Page 38 of Mess With Me
Finally they reached the cave and settled in with the group, everyone sitting on the hard-packed ground or a few downed logs. Rob told them the Furman legend. Basically what he’d already told Ally with some embellishments like “sometimes on a full moon you can hear his footsteps.” Spooky campfire stuff. After, they went and checked out the cave two at a time. He went with Ally.
“Pretty small cave,” she said, peering into the dark space.
“He lived here through long winters too. Harsh conditions. Good thing he was the Furman.”
She smirked. “Furry love.”
He smirked back. They were meeting on the same dirty wavelength. Excellent.
They walked away, letting the next group take a look. She wagged her finger at him. “You’re rubbing off on me.”
He smiled widely, enormously pleased about that. There was no reason not to make a plan with her a week from now. It was the three-week mark that she’d said meant she’d be open to a guy asking her out. “You ever been fishing?” he asked casually.
“No.”
“We should go. How’s next Sunday? Right here at the lake. I have a canoe and an extra fishing rod. It’s peaceful.”
Her face lit up and his hopes soared. “Then we can cook whatever we catch over a fire for dinner. I’ve never done that before!”
“It’s catch and release only. But I could bring some hot dogs.”
“And we could make s’mores!” Her blond bangs bounced in her excitement. “Omigod, this sounds amazing! Let’s make it a big party. You invite the guys. I’ll invite all my friends. It’ll be like a nature party.”
He deflated. “The canoe only fits two.”
She smacked his arm lightly. “We’ll take turns, silly. Or maybe we’ll just invite them for the campfire part. Great idea, Eth! I haven’t had s’mores in years!”
He bit back a sigh. “Awesome.”
9
A week later, Ethan decided he had nothing to complain about. Okay, yeah, he had to share Ally with a bunch of other people at their campfire cookout tonight, but right now he had her to himself for the whole afternoon, fishing on the lake. They were the only ones out here besides a few small boats on the far side of the lake. So far she hadn’t caught anything and had been unusually quiet. He didn’t fill the silence with a lot of unnecessary chatter. That was one of the great things about fishing, just quietly becoming one with nature.
After a while, she looked around and took a deep breath. “This is nice. I can see why you like it. It’s almost like meditating.”
He nodded.
She kept talking, confiding in him in a way few people did. “I became a teacher because I love kids, but lately my job just feels too confining, you know? I switched from fifth grade to first grade for a change of pace a couple of years ago when the position opened up, but now I think I need a bigger change.” She made a sweeping arm gesture, which made her life vest lift. “I want to getoutof the classroom andintothe world. I’m thinking about being Claire’s assistant. I spoke to her current assistant and it’s a lot of work, but also has some great perks. Travel, award shows, VIP rooms so exclusive most people don’t even know they exist. Anyway, I’m giving it some serious thought.”
His brows furrowed. “Why would you want to be an assistant when you have a college degree?”
“It could be fun.”
“More like you’ll be chained to your phone, handling her life.” Claire spent most of her downtime in California, the rest of it traveling to different movie locations. Ethan was deeply rooted in Eastman, Connecticut. He’d stayed to give back to the community who’d raised him. More importantly, he wasn’t far from retiring on a full pension from the years he’d put in on the Eastman PD. All of this pointed to him staying. He tried to think of Ally’s job possibility objectively. He could see the appeal of traveling around the world on someone else’s dime, the lure of the Hollywood world. And he didn’t want Ally to be unhappy, stuck in a job that stifled her, but he also knew their fledgling relationship wouldn’t survive long distance.
She smiled sunnily. “Chained to a phone in Paris maybe? Not so bad.”
“Do you really want to work for a friend? What if something goes wrong?”
She stared at him. “Geez, Eth, I’m trying to have a quarter-life crisis here and you’re ruining it with all your common sense. I’ll admit I’m a little worried about having a friend for a boss. Maybe that’s why I haven’t given her an answer yet. Or maybe I’m just waiting for something better to come along.” She sighed. “I don’t know. I just…I need to shake things up. I’m ready for the next thing, whatever that is. Maybe I should just grab this opportunity and hope for the best.”
He relaxed a little. She was just restless. “What do you really want to do? If you could do anything in the world.”
“Hmm…professional dominatrix.”
His jaw dropped.
She burst out laughing.
