“Uh-oh. You got trouble,” Mae whispered, staring back at Slate’s table. I turned to see Everly and one of her friends sliding in beside Knox and Slate.

Slate’s eyes lifted and met mine immediately. I knew he hadn’t encouraged this, but I hoped he’d handle it. I saw him talking to Everly sternly while looking at me.

She leaned into him and put her hands on his chest and Slate was up and out of his seat fast. He said something about her being desperate and walked off, leaving my brother there with the two girls. Knox was grinning.

I remained where I was until Slate got to me. He wrapped an arm around my waist and tugged me to him before kissing me thoroughly right there for the entire place to see.

“I’ll be outside in my Jeep waiting until you get off,” he whispered, then pressed money into my hands before walking away.

I could feel the daggers that Everly was aiming at me, but I didn’t care. I was smiling like a fool and watching his swagger as he exited the place.

“Oh my God,” Mae said as she came up beside me. “Sam will never believe this.”

I didn’t really want to think about Sam or anyone else Slate had slept with in the past. Instead I wanted to think about what he’d just done. It wouldn’t be the first time he would have to do that. He was Slate Allen, and women expected him to be open. I hadn’t really thought about how that would work until I saw it in action.

When I turned around, Knox’s gaze met mine and he gave me a slow grin, then a small salute. It wasn’t his complete acceptance, but he was saying he would be okay with it. I didn’t need his approval, but it did make things easier.

Everly was now flirting with Knox and trying to act as if Slate pushing her away and walking off on her hadn’t happened. Although I was pretty sure the whole place had seen it. She was really going to hate me now. I might need to start sleeping with one eye open. Or at least wait until she came in drunk and passed out. Which was almost every night. It was amazing the girl was passing her classes.

“Let me finish up that table,” Mae said. “I don’t want to have to hit a bitch for you while we’re on the clock. And if you go over there, she’s gonna say something stupid and I’m gonna have to kick her skinny Barbie ass.”

I agreed. It was best I didn’t speak to Everly.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

THE GOOD NEWS is Everly didn’t come back to the dorm that night. I finally stopped looking for her somewhere between one and two when I dozed off. The next morning when I saw her bed empty, I opened the drapes and let the sunshine in. Strange how you miss something like sunshine in your room in the mornings. It takes not having it at all to realize you love it.

It was Sunday and I didn’t have work tonight. So, Slate was picking me up to go on a hike through Mossy Ridge Trail and take a picnic lunch. I liked the idea of getting away from Bington and being alone with Slate. I also loved hiking. It had been something I did with Crawford. I wanted this memory with Slate, too.

I was ready to start building those memories with Slate. Just as I was ready to move on from the ones I had with Crawford. Each day that passed and he didn’t wake up was one more step away from what once was.

Slate met me downstairs with a bag of muffins and coffee. I had ordered the lunch from a deli in town that we would stop and pick up on our way.

“Good morning,” he said, leaning in to kiss me.

“Morning,” I said against his lips.

“Did the wicked witch give you any trouble last night?” he asked when we pulled apart.

“Didn’t come back. I got lucky.”

He nodded. “If she gives you any trouble, let me know. I’ll handle it.”

Smiling, I took my coffee from him. “Are you going to beat her up for me? It’s frowned upon for boys to hit girls, you know.”

“I’m aware of that rule, but I have ways to make sure she doesn’t mess with you.”

I didn’t ask what, because I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

“That’s very double-O-seven of you,” I teased, and opened the bag to get out a banana nut muffin.

“I try,” he added, and held out his hand for his chocolate-chip muffin.

“We need to stop by the deli on Sixth Street. The one with the pink flamingo outside. I ordered our lunch from there. They even pack it up in a basket.”

He laughed. “We’ll look like serious hikers with our picnic basket.”

I shrugged. I wasn’t concerned with looking serious. “It’ll be good and the other hikers will be jealous.”

“And that’s definitely all that matters,” he agreed.

“Yep.”

After we finished eating and picked up our lunch, we had about a twenty-minute drive to the place we were hiking. I liked driving through Nashville. I had grown up right outside the city, and going into town had always been a big deal. The little kid in me came out every time I drove through.

“Uncle D called this morning. They’re sending him back home. He said Jeffery, his neighbor and good friend, was planning on checking in on him and Wilma, Jeffery’s wife, said she’d keep him fed. Still worried about him going home like this, but Jeffery and Wilma are good people. I’m going to give them a call this evening. Check on things.”

Being away from his uncle while he was sick like this was hard on him. I could see it in his eyes—the concern and the worry. I wished there was something I could do, but I was at a loss.

“Maybe we could drive up next weekend? I could ask off work and we could go to Huntsville for the whole weekend. You could make sure he has everything he needs.”

Slate stopped at a red light, then looked over at me. “You’d do that?”

“Of course,” I quickly replied.

He smiled at me then and leaned over to give me a quick kiss. “Thank you, Vale. That means a lot.”

“You’re welcome.”

We drove in silence the next few miles, then pulled into the parking lot by the path that was marked for hikers. “The whole loop is only about five miles. It’s a rough path, though. Might want to unpack that really cute basket and put it in my backpack instead. It’ll be easier for us to carry.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” I agreed, and moved our lunch.

“You’ve got good hiking boots,” he noted as he looked down at my feet.

“My family is big into hiking” was the only reason I gave him. I didn’t want to explain that this was something I once did with Crawford. I wanted today to be about us.

“Uncle D and I hiked a good bit, too. Especially when I was younger.”

“Did you hike this trail with him?” I asked as he slipped his backpack on.

“Yep. About ten times probably.”

That was good to know. At least he knew where we were going.

“Let’s do this,” I said as he locked up his Jeep and slipped the keys into the side pocket of his bag.

There was only one other car parked out here, so we weren’t going to be passing many people along the way. I was happy about that.

We talked about past hikes and told funny stories, and stopped to see different spots of pure, natural beauty. Once Slate stopped to pull me against him and kiss me, saying he just couldn’t look at me any longer and not at least get a taste. When he did things like that, it made me feel silly and giddy inside.

By the time we had worked up an appetite, we were at a landing with a few scattered tables and a beautiful view of a stream with fish swimming between the rocks.