Page 30 of That Rush

Chapter 4

Paige

“Before you say no, hear me out.”

I wedge my phone between my shoulder and ear and carry a glass of wine onto the porch. “Opening by acknowledging I’m going to say no doesn’t inspire confidence.”

My sister laughs. “Mom and Dad are coming to our place tomorrow. You could drive up and spend the weekend.”

“That’s a lovely invitation.”

“And?”

“I have plans.”

“With another human being?”

“Rude.”

“Accurate.”

The late-afternoon sun warms the porch, although shade has already crept across my hammock. I set my glass on the small table beside it, where my book waits with its glossy cover turned facedown.

“I’m hiking the north trail in the morning,” I tell her. “Then I have a hammock, a bottle of wine, and three hundred pages of people making questionable choices because they’re too busy having sex to communicate.”

“That sounds suspiciously specific.”

“It’s a new release.”

A man’s voice comes through the phone, too muffled for me to make out the words.

“Yes, please,” my sister calls back. “And I love you.”

“I love you too,” her husband answers.

She returns to me with a contented sigh. “He’s putting my dinner in the oven because I forgot to eat it while we were talking.”

“A passionate tale of married life.”

“He also brought home the good ice cream.”

“Okay, now you’re showing off.”

Their marriage works because of the small things. The arguments over batteries and birthday candles in the same drawer. The way he remembers her favorite ice cream, and the ridiculous notes she saves from her lunch.

My parents are the same. Thirty-six years, and I still hear the soft sound of Dad putting a coffee cup on Mom’s nightstand, and then her quiet complaint about the cream.

Love has never looked like a trap to me. It just hasn’t felt bigger than the quiet porch, the open trail, the life I already chose for myself.

“I’ll miss you,” my sister says. “We’ll plan another weekend.”

“Give me more than twelve hours’ notice next time.”

“Where’s the adventure in that?”

“Adventure is for books. I require a calendar.”

She laughs again. “Have fun with your fictional people.”