Page 17 of It's You
“No.” She took another step away. “You didn’t really answer me. More half-truths, I think, Jack.”
“Walk with me a little more.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to get to know you.”
She turned to look at him again, biting the skin inside her lower lip and blinking back tears.
This is too intense for me. All of it.
Just walk with me.
“Fine,” she conceded, taking off at a brisk pace. “We can take a walk over to the Powhatan Falls and then loop back.”
She didn’t check to see if he was following behind her. She knew he was.
“Powhatan.”
“It’s an old Algonquin word,” she explained. “It means waterfalls.”
“It actually means at the waterfalls.”
She looked at him over her shoulder. “That’s right. How do you know that? You lived here for what? Half an hour?”
“Senior class had to map out Proctor Woods.”
Darcy chuckled suddenly, nodding in remembrance. “Yes. That’s right. The cartography class. I wonder if they do that anymore.”
“It was a smart exercise. I know everyone uses GPS now, but no kid from Carlisle ever got lost in these woods. Plus, mapping’s a good skill. I’ve certainly used it since.”
She slowed down and turned to him as they entered Dooley Meadow, which was bathed in sunshine. She ran the palms of her hands over the tips of the tall spring grasses that came up to her thighs and tickled her pantyhose-clad legs.
“How much do you remember?” she asked, facing him until he caught up and walked beside her.
“Of what?” he asked.
“That night.”
“Everything.”
“That summer.”
“Everything.”
“Why did you act like it hurt you to look at me?”
“Because it did.”
“Why?”
“Darcy, if I promise I will tell you?—”
He stopped moving beside her, so Darcy pivoted to face him. She could still see Beaver Pond in the distance behind them, but she had no more answers than she had sitting on the bench playing quid pro quo.
Damn it, she was getting sick of this. She wasn’t playing any more games with him. She wanted answers. She?—
She furrowed her brows, focusing on his face. His eyes were wide, and his chin was raised, looking over her shoulder, focused on the dark woods that led to Powhatan Falls. He closed his eyes and inhaled slowly and deliberately through his nose, then tilted his head, listening to something,forsomething.
