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I close my eyes and feel his fingers brush my hair aside as he fastens the blindfold behind my head. Then his hand finds mine, warm fingers wrapping around my own as he starts leading me away from the truck.

The morning feels different without being able to see it. The cool air brushes against my face while the damp smell of earth and grass surrounds me, and every sound seems louder than it should, from the crunch of dirt beneath our feet to the rustle of grass against my ankles and the birds beginning to wake somewhere around us.

“Slow,” he murmurs when the ground changes beneath my feet.

“I can’t see.”

“That’s the point.”

“Asshole.”

Another quiet laugh.

I smile despite myself.

We keep walking, the ground beneath my feet growing softer as the sounds around me begin to change. Insects hum nearby, birds chirp somewhere in the distance, and something brushes against my arm.

I flinch.

“What was that?”

“Almost there.”

“Jude.”

“Trust me.”

There’s that word again.

Something soft brushes my other arm, then my shoulder, and beneath the smell of damp earth and grass there’s something else now, something faintly sweet.

Flowers?

I turn my face toward him even though I can’t see him.

“Where are we?”

He doesn’t answer.

Instead, he takes my hand and gently guides it forward until my fingertips touch something impossibly soft.

Petals.

I run my thumb over them.

A flower.

My smile comes before I can stop it.

“Jude…”

His hand falls away.

For a moment there’s nothing but the breeze moving around us, and then I feel him loosen the blindfold before his voice comes from somewhere just behind me.

“Open your eyes, Nora.”

I do, and a gasp escapes me before I can stop it.