Page 176 of Heartless

“Thanks, Ron,” Jake replied with a closed-mouth smile.

Why wasn’t he telling them the truth?Edie touched my hand, cutting through my spiraling thoughts.

The corners of her eyes crinkled with goodness.“Then, you’re in good hands.”She reached underneath the counter and slid a napkin onto which laid a muffin toward me.“Have some sugar, Sienna, and I’ll see you after your hike.”

Suddenly hungry, I thanked her and took a bite into the wondrous confection.“Oh my God, this is heaven.”

“They’re Jake’s favorite too.”She winked at Jake.“The next batch will be ready in five minutes.”

Oh shoot.I lifted my half-eaten muffin to his smiling lips.“Have some of mine.”

I shouldn’t have done that because Jake’s eyes locked onto mine, and I was rendered almost breathless.His mouth opened around the morsel held between my thumb and index finger.When his tongue grazed my fingertips, I shivered while I watched his jaw move.

“Is it good?”I whispered.

The searing heat of his gaze and the gravel of his voice cloaked around me.“Gorgeous.”

My heart flipped, and I licked my dry lips.The door chime rattled, and I blinked out of my trance to see Erica and four women walk in.Then, a few minutes later, when I was properly caffeinated, I greeted the other hikers.

There was a Thelma and a Louise, who’d never met each other, but who, to no one’s surprise, immediately bonded over their eponyms.Thelma, a willowy blonde with an easy demeanor, was a comic-book artist, and Louise was a plump goddess with a pixie haircut who wrote children’s books.Kelsey was roughly around my age and kept her fingers clamped around the straps of her bright orange backpack.She was a painter.Cathy was the most outgoing, wearing blonde, blue, and green waist-length dreadlocks she was a sculptor, working with wood and clay.Brigit, a photographer, and visual artist formed the end of our group.

As we were getting to know each other, Kelly walked in, dressed in all black and sporting a slick ponytail.While she introduced herself to the others, Jake drew me close, and we stepped a couple of feet away from the group.

His mouth slanted to my ear.“Stay close to Kel.I briefed Erica.”

I liked Kelly, so I couldn’t help the pinch of guilt in my chest at having dragged her out of bed in the middle of the night.When would this all end?

As if he’d read my mind, Jake touched my cheek.“It’ll be over soon, baby.I promise.”

“Okay.”

His lips twitched.“Ready for your big adventure?”

My cell was fully charged, and I’d packed my light waterproof jacket, toilet paper—I hoped I wouldn’t need—liters of water, cereal bars, sunscreen, and sunglasses.This morning, Jake had surprised me with a mini first-aid kit, a waterproof backpack cover, and a pocket Swiss army knife.I was more than ready.

****

An hour later, flankedby Kelly and Erica, I was becoming a hiking convert.Mother Nature didn’t disappoint.And the chaos of what my life had become had melted away.The sun was shining, and the route Erica was leading us along felt mostly flat.We’d stopped a couple of times to admire the views where Thelma, Cathy, Kelsey, and Brigit had pulled their sketchpads and camera out to immortalize the endless pulchritude of our surroundings.I’d just taken it all in with all my senses.

“Erica, what’s the name of that big tree over there?The blue one,” Louise asked from behind us.

It was one of the hundreds of questions we’d asked since we’d started the hike.Some came from one of us, others stemmed from conversations.And not once had Erica lost patience when she had to repeat answers to the same question.She was fantastic.

The whole group stopped, and I turned to Kelly.“Are you okay?”

Leaning in, she lowered her voice.“As details go, this must be one of the nicest ones.By far.”Her tone sobered, and she planted her assessing gaze into mine.“How are you?Jake said that was your first hike.”

I pitched my voice low.“Don’t tell him, but I think I’ll do it again.”

She smiled.“My lips are sealed.”

More questions were asked, and while Erica talked about the foliage with her back to Kelly and me, I took my sunglasses out of the zipped pocket of my wind jacket.After pinching the corner of my t-shirt around the lens of my glasses, I turned my gaze to the trail ahead.

“Er-Erica?”

“Just a sec, Sienna.”

My sunglasses hit the ground.From the corner of my eye, I registered Kelly folding at the waist to pick them up.