Page 66 of Could Have Been Us
I groan. “You don’t think he’s going to make me hike, do you? I wanted to be sure I looked cute.”
“I think it’s pretty obvious that he means to take you out in the woods.”
Damn it. “Maybe he’ll surprise me.”
“Oh, he’s going to surprise you, all right,” Winnie says with a laugh. “With a hike.”
“It’ll be fine. I love hiking.”
“You’re a liar.” She shrugs. “But then again, you’re dating a wilderness guide, what the hell do you think is going to be his idea of a date?”
I shake my head as the reality of this starts to hit me, and I look at her in horror. “Oh my God, do you think he’s going to ask me to camp?”
Winnie almost chokes on her laughter. “You should see your face! Oh, Stella, it’s priceless. I wouldn’t discount the idea. He loves being outdoors, and I’m sure he wants to share his passion with you.”
I’d much prefer passion without any chance of bugs or animals.
“I’m going to hate this.”
“Probably, but you love Jack, so this is sort of a good compromise.”
I roll my eyes. “Not that much.”
“Liar.”
Fine. She’s right. I do love him, but Jack knows me. He knows I don’t do anything outside and camping is an absolute no.
“There’s no way I’m sleeping outdoors, not even for him.”
Oliver decides to come out of the guest room, which I refuse to let him repaint because Amelia picked the shade of pink she wanted. “Winnie!”
“Hey, Ollie.”
My brother pulls her in for a tight hug.
“Are you going hiking?” he asks when he sees the boots.
“Not me, Stella is.”
He bursts out laughing. “Stella?”
“Jack is taking her.”
“He’s not taking me hiking!” I say.
Oliver laughs harder. “Oh, it’s like he wants this relationship to fail before it’s even started.”
“Right!” Winnie agrees.
“Maybe he doesn’t know about the time we all went out in the woods.”
I glare at Winnie. “Really?”
“What? You were a damn mess.”
“She almost started a forest fire,” Oliver offers.
I flip them off. How was I supposed to know that I needed to make a ring of rocks when I put almost the entire bottle of lighter fluid on the wood? No one told me anything, they just said to make a big flame, so I did.
