Page 39 of Where Are You Now
Lucas led her to the bottom of the sprawling 250-foot stone staircase that climbed the grassy hill. The most iconic feature of any park in Nashville, the steps were full of joggers, dog walkers, and people perched on the edges, reading or turning their faces toward the sun. As they got ready to ascend, Ava stopped.
“You okay?” he asked. “No pain or anything?”
She pressed her hand against her side, only a dull ache remaining. “It’s not that. I think I’ve just come to a conclusion.”
He peered down at her.
“Something is clearly going on with you, and my life is an absolute mess. So, what do you say we let all the adult baggage go and just be together, like when we used to climb the crab apple tree?”
He allowed a small, relieved smile. “That sounds perfect.”
“Our biggest worry back then was whether Mrs. Johnson was going to assign homework on the weekend,” Ava said, wrinkling her nose at him.
“I hated it when she did that. No one needs fifty algebra practice problems on a Saturday.”
“I was pretty quick at math, and it still took me forever,” she said as they began their climb up the steps toward the walking trails.
“Remember, she’d take off a point for every line we didn’t write out to show our work?” he asked.
Ava rolled her eyes. “At work, when someone requests final numbers now, they would actually kick me out of their office if I tried to take them through how I arrived at them. Nobody has time for the nonsense.”
Lucas smiled at her. Was that a glimmer of fondness in his eyes? The sight of it filled her with a kind of joy that only he could bring.
“It’s nice to walk,” she said. “I’ve only just now felt decent enough to get out and stroll.”
“Howareyou feeling? Anything still bothering you?”
“My ribs ache occasionally, and I have a little tenderness where I had stitches if I move a certain way, but otherwise, I’m okay.”
“That’s good to hear.” He put his hand on her back toguide her as they moved out of the way of another couple coming down. “Therapy went all right with Kate?”
“We weren’t going to talk about our current life, right?”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry. It’s easy to slip into it when I have your full medical history.” He allowed a grin.
“You made another joke! That’s the Lucas I know.”
She gave him a playful punch in the arm, and he let out a little chuckle, making her heart soar. After so many years, he could still do it for her.
He cut his eyes good-humoredly at her. “For someone whose life is supposedly a mess, you sure are energetic. But then again, you always were.”
“I’m trying to tone that down.”
He gave her a curious glance. “Why?”
“My mom said that people with more life experiences have a greater introspective demeanor. It made me wonder if introspection came with maturity. Should I work at being more mature?”
Lucas actually laughed, and Ava wasn’t sure her heart could take it. “Your youthfulness is endearing. We have too much adulthood around here.”
She fell into step with him, his compliment giving her the first really good feeling she’d experienced since the accident.
“How about you? Ever tap into your youthful side? When was the last time you wrangled a copperhead?”
His eyebrows went up. “That wasn’t immaturity and youth; that was pure, unadulterated stupidity.”
She laughed. “You were fearless.”
“Reckless.”
