Page 16 of It's a Wonderful Knife

“Sure.” I shrugged, pulling up my jeans. “We really have free time until dinner?”

He smiled. “Yes.”

I frowned. “I pictured every second being structured.”

“Nope. There’s always lots of downtime. Frankly, we don’t have to join in any of the activities if we don’t want to. But then you miss out on the charm of the place.”

I was proud of myself for holding my tongue. The old me would have found it necessary to announce that for me, the “charm” of the place was Royce, and only Royce. But saying that wouldn’t be in keeping with the new, more easygoing me. Instead, I smiled and nodded, hoping I looked agreeable.

He grabbed his warmer jacket. “Don’t forget your coat. It’s only going to get colder as the sun goes down.”

I pulled my coat from the small closet and slipped it on. “What sort of food do they serve here? Do you think they have anything vegetarian?”

Grimacing, he said, “Not sure about that.”

“Hmmm.” I was definitely hungry after barely eating all day. The hot cocoa and whiskey had held me over for a bit, but now I was starving again. There were only a few hours till dinner, but I was concerned about what the meal might be. “Hopefully they won’t serve buffalo or baby animals.”

“One thing’s for sure, they use a lot of bacon.”

“Huh.” I liked bacon, but being a doctor, I was always conscious of eating too much fat. “I’m guessing you don’t mean turkey bacon.”

“You guessed right.”

I said brightly, “Well, I’m sure everything is delicious.”

“I’ll see if Elle can scrounge up a salad at every meal.”

I smirked. “But then won’t I miss out on the charm of the place?”

He laughed. “The charm of the place won’t mean much if you’re in the bathroom the whole time with stomach issues.”

“Good point.” I moved to the door. “I’m ready to walk the grounds.”

“Then let’s head out.” He followed me out of the cabin. He locked up the building, and we made our way down the steps. “Let’s go this way.” He pointed to a small path that disappeared into a grove of oak trees.

I followed him and glanced over when I heard voices from the direction of River and Lucas’ cabin. My heart sank when I saw the two men coming out of their cabin. I really didn’t want them to join us on our walk. But I also didn’t want to look like a baby to Royce.

“Hurry,” Royce said in a hushed tone as he grabbed my hand. “Don’t let them see us.”

Surprised he too was hoping to escape River and Lucas, I grinned and trotted after him. “What if they see us running away?” I hissed.

“Who cares?” He tugged me. “Hurry. River has a radar where I’m concerned.”

We disappeared into the trees, and I felt kind of like a kid playing hooky. Royce often did the right thing, whether he wanted to or not, simply because it was the right thing. It was a relief to see that even he had his limits.

Once we were sure we’d escaped, Royce stopped running, and we grinned at each other. “That was close,” he said.

“Where do you suppose they were off to? I find it hard to believe River wanted to go hiking.”

“Lucas likes the outdoors though. Maybe he was dragging River along.”

“Maybe.” I inhaled the sweet scent of cape honeysuckle. “This is nice. It’s weird to not be seeing patients. I’m not used to having free time.”

“It’s easy to get in that rut.” He stared up at the tree canopy overhead. “We both need to learn to take more time off. I didn’t care about that much in the past, but now I have a reason to have days off.”

“Yeah. Time off is more than just laundry day now.”

He put his arm around my shoulders, and we walked along the uneven path. “How are the plans coming along for rebuilding your clinic?”