Page 144 of The Girlfriend Zone

“Really? You’re not afraid?”

“I want you more than I want the life I had before,” he says, and a tear slips down my cheek. From his passion, from his certainty, from his heart. And from that sly smile on his gorgeous lips. “But why don’t I show you?”

I arch a curious brow. “What do you mean?”

“Let’s go geocaching.”

Without a second thought, I take his hand, and we leave.

44

WHAT SHE MEANS

Miles

It’s an evening in late November, so it’s dark and a little chilly. But that’s what jackets and lanterns are for. Sure, there are phone flashlights and real ones, too, but this camping lantern is way cooler—and extremely necessary—as we walk down Tennessee Hollow Trail. We’re not taking the same path we did when we came here more than a year ago. There’s a shorter route close to the same spot where we went on our very first date. Good thing, too, because there’s a geocache we need to find.

“It’s close to that other one,” I say, eyes on my phone making sure to study it closely so she doesn’t realize I’m faking it.

This cache isn’t listed on any app.

“Are we almost there?” she asks.

“Right around the bend in the trail,” I say, and when we near the footbridge, I grab her hand and point to a rock.

“It’s across from the bench where we found the first one?” she asks, her voice laced with disbelief.

Fine by me.

“Looks like it,” I say, keeping my poker face on and my tone even, giving nothing away. Inside, though, I can’t wait.

We’re a minute away, but it feels like forever until we reach a boulder by the creek. She looks around it, then stops. There’s another lockbox next to it.

But it doesn’t look like the first one. This one is silver, ornate, carved with intricate floral details—like wildflowers. In the middle of the box, there’s an engravedL.

She bends closer, staring, her lips parting in amazement. “This is gorgeous,” she says.

My heart is bursting, but I keep it together, pretending to read from my phone like it’s a clue. “Here’s the code to open it,” I say.

I read off some clues I came up with quickly. They aren’t hard, but they are specific.

“A hat trick. What a win is worth in the standings. A goal counts this much.”

“Three, two, one?” she asks, but her blue eyes sparkle with recognition. She’s putting it together—these are my clues. But she plays along, opening the box that I left here this morning.

Hoping we’d come back to it soon.

And then she gasps. Her hand flies to her mouth, then to the chest of her jacket.

“It’s the heart locket,” she says, her voice soft, like it’s the last thing she expected. And that’s perfect. More perfect than I’d imagined. And I’ve imagined this a lot.

“Is it the same one?” she whispers, like she doesn’t want to dare to believe it.

It’s like the sun is shining inside of me. “It’s the same one.”

She can’t speak for several beautiful seconds that make my heart soar. Her reaction is even better than I’d imagined.

“But…how?” she finally asks.

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