Page 31 of Love You Always

It’s a bluebird sky day, not even a hint of a cloud, and no one’son the trail. Feels like a gift. Colin and I take this hike about once a week, a habit we got into when he moved to Buttercup Hill to get out of the spotlight after making a poorly-timed statement to the media and tanking his company’s stock.

He and PJ started dating on the sly, but I’ve managed to get over it now that it’s clear to me they’re meant for each other. Not to mention that he’s the one who stepped in to save us from our first round of financial ruin a couple years back, so I don’t rib him nearly as much about being with my sister as I’d like to.

“I assume we’re talking about the actress.”

I use the hem of my shirt to wipe the sweat from my face. It leaves a stain in the gray fabric, but Colin’s the last guy who’d judge. Looking out at the view—miles of grapevines in orderly lines, a little residual burn from the fire that burned part of Buttercup Hill and a lot of Graham’s land, and all the various homes of my siblings fanned out on the property—I always feel calm. Perspective. Literal perspective.

“Yeah. Ella. How’d you know?”

“It’s all PJ can talk about. Ella this, Ella that. You’d think the royal family was having a wedding here.”

Colin famously keeps his head in the sand when it comes to celebrity culture. I’ve never heard him relay a piece of gossip and frankly, I’m surprised he’s heard about Ella. The guy really does only care about space.

“Apparently she and Callum whatever-his-name-is are considered Hollywood royalty.” I spit the words out, still annoyed by how disinterested Callum seemed in his own wedding. “Though he’s kind of a douchebag if you ask me.”

“Not a country music fan, then?”

“Nope.”

Colin bends down to stretch his calves before we hike down. It’s part of the ritual of hiking—waiting for him to go through a series of stretches before we start, halfway through, and at the end. He’s the best-stretched hiker I’ve ever met, and knowinghim, there’s some science behind it. I don’t stretch after I run, so I don’t bother after hiking either. It’s never been a problem.

“You like her.”

“She’s fine. She’s a client.”

Colin chuckles and shakes his head. “Keep telling yourself that, but you don’t talk about clients, and you haven’t been able to shut up about her. If you think you don’t have a thing for her, you’re in denial.”

Looking out over Napa Valley, I take a moment to notice how quiet it is up here. It’s normally where I go for some peace and quiet, but today I can’t escape my best friend yammering in my ear. Or my own thoughts.

Maybe he’s right. Even if I wish it wasn’t true. “I don’t want to have a thing for her, trust me. Even if her fiancé is an asshat who clearly doesn’t deserve her, she’s engaged to him. That’s a line in the sand I’d never think of crossing.”

Annoyed, I look out at the view. Why does the sky have to be so damn blue? I could use a few clouds and a storm right now to match my miserable mood.

“I don’twantto like her,” I admit.

“I get it. That’s what’s mysterious about the human heart. It kind of does what it wants without our heads being involved.”

I roll my eyes. “Is that some mystery of the universe you discovered while you were looking at Saturn one day? Jesus.”

“It’s common sense,” he says. “And it was Jupiter, asshole.”

“Yeah, well, you’ve got that right about the heart going rogue. I can’t figure out what she sees in him. I saw the two of them together and I swear, there was zero chemistry.”

He laughs. “Is there a tiny chance you only saw what you wanted to see?”

“Um, yeah, genius.”

“Not an insult.” Done with his stretches, Colin eyes the trail that will take us back to Buttercup Hill and plants his poles in the dirt. “Ready?”

“Sure.”

We take a last look at the view from the top.

“Here’s what I’m loving,” Colin says, pulling off his baseball cap, ruffling his hair, and putting it back on facing backward.

I let out a sigh. “Oh, here we go. What is it, some kind of interplanetary connection you saw through your telescope last night?”

He chuckles and I appreciate that I can still give my billionaire former college roommate shit about his nerdy love for space. In some ways, Ella reminds me of him, which is nuts because they couldn’t be more different. Except that they’re both pathologically nice, extremely successful at what they do, and a little misunderstood by the rest of the world.

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