging his tail even faster.
The door opened, revealing Audrey dressed in a moss green t-shirt, black bike shorts, and hiking boots. Her hair was up in a ponytail and she had a jacket draped over her arm.
“Does this work?” She gestured to her clothes.
I was pretty uninterested in a regular dinner date. So I’d told her to dress for the outdoors and if she was up for it, we’d go on a hike.
“Perfect.” I looked her up and down, appreciating the way the bike shorts showed off her curves and sexy legs. “It’s not a hard hike, but those shoes aren’t new, are they?”
“Oh, no, I’ve had them for a while.”
“Good. I wouldn’t want you to get blisters and have to pack you in on my back.”
She smiled and my buzz increased. “Come on, giving me a piggy-back ride down a treacherous slope was so fun.”
“Especially with a stinky dog.”
“That was not our best evening. But don’t worry, my shoes are broken in. Carrying me on your back shouldn’t be necessary.”
“Good.” I glanced at the dog. “Ready, Max?”
“Is Max coming too?”
“Does he like to hike?”
“Yeah, he loves it.”
“And do you want to bring him?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Then he’s coming.”
I didn’t know why she was looking at me all starry-eyed, like I’d just done something surprising or whatever. We were going on a hiking date. Of course her dog could come.
Besides, I kind of liked him.
We loaded up in my truck. There was room for Max in the back seat and he managed to stick half his body in the front by standing on the center console. I had to admit, his happiness was contagious. He posed with all the joy of a creature who couldn’t imagine anything better in life than to go for a truck ride with his mommy. And me, apparently, but I figured his doggy happiness was mostly due to the drive.
I took us out to a back road that led toward the far end of Lake Tilikum. Audrey watched the scenery go by with a small smile on her face. And it was pretty. Pine trees were interspersed with wildflowers blooming in clumps where the ground got enough sun and the tall grasses were still green from the spring snow melt and rain.
The dirt road ended in a small clearing with just enough room to turn around. I parked, turned off the truck, and reached for my backpack.
I glanced at her bare legs. There was a lot of skin showing with those sexy little shorts of hers. “Hang on. You’re going to want bug spray.”
“Ew. Good call, thanks.”
I gave her the bug spray and we got out. Max was eager to explore but to his credit, he stayed close. She sprayed her arms and legs and I went ahead and sprayed my arms. I was dressed in long pants but my arms were bare and being attacked by biting insects had a tendency to ruin an otherwise enjoyable evening.
“Ready?” I asked, slipping the backpack on.
“Yep. Where are we going?”
I pointed toward the trail. “That way. It’s an out and back, only about a mile.”
“What’s at the end?”
“You’ll see.”
She smiled again. Damn, I liked making her do that. Her whole face shined.
“Okay, then lead the way.”
We started off down the trail. It was wide enough to walk side by side and I was glad for the work my brothers and I had done to keep it open. Of course, given that we were still a bunch of single guys, I had a feeling I wasn’t the only one who’d use it for a date. Especially with the spectacular scenery at the end.
“How did you know about this trail?” she asked. “I didn’t see any signs.”
“There aren’t any. It’s private property.”
“Are we allowed to be here?”
“Yeah, it’s my family’s property.”
“Wow. This is amazing.”
“It’s nice. Actually if you went up the hill behind your house and kept going, you’d come out over there somewhere.” I gestured vaguely in the direction of the hiking trail that ran along the river.
“Does anyone live out here?”
“No. We kind of inherited a bunch of land about six years ago. We sold a lot of it but kept this parcel. That’s how Dad and I got started with our business.”
“It’s so neat that you work with your dad. You must have a good relationship with him.”
“He’s a good guy.”
“What about your mom? What’s she like?”
“She’s great. Technically, Marlene is my stepmom, but I think of her as my mom.”
“Has she been with your dad for a long time?”
“Yeah, I was pretty young when they got together.”
“Is it okay if I ask what happened to your biological mom?”
I was quiet for a moment, as our feet crunched on dry debris, wondering how to answer. Or whether I wanted to answer.
“She pretty much just left.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Do you have any contact with her?”
“No.”
“That must be hard.”
I shifted the backpack strap. “She made her choice and it wasn’t us. Not much I can do about that. And my mom, Marlene, she always treated us like her own kids. So I didn’t miss out on having a mom.”
“Your mom, Marlene I mean, sounds awesome.”
“Yeah, she is. What about you? What are your parents like?”
“My mom is, I don’t know. She’s kind of high strung. My dad was really active in local politics, so she was always in the spotlight with him. I can’t figure out if she loves the attention or just got so used to it, she doesn’t know how else to live. And my dad died a couple of years ago. He had some ongoing health problems and didn’t take care of himself at all, so it wasn’t a huge shock.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“Thanks. I hate to admit it, but I wasn’t devastated or anything. I was sad, but more for my mom than for me. My dad wasn’t easy to live with. I wanted a better relationship with him, but it was like I barely knew him. There was the guy he was in public, the guy everybody loved. And then there was the guy he was at home, and he was so different. He didn’t seem very interested in me in private, you know? I was good for his reputation, so in front of other people he pretended to be this really involved father. But in private, he mostly wanted me to leave him alone.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to her. Making people feel better wasn’t really my area. “That sucks. I’m sorry.”
She stopped and looked up at me. “Thank you.”