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We walked along a tree-lined paved path. We passed a few people, most of whom had beautiful dogs that I had to stop and admire. Everyone was friendly and said hello. Many of them knew Alden and asked who I was.
It still made my heart skip a beat whenever he called me his girlfriend. Never in my life did I think this would happen, and it sometimes astounded me.
It had been weeks since the snowstorm. I was still staying with Nick, who had just been sent on a long work trip. They had slowly worked on talking everything out about that night seven years ago. Alden was still recovering from his anger from it, but they were slowly going back to normal.
Alden and I had spent our free time hanging out. And Nick called either him or me every night to catch up. True to his word, he hadn’t said a thing about us being together whenever we could, and Alden was slowly seeing that everything was okay.
Nick had laughed when we told him our plan for ahike, warning me that Alden could go for hours. I’d had plenty of caffeine and electrolyte tabs in hopes of keeping up.
Depending on if this hike killed me, Alden was planning to come back to the city with me to stay the night, and I couldn’t be more excited about it. Ever since we had been stuck together, simple hangouts didn’t seem to be enough.
One of these days, I was going to ask to move in with him. I couldn’t live with Nick forever and I didn’t see the point in getting an apartment of my own when I didn’t want to spend time by myself. Plus, Nick had already mentioned that Alden was willing to apply to move out of the park and drive in each day.
It was early in our relationship, but where most people went on dates in the delicate days of dating, we threw ourselves into a life together during the snowstorm. Now that it was over, I missed him late at night when I was sleeping alone. And I was pretty sure he missed me too.
As we walked, we talked about our plans for dinner. Alden was addicted to my cooking, and I was happy to finally shed all of the rust and get back to my old level of skill.
After thirty minutes of walking and him trying to convince me to give soup another try, the paved trail came to an end among the trees. “Huh,” I said, only mildly out of breath. “That was it?”
Alden laughed. “I may like you, but I don’t take itthateasy on you.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s a dirt trail up ahead. That’s where we’re going.”
“Shit,” I said. “Is that why you told me to get hiking shoes?”
“Yep.” His smile was wicked. “After you, babe.”
I rolled my eyes and went first, yelping when his hand landed on my ass. “Is that the only reason you had me go first?”
“Always. Plus, there’s a view up ahead you’ll want to see.”
I wasn’t sure what kind of view there could be, but I followed his directions up the hill. I was out of breath when we finally got to the top, and all words left my mind when I turned to see a waterfall below us. My jaw dropped, and I could imagine how many clients I could bring here for photos.
I didn’t even hear the voices coming up behind me until Alden’s hand landed on my hip. “Come on,” he said lowly. “Let’s get out of the way.”
He pulled me to the side so a couple could get past, but my eyes went back to the waterfall. “This was here the entire time?”
“Yep.”
“And I missed it because I was being stubborn about hating you?”
“You have it now,” he said. “Come on, we can go farther down.”
Alden’s hand laced through mine as we descended the trail. The dirt path didn’t have stairs but roots that held everything in place. I had to focus on where to step, though I knew Alden wouldn’t let me fall while he was nearby.
It was loud near the waterfall’s base, but I was so entranced by the beauty of nature that I didn’t care. People lingered, taking photos of themselves in front of the perfect scenery. I grabbed Alden to do the same.
“Okay,” I said, “I see why people love this.”
“There’re other views of it, you know. It’s two miles back to your car.”
“Two miles?”
“It’ll go by fast.”
“But the paved path is shorter. Give me one good reason to take this dirt one.”