Page 49

“It took me months to master it.”

“Put those things away before someone gets hurt.”

Toni laughs and zips up the coat, and buckles the belt.

“I love how you make me laugh,” I blurt.

Toni looks up at me in surprise, her eyes still sparkling. “This isn’t normal? Laughing together?”

“Not in my experience, no. I didn’t realize I wanted it until—” I almost say I had it, but I don’t really have it yet, do I? “I’ve only had it with Willa.”

Toni moves closer and puts her hand over her heart. “I promise, if I ever get the chance, I will make it my mission in life to make you laugh. At least fifteen times a day.”

“That’s a strangely specific number.”

“It’s my favorite.”

“Any reason?”

“Greta’s is seven and I always had to be twice as good as she is, plus one.”

“Oh my God, are you that competitive in everything?”

Toni leans forward and drops her voice. “Have you forgotten about fair ups?”

God no, I think. I want to move closer, have to physically restrain myself from pulling Toni to me and crushing my mouth against hers, just as I’ve had to do for the last month whenever she’s looked at me like that. I’m not sure what Toni sees, but I see flashes of what could be: lazy mornings in bed, browsing weekend markets hand in hand, cooking for her, laughing together and yes, I’ve even tried to imagine going on hikes with her. It’s a testament to Toni’s charisma, and our chemistry, that I picked up a hiking boot on my last visit to a Fourteener Sports store. I put it down quickly because it was big, bulky, and ugly. But I have looked, tried to imagine wearing them, hiking up some godforsaken rock-strewn, root-covered trail with a thousand-foot drop off into a rushing river on one side of the narrow trail and a slick rock face with no handholds on the other.

Toni laughs. “Please tell me you weren’t just thinking about kissing me.”

“What?”

“You just grimaced.” Toni contorts her face into a pained expression.

“I did not look like that.”

“You did, and if that’s your reaction to kissing me, I’m in deep trouble.”

“No, I wasn’t. I mean, yes, I was. At first. Then I started thinking about hiking.”

Toni’s grin widens. “We’ll parse out why thinking about kissing me led you to hiking later, but I have to know what you were imagining.”

“A narrow trail with a slick rock face on one side and a very steep drop off into a roaring river on the other,” I say.

Toni rubs her chin and gets a comically thoughtful expression on her face. She nods. “You weren’t thinking about hiking.”

“I was definitely thinking about hiking.”

“No, it’s a metaphor.”

“Oh, is it?”

“For us. Our relationship. On the one side it’s a rock-solid friendship. On the other is a big old roaring river of passion.”

“Passion?” I’m trying to stop a grin from breaking across my face.

“Um, yeah. Don’t even act like you’ve forgotten about our night together. Passion, Audrey. Insane attraction. Unresolved sexual tension that makes Sam and Frodo look like a crush.”

“Sam and Frodo?”