Page 70 of Before the Night Falls

It sounded like just what the doctor ordered.

Side by side, they journeyed into the woods, leaving the school property behind them.

As they walked, Olivia glanced around, looking for any signs of danger.

She saw nothing that caused alarm. But she couldn’t afford to let down her guard either.

The summer heat pressed against Olivia’s skin as she and Tyson navigated the winding trail. Shafts of golden light filtered through the dense canopy of oak, hickory, and towering poplars, creating a dappled pattern on the russet carpet of pine needles beneath their shoes.

The rich, earthy scent of decomposing leaves mingled with the sweet perfume of mountain laurel and wild rhododendron that lined the path in sporadic bursts of pink and white blooms.

Olivia paused to catch her breath, wiping beads of sweat from her forehead as she surveyed the rolling blue haze that gave these mountains their name. The distant peaks emerged from low-hanging clouds like islands in a billowing sea. The air carried a distinctive freshness that contrasted with the humidity—a clean, resinous fragrance of pine sap warming in the sun.

“Not much farther,” Tyson assured her.

The trail steepened before them, roots creating natural steps on the incline. Olivia followed, grateful she’d been working out. The trail might be challenging otherwise.

This was freedom, she thought. Far from the danger waiting for her back in real life.

If only she could disappear into moments like this.

Finally, Tyson stopped and spread his arms. “Here it is.”

A vista of the mountains stretched before them. “It’s beautiful.”

“This has always been one of my favorite places to come when I need to think.”

“I can see why.”

Silence fell between them a moment as they both soaked in the beauty.

“I have a question for you,” Olivia asked after a few minutes. “What was your first impression of me?”

Tyson blinked. “Oh, I don’t know.”

“No, come on. I want to know.”

He hesitated. “I thought you were a flirt, a little ditzy.”

Olivia laughed. “And now?”

“There’s definitely a deeper side to you I’ve come to appreciate.”

The compliment sounded so sincere that Olivia felt herself blushing.

Instead of dwelling on it, she barged into her next question. “Want to know what I thought of you?”

Amusement danced in his eyes. “I don’t know, do I?”

“I didn’t think there was much to you besides muscle. I was wrong.”

“I guess the saying is true, you can’t judge a book by its cover.”

“No, you really can’t.”

And that could be a good or bad thing.

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