Filed to story: My Life with the Walter Boys Book (I & II) PDF Free
“What do you want?” I snapped.
“For you to change into warm clothes. We’re going somewhere special, but it’s cold outside.”
His audacity made my blood boil. “What makes you think I’ll go anywhere with you?”
Cole sighed as if I was being difficult for no reason, then moved directly into my personal space. If not for the extra foot he had on me, our noses would have brushed. He leaned down, his lips ghosting across my ear, and whispered, “Because even though you’re mad at me, I still make your heart race.”
I hated that he was right—despite everything, I could feel the treacherous organ slamming against my chest like a caged animal—but it didn’t mean I had to put up with his crap. “Good night, Cole,” I said curtly, taking a step away from him.
“C’mon, Jackie.” He stuck his foot between the door and the frame to stop me from closing it. “Don’t be like that.”
My eyes narrowed into slits. “Don’t be like what? Upset because you abandoned me? Or angry because you’re acting like nothing happened?”
He deflated under my gaze. “I screwed up, okay?” All his earlier bravado dwindled, and without the nonchalant act, the bags under his eyes became obvious, but lack of sleep wouldn’t earn my forgiveness. His miserable excuse for a confession didn’t move the needle either.
“That’s not good enough,” I told him.
“I didn’t plan on leaving,” he said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “It just happened.”
I let out a sharp laugh. Honestly, how was that any better?
Parker, who up until now had been trying to sleep, exhaled loudly and pushed herself into a sitting position. “Seriously, Cole? Did you leave your brain behind at the pub too? That’s the only reason I can think of for why you’re being such a numbskull.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“You’re digging yourself a deeper hole, dummy. Less excuses, more groveling.” Parker muttered something under her breath about boys not having any brain cells as she flopped back against her pillow.
“Yeah,” I said, lifting my chin. “What she said.”
Cole briefly considered his sister’s words before taking her advice to heart and dropping to his knees. He blinked up at me with sad, remorseful eyes, but after a moment, they lit with mischief, and I knew whatever came out of his mouth next would be ridiculous.
“Oh, benevolent goddess—“
The rest of his sentence was drowned out by Parker’s groan. “Somewhere else, please?”
Sighing dejectedly, I went over to my dresser and rifled through the top drawer for a pair of thick socks. Next, I retrieved the jeans I’d worn today from my hamper. Both of Cole’s sweatshirts hung on a hook near the door, but I reached for my jacket out of spite. I instructed him to wait in the hall, which he obeyed immediately, scrambling to his feet and backing out of the room so I could change. When I reemerged, there was a stupid grin on his face.
“Don’t give me that look,” I said before sweeping past him and moving toward the stairs, determined to get this over with so I could return to bed. I was only caving out of consideration for Parker, not because I forgave Cole. He kept up a constant stream of apologies as he trailed after me, but I ignored every one of them. They would be meaningless until I received an explanation, but Cole refused to elaborate. Apparently, he’d planned a date for us to make up for last night’s debacle, and he didn’t want to ruin the surprise.
I focused on appearing apathetic as I climbed into the truck. Once the engine roared to life, however, Cole pulled onto a narrow path that barely counted as a road instead of heading down the driveway, and I couldn’t squash my curiosity. I glanced around in hopes of figuring out our destination, but it was too dark to see much of anything. Despite my piqued interest, I kept my mouth shut as Cole drove us clear across the ranch until we reached a forest on the edge of the Walters’ property.
After parking beside the wall of towering pines and grabbing a drawstring bag from the back seat, Cole led me over to a game trail I wouldn’t have found in the daylight, let alone in the middle of the night. No sooner had we stepped into the swath of trees than we were swallowed up by darkness. I took out my phone, but even with its flashlight illuminating the dirt path, I kept tripping over roots and getting caught in the underbrush. I stumbled after Cole for fifteen minutes before losing my patience.
“How much farther?” I asked through gritted teeth, then promptly pitched forward as my shoe caught on a rock.
“Whoa, careful.” Cole steadied me, then shrugged off his bag. “Here, take this. We’re almost there, but I think it’ll be safer for both of us if I give you a piggyback ride.”
By some miracle, I had yet to sprain my ankle. I wasn’t willing to push my luck, so I accepted his offer without a word. As I slipped the bag over my shoulders, Cole crouched down so I could more easily climb on. Once my arms were wrapped around his neck, he hitched me up into a comfortable position before continuing onward.
It took another five minutes to reach our destination, but eventually the trees thinned, and we emerged into a grassy clearing. I slid off his back and looked around. Other than a table-size stump—the last remnant of what had once been a colossal tree—there wasn’t anything worth noting to justify hiking through the forest so late at night.
“This is where we went camping as kids,” Cole said. He took his bag from me, then pulled out two aluminum mugs, a thermos, and a blanket.
“Um…that’s not what we’re doing, right?” As thick as it looked, there was no way the single blanket he brought would keep us warm through the night.
He laughed as he spread it out on the ground. “Do you see a tent anywhere?”
His question didn’t reassure me. The Walters seemed like the type of people who were outdoorsy enough to forgo one depending on the weather.
“Well, no, but—“
“We’ll only be here for an hour or so. It’s too cold out to stay longer than that.” Cole flopped down and patted the empty space next to him. “Come sit. I brought hot cocoa.”
I wasn’t immune to bribery, especially the chocolatey kind, so I accepted a steaming cup and listened as Cole explained why he dragged me all the way out here. Since I didn’t get to see the Milky
Way that night on the school rooftop, he wanted to take me stargazing at a time when the sky was visible. I tilted my head back and gasped. Thousands of stars sparkled above us, like some cosmic artist had thrown an ocean of glitter against the black canvas of the universe. As much as I hated to admit it, Cole’s gesture was both thoughtful and romantic.
“I’ve never seen so many stars before,” I confessed. Not long after moving to Colorado, I realized just how impossible it was to see anything in New York due to light pollution, but this was something else entirely. Out here, they were so densely packed, there seemed to be more light than sky, and I wondered how it was possible that our journey through the trees had been so poorly lit.
“That’s because this is the best spot on the ranch for it,” Cole told me. “If the weather was nice enough during our camping trips, we would set up our sleeping bags in the grass and sleep under the stars.”
Ha!
I called it.
“Do you have a favorite constellation?” I asked, still mesmerized by the shining expanse above us.
“Sure.” He pointed straight up. “See that bright star right there? Now look to the left, there’s another. The next one is a little farther away, but do you see how they’re starting to form a hump? That’s Urassus Major—
“
Cole!
” I exclaimed, nearly spitting out a sip of hot chocolate.
He snickered. “What? I said we slept under the stars, not that we studied them. I know jack all about astrology.”