I met her eyes only to find her looking at me knowingly.
Shit. I probably had jealously written all over my face.
“Oh, uh. I’m not sure.” I forced my tone into a nonchalant one, even though I was feeling all sorts of uncomfortable and insecure.
The girl wore hiking pants and a vest. She looked like she’d been raised in the wilderness, camping or whatever. And on top of that, she was stunning. I could see her perfectly symmetrical features all the way from over here.
“Hey!” Mattie called to us. “Come over here and meet Elise.” My sister had a wicked smile on her face as if she knew every single thought that was flying around in my head.
I reluctantly got up and walked over to them with Lila. Crap. For someone that usually had my shit together, I felt like an absolute mess.
“Hey.” I waved awkwardly just as Oliver tossed his head back with laughter at something Elise said. Had I ever madehim laugh like that? The envious thought planted like a weed in my mind.
“Nice to meet you all,” Elise said. “Ollie and I used to work at the same outdoor equipment store.”
“How is the old place?” Oliver asked.
“I left a few weeks after you did. Jay asked if I would come on as a tour guide for the new whitewater rafting company he just joined.”
My heart squeezed as Oliver’s eyes widened. “He asked me too. I’m headed there in a couple of weeks.”
Elise shoved his chest. “No way! I’m so pumped now!”
I threaded my hands together as my gaze rose, immediately catching my sister’s questioning eyes. I gave her my best “mind your own business” glare before returning my attention to Oliver’s apparently favorite person in the world. The way his gaze lit up when he looked at her made me want to throw up. Everything that I was not, she surely was. She looked like she knew how to set up a tent. She also looked like she could competently get down the hill on a snowboard without incident.
Oliver’s eyes finally landed on mine, and I gave him the biggest smile I could muster. He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. He looked confused. I didn’t blame him. We hadn’t left things in the best place this morning, and now here I was, looking about as comfortable as a deer in the headlights of a massive truck.
“Do you all want to head out on a sunset hike after you eat?” Elise asked.
There were some grumblings of agreements among the group.
Oliver walked over to me before leaning down to whisper in my ear, “Hey, everything okay?”
“Everything’s great,” I forced out. “I set up my own tent.”
The lines between his brows formed as he looked at the tent, then back to me. “I think you mean Giles set up your tent. But listen, about that?—”
“Oliver, let me show you my new setup!” We both looked up to see Elise waving him over to her site.
Oliver sighed and stepped away from me. “I’ll be right back.”
“No rush,” I said, as my insides turned.
I watched as he walked over to the girl that was a way better fit for him in every imaginable way.
TWENTY-SIX
Oliver
“Frankie doesn’t seemlike your type,” Lila said in a low voice so that only I could hear.
The two of us were toward the front of the hiking group, behind Elise and her friends. Giles had stayed back at camp with Mattie and Harrison was trailing the back of the group with Frankie.
My heart swelled a little knowing my best friend and my girl—hell, I was still going to call her that even if it wasn’t exactly accurate—were getting along.
“She’s career driven, motivated, intelligent. She also looks about as out of place out here as Harrison does.” We both glanced over our shoulders to see the two of them helping each other over a particularly muddy log, Frankie scrunching her nose in the process.
My lips tugged up at the sight. She was so damn cute.
