Page 126 of Red

I pick up the backpack I prepped earlier and swing it on.

“What type of date is this then?”

“You’ll see. It’s a long walk—or run, if you’re up for it.”

“I could use another run today.” He twists in a stretch.

“Okay, then let’s go.”

I lead off for the trails on the right side of the house. A run might help me too. We run in silence for a long while. The birds chirp in the afternoon sun. I miss when he used to ask me questions with no regards to if I wanted to answer or not. I skip over a fallen tree and veer to the left. I’ve only been here once. The river still sounds a little bit away. He’s probably confused about our near three hours of running. My lungs are fired up, and without snow on the ground, it’s easier to hide—not that I need to hide that from him.

When we hit the water’s edge, I slow and stop.

“The river?” He stops beside me.

“No, I thought maybe a water break.”

I hand him a bottle and grab myself another. The water cools my whole body, and I know it’s going to be fine. He might be mad, but either way, no one came to hunt me down when he saw my hair, or when I cured his stomach, which seems like so long ago now.

“Here.” He hands me back the water bottle and looks out down the river. “How much longer?”

“Um.” Not long on four feet. “Maybe two hours?”

“Okay, let’s go. We’ll be coming home in the dark.”

I nod and turn to follow the river. When we hit the widest spot where the water flows heavy, I search for the opening in the trees. Low bushes hide the trail entrance and scrape at my bare legs as I climb over them. Stark ducks a few times. I weave off and on the path to avoid low branches. The sound of water quiets as we run away from the river.

When we reach the top of a cliff, I stop.

“This?” he asks.

“No.” I climb down the side between two trees and start walking carefully along the slope in a zigzag. The sound of water starts up again.

“Could you, like, talk to me?” Six hours of silence with him has been awful.

“About?”

“Anything.”

“Why are you taking me down a cliffside?”

Such a good question.

My hand grips a branch on the steep slope. “So, you’ve never been here before?”

“No, I don’t explore outside of pack business.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

My foot catches a root and Stark catches me.

“Thanks.”

He lets go and shakes his hand.

“Do you get tingles?” I ask.

“Tingles?”