Page 24 of Only Ever You
Fuzzy led the way, veering up to the viewing point all on his own. Luna glanced over at me, her curls bouncing in her ponytail. “He knows where to go.”
I chuckled. “That he does. We’ve been here a few times. I like this trail because it’s not too long, but it’s beautiful. When I need to get him out for some exercise, we usually come here.”
“Does he like to fetch?”
“If you get a ball out, he’ll play fetch with you for hours,” I offered with an emphatic nod.
Luna’s giggle cinched around my heart. “If he ever stays with me when you’re out of town, I will make sure that I have plenty of balls for him to fetch.”
“I was serious when I said I’d love for you to take care of him.”
She glanced up again. “Really?”
I couldn’t even stay on topic. “To be honest, I’ve had a crush on you ever since I met you.” Hearing myself speak the blunt truth startled me. Pink crested high on Luna’s cheeks. I gave my head a little shake. “That didn’t answer your question. My jobmeans I need someone to take care of him when I’m out of town. He likes you. I always figure it out, but I’m serious. I’d love for him to stay with you. I’ll pay you.”
Luna’s eyes went wide. “You don’t need to pay me! I love dogs. I never got to have one growing up. You donotneed to pay me. Just give me a call when you need to leave for work, and I will come get Fuzzy.”
My chest felt a little funny, as if my heart itself had stumbled and fallen. Luna threw me off-balance emotionally, discombobulating me so thoroughly that I was constantly trying to reorient myself.
A moment later, Fuzzy rounded a curve in the path, and we followed him to where the view opened wide. A beautiful valley stretched in front of us. In the distance to one side, you could see the ocean, an inlet from the Pacific Ocean that led to Anchorage. To the other side, the mountains were a tall, commanding presence against the sky.
With it being late autumn, the snow was dusting the mountains. Luna took a quick breath, letting it out in a happy sigh. “I love it here.”
I glanced down at her. “It’s beautiful.”
“Before you moved here to work on the hotshot crew, had you ever been to Willow Brook?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Nope. I bounced around with my dad, but it was mostly in the Southeastern part of the state, Juneau, Fireweed Harbor, Skagway, and so on, in that little stretch. A few times, we came to Anchorage for shopping. Once, we moved to Fairbanks for a fresh start. While I’m used to winter, Fairbanks is fucking cold.”
Luna threw her head back with a laugh, the sound echoing out over the valley. When her gaze leveled with mine again, her eyes were twinkling. “Fairbanksisfucking cold. We went there one winter. My parents wanted to produce “content” of us doingthe RV thing in the winter. It was so cold and dark.” She rolled her eyes. “We ended up leaving within a few weeks, but we had to do enough videos for three whole months of content. It wasn’t fun.”
When I thought about my childhood, which was no walk in the park, it seemed downright stable compared to that. Luna’s life just went to show that there were different kinds of chaos. While Dad hadn’t been what I’d call stable, he’d been loving, if uncertain and sometimes confused about parenting and life. I remembered when I was an adult and ran into one of my teachers from middle school. She’d shared that he used to go to my parent-teacher conferences and earnestly ask for advice on how to respond to behavioral issues with me. She’d told me he was a sweet guy, even if, in her words, he didn’t always make the best choices. If that didn’t sum my dad up, not much else did.
Unsure of what to say to Luna, I gathered my thoughts. “Well, that doesn’t sound great.”
Luna shrugged. “I didn’t mean to make that moment awkward.”
Turning to face her, I reached for her hands. “Luna, you didn’t make the moment awkward. I think we covered awkward at dinner the other night, right?”
Her lips twisted to the side before she smiled sheepishly. “I guess so.”
I could sense she didn’t want to keep talking about her parents. “Maybe someday you and your parents can build a relationship that feels better.”
She blinked before her curls bounced with her nod. “I hope so. I know they love me, it just feels like they got caught in this cycle where they kept thinking something would break through and make it all worth it.” She squeezed my hands. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Understanding.” She startled me when she leaned up and pressed a kiss on the side of my jawline. That brief touch felt like a lick of fire, the heat flickering outward.
I wasn’t thinking when I took a step closer and palmed her cheek, enchanted just to be with her. “I’m more glad than you can ever know that I found you again.”
Luna’s eyes widened slightly before she whispered, “I am too.”
I was lost in her gaze through several echoing beats of my heart. With every second, it felt as if the connection between us was tightening, stitching our bond tighter and tighter.
On the heels of a breath, I dipped my head and fit my mouth over hers. I slid my hands around to cup her nape and kissed her as if she were the very air I needed.
Chapter Fourteen
