Page 23 of Off the Beaten Path

“The only people who would bother coming in here are teenagers,” she says with a wave of her hand.

I cock a brow. “And you really want teenagers having sex in here?”

“Well, it’s too cold for them to go to the fire tower, Holden.” The fire lookout tower at the top of The Mountain is infamously…carnal. There’s not a surface in the whole thing where I’d feel comfortable putting my hands.

“You have building materials in here, Wren. Lock the doors.”

She rolls her eyes. “Fine, I’ll lock the doors. Happy?”

“Not now,” I grumble.

Her eyes narrow into slits. “It’s good to see that our friendship hasn’t ruined our rivalry,” she says with a patronizing smile.

I ignore her comment, allowing my gaze to travel around the interior of the cabin. Wren wasn’t kidding when she said it was gutted, although it looks like Jimmy made some progress, replacing some of the drywall and installing new trim on the walls that weren’t knocked out.

“Where are the plans Jimmy drew up?” I ask her. She motions to the kitchen, where a worktable has been set up in the corner.

She moves ahead of me, pulling a stack of papers from underneath some tools on the worktable.

I look over the plans Jimmy made up, glancing back and forth between the papers and the spaces he designed them for. What I imagine was probably a dated galley kitchen will be replaced with modern cabinets and a farmhouse sink. The living room used to be closed off from the kitchen, but Jimmy tore down the wall separating them, making it much more open concept. It looks like he sketched out an idea for a library on the wall in the living room and an electric fireplace in front of where the couch would go.

It’s a lot of work, but nothing I can’t handle.

“What do you think?” Wren asks from beside me.

I shrug. “Looks doable.”

Her eyes brighten, the exact color as the lake in summer, when the morning sun glints on the surface, sending fragments of light across the trees. Right now, she looks like all the seasons, pale skin tinged red from the cold like crisp winter berries, red-orange hair like leaves changing when the weather gets cold in autumn, summer eyes and blooming pink petal spring lips. I don’t know how anyone manages to look so alive.

“You really think you can do it?” she asks, pulling me from the turn my thoughts had taken.

I glance back at Jimmy’s plans again, tilting my head back and forth as I assess them. “Yeah, I can do it.”

“By April?”

My head tips up from the plans to meet her gaze. She looks so hopeful, and for once, I don’t feel the urge to press her buttons or make that wrinkle form between her brows. I want to keep her looking at me just like that. “I’ll get it done in time.”

A smile splits across her face, startling in its brightness. I swear I can feel it in my chest like a sharp prick. “Thank you, Holden. I feel the overwhelming urge to drag you back to the hallway at Matty’s and show my gratitude the proper way.”

I roll my eyes. “With some—”

“Necking,” she says, her grin spreading wider. “You’re catching on.”

Heat creeps up my neck as I remember what I told Charlotte. I’m going to have to confess to Wren about it, and she’s never going to let me live it down.

Shoving my hands in my pockets, I say, “Listen, Wren, I have to tell you something.”

“Is this about you telling Charlotte we’re dating?” She leans her hip against the worktable, and when I just stare at her, blinking, she asks, “What? You didn’t think it would already be all over town? We should probably get our stories straight.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No, I’m not kidding,” she says with a roll of her eyes. “When the most eligible bachelor in town suddenly announces he’s dating someone, that news spreads fast.”

I sputter, sure this is just another one of her ploys to mess with me. “But I only told Charlotte.”

Wren shrugs. “And she told everyone.”

“Who did she tell?” This comes out louder than I intended, but Wren doesn’t seem fazed.

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