That gets me a snort. I feel like Chase is the kind of guy who can laugh off any joke, even one at his expense.
“Helmet?” I prompt, and this time he’s brought a spare so we both have one.
Ignoring the nerves fluttering in my stomach, I straddle the bike and loop my arms around Chase’s waist. When I take a breath, I inhale the scent of him, and I can’t deny it makes my head feela little foggy. I’m grateful when we speed away and the wind cools my flushed face.
As I suspected, the Thorn property is deserted when we get there, all those pesky sleuths scattered for the night. Chase and I round the side of the house, our path illuminated by the heavy-duty flashlight I brought along. We’ll need more than our phones for this hike.
“We’re not going in?” He looks startled as I bypass the main house.
“No. I want to see the studio.”
We enter the trail, which is barely visible under the thick cover of trees. Moonlight slips through gaps in the branches, casting eerie shadows on the path ahead of us. It’s mostly silent, except for the occasional hoot of an owl or the sound of leaves and twigs cracking under our feet.
“How do you know where you’re going?” Chase asks warily.
Memory.
“I mapped it out online,” I say.
We walk quietly for a while. Much as I hate to admit it, it’s…nice. I welcome the silence, but in my experience it’s rare to find someone who can comfortably exist in it. Everett would be blabbering up a storm right now.
“Who was that guy you were with this morning?”
Chase’s question seems to come out of nowhere.
I give him a sidelong look. “A friend’s brother. She was at boarding school with me, and when she found out I was moving to Tennessee, she told me to look her brother up.”
“Really. And he drove all the way from Nashville just to have breakfast?”
“Contrary to what you believe, Chase, therearepeople in this world who consider me delightful,” I say sweetly.
I’m rewarded with a laugh.
“Have you traveled much?” I ask curiously. “Outside of Tennessee, I mean?”
He kicks a rock in front of us, watching it tumble down the path. “No, I’ve been wanting to get the hell out of this town forever. See the world, you know?” He makes a disgruntled sound. “But I promised my mom I’d graduate high school first. That’s the only reason I’m still here.”
“Where would you go?”
“Everywhere. I’ve been saving up for a cross-country trip. Gonna hit the road as soon as I can.”
“That’s actually my dream too,” I confess.
He raises an eyebrow. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. Only, I’d want to photograph nature along the way. Different landscapes. Wildlife.”
Chase looks at me, really looks at me, for what feels like the first time. “I wouldn’t have pegged you as the type to do something like that.”
“When I was a kid, I spent hours outside, just watching,” I say, smiling at the memory. “I would lie in the grass and listen to the wind, try to mimic birdcalls. I don’t know…it felt like this whole other world. Like a way to escape all the madness around me.”
He’s watching me. Waiting.
“I’ve always wanted to be a photographer, maybe even work on nature documentaries. I want to show people all those little things that go unnoticed. The way shadows change on the forestfloor, the way birds look like they’re dancing when they take off together.”
“Nature documentaries, huh? Like on TV?”
“Or independent ones. Anything that gets people to see the world the way I do.”
