Page 54 of Again, In Autumn

I wonder if he’s walking with her or if she’s following him. Or if they’ve fallen into step together and I should expect a wedding announcement in the spring. She’d make me help her plan it. I’d offer to do calligraphy on the envelopes.

Oh God. Why can’t I stop thinking about this? If they start touching each other, I am going to be sick.

Down the hill, just in front of me, Kate steps over a log. Her boot rests on a rock, her chest and neck pressed out toward the sun. She must think they’re alone. There’s no way she could see me from my spot hidden in the bushes.

She says to Adam, “You know, I remember you from that summer.”

He’s crouched on the ground. “Hmm.”

“I remember being so impressed with your backflips off the dock.”

“I’m an impressive guy.” Adam stands upright, and I see that he’s holding something in his hand. He turns it around for inspection. It goes in his jacket pocket.

Kate makes an annoyed face that he can’t see. She shakes it off and continues, “It’s so weird that we would all meet again this week. Like, what are the odds?”

Adam picks up another stone from the ground, tosses it in the air, and catches it. “I can do backflips, but I can’t do that math.”

“Feels like…I don’t know…fate.”

Did she just say that?

Kate tightens her ponytail. “I almost didn’t come this year. I was going to go to my friend’s house in L.A., but Fran insisted we come at the last minute.”

Adam frowns, staring at the collection of stones in his palm. He flips them over and his eyes flicker back up to the path. “We should go catch up with the others,” he muses.

“I only agreed to come this week because Vienna was coming,” Kate rambles through his attempts to walk away. “I knew I’d need a Fran buffer.”

Adam pauses. He asks, “You like her?”

“Fran?”

“No.” His eyes cast down. “Vienna.”

Hearing my name on his lips sharpens my hearing. I’m careful not to move a muscle or make a single sound. From above, David calls to Alice to put her shoes on so they can continue hiking.

Kate makes a surprised sound. “Yes, Vienna,” she answers Adam. Her hand falls on her hip. “What’s the face for?”

“Nothing.”

‘Tell me.”

He makes a scoffing sound. “It’s just…she just doesn’t seem very interesting.”

Kate looks tilts her head, eyebrows drawn in confusion. “You just don’t know her.”

“Well, I knew her a little that summer.”

“She’s just been oddly quiet today. Her job stresses her out. This is, like, the first break she’s had in a few months. God, if I had to spend the day with six-year-olds, I’d lose my mind.”

He tugs and releases Copper’s leash, but the dog stays close by. Adam says, “If she went after her dreams, she might be more fulfilled. I think it’s so stupid when people want something but don’t go after it.”

My hands are shaking, and I only notice it when my leg slips.

“What is your problem with her?” Kate’s mouth curves into an amused smile.

He shrugs. “She’s just kind of boring.”

My throat clogs. My stomach ripples, clenching at my breakfast, trying to quell the emotion that’s rising to the surface.

---