Page 50 of Riverside Reverie

“Yup, peachy!” she replied, tilting her head to kiss Baz when he leaned over.

Though they’d mainly kept him off leash for the duration of the camping trip, he was tied up now to prevent him from launching off the cliff after Baz.

Once Baz was sure they were situated, he saluted us and walked over to the edge of the cliff, peering down to make sure nobody was in his way.

“Are you coming, Lux?” Jasmine asked me.

“Not yet, I’ll chill here for a bit.” My thighs were burning from the exertion of climbing the steep cliff pathway, and my legs felt a little weak. I was tired; I needed a moment to catch my breath, and a bottle of water to rehydrate. It was hot with the sun overhead.

“I’ll hang with you,” Theo offered, reaching into his bag for a couple of water bottles. “Want a water, Rhi?”

“I’m good,” Rhiannon answered, holding up her giant water bottle. Theo nodded, his hand going to the small of my back as he guided me over to one of the large rocks nearby.

I sat down, sliding my backpack off my shoulders and letting it fall to the ground beside me. Theo held out one of the water bottles to me, and I took it with a grateful smile, twisting the cap and holding it up to my lips. Taking a long pull, I watched as Baz, Jasmine and Desmond all leaped from the edge of the cliff.

“They have so much energy, where do they get it from?” I commented, feeling weary down to my bones. This trip had exhausted me as much as it exhilarated and awakened me.

“They weren’t up all night,” Theo reminded me with a subtle wink. Rhiannon snorted with amusement from behind her paperback, and my cheeks heated with embarrassment.

It was strange having so many people know our business, but I suppose we couldn’t have been more obvious about what we were doing. It was easy to put two and two together.

Instead of replying, I avoided Theo’s gaze and continued sipping my water. He sat down beside me, his thigh pressed against mine.

“So, what did you think of your first camping trip? Is it something you’d do again?” he asked a few moments later.

“Yeah, actually. I would totally do it again,” I surprised myself by answering.

If I’d been asked a few days ago, I would have had a different answer. But now that camp was packed up and we were on our last little adventure before heading back…I was already missing it.

And already dreading having to face the drama I’d left behind.

Theo’s smile lit me up, and I couldn’t help but grin back. The drama felt miles away when he looked at me like that.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it for these views, huh?” Rhiannon remarked, gazing around with contentment.

“It really is stunning,” I nodded, taking in the landscape. My phone was in my bag, so I reached over to grab it. I hadn’t checked it nearly as many times as I thought I would, nor had I taken many pictures, but I wanted to take one of this view from the top of the cliffs. I turned my phone sideways and took a landscape shot, hoping I captured at least half of the beauty I was witnessing.

Once I’d taken a few photos, I shoved the phone back in my bag, not bothering to check my emails. I still had no reception, so nothing was loading anyway. I was thankful for the silence, though.

I knew it was a temporary respite from what awaited me back home. Jasmine’s idea of renting a room off Desmond and Theo fluttered around in my brain. I had to admit, that idea was sounding more and more appealing the closer time got to when I’d have to face my sister—and parents—again.

16

SUDBURY SECLUSION

Lux

I kept Rhiannon company on the top of the cliffs while the others jumped several more times, Theo included. It was a good opportunity to get to know her a little more, and I found I really enjoyed her company and her outlook on life.

“I’m from Scarborough, originally. I grew up there and then went to school in Guelph.”

“How’d you end up in Sudbury?” I asked, teasing a little. It was a far cry from Guelph. Rhiannon seemed to be a few years younger than me, and she had her whole life figured out—her business was thriving and so was she, and she fit in as perfectly as everyone else, despite growing up in the city, too.

“Once I graduated from my photography program, I started getting some wedding jobs here and there. One of those jobs led me to Baz’s sister, and I ended up doing the photography for their wedding in Parry Sound and fell in love with the area. And Baz,” Rhiannon explained, giggling. “I moved to Sudbury to be with him, mainly. But there’s something magical about northern Ontario. The terrain is gorgeous, but the sunsets and sunrises are next level.”

“They really are,” I nodded my head in agreement, gazing back out over the top of the cliff.

“I didn’t really start camping until I met Baz,” Rhiannon admitted. “It’s not something my family did with me when I was a kid. Probably because they worried that I’d get injured. They were a little overprotective of me growing up.” She let out a rueful chuckle, shaking her head.

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