Page 56 of Until Him

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We pile into my car and on the way out of town, we stop by a small coffee shop before heading the twenty minutes up to the redwoods. The national park features some of the tallest trees in the world and there are a lot of hiking trails to explore. It’s beautiful in the fall and the few times I’ve been, when I stand at the base of the trees and look up, it makes me realize how very small I am.

I glance over at Theo as I drive and then my eyes slip down to his crotch.

He sort of has a redwood in those pants of his.

I’ll have to let him know when we get a moment alone.

I park the car and we all get out, my eyes immediately searching for a trash can to dump our coffee cups.

I see one near the trailhead and start toward it. In the background, I can hear Landon talking to Finn. “You worry too much. We’ve done this before, remember? And I was fine.”

Finn says something I can’t make out and when I look back at them, I see Finn walking a little too close to my baby brother.

Jesus, we really need to have a heart-to-heart. Not that I care if they’re together, but it sort of hurts to know they may have been together for a while now and haven’t told me. Don’t they trust me? I guess I haven’t really been around much. Maybe they haven’t had the right opportunity. That’s on me.

I toss the empty cups in the trash and then stand at the trailhead as Theo approaches with Landon and Finn. Movement catches my eye and I see a little squirrel chilling by the trash can.

“Hey there, little dude,” I mutter, and it scowls at me.

Well, shit. I thought squirrels were supposed to be friendly.

“Don’t need to be so rude,” I mutter, and I swear to fucking God that he slashes his tiny hand right across his throat.

Is he threatening me?

“This is a kid-friendly trail,” Landon says with a smile as he approaches, and my gaze snaps up. Creepy squirrel not quite forgotten.

Then Landon glances at Theo. “You’re going to love it.”

I glance back down, but the squirrel has disappeared.

“Did you guys see that?” I ask, feeling a little creeped out. “It’s a demonic squirrel, I’m sure of it. He side-eyed me. I think he’s plotting something.”

They all look at me like I’ve lost it. Well, they’re not too far off.

Landon rolls his eyes. “So dramatic, like always.” He turns toward Theo. “He gets that from our dad.” He grabs Finn’s arm and pulls him forward. And of course, Finn follows. Closely.

I turn to walk behind them as Theo moves to my side.

“There is no such thing as a demonic squirrel.”

“You’re not a biology major. You don’t know that,” I mutter.

He laughs and my lips quirk at the sound. I like his laugh, a lot.

“I can’t believe you’ve never been here,” I say, nudging him with my arm. I want to wrap it around him, but I don’t think he’ll let me do that. To be honest, I’m surprised he’s still here and didn’t steal away in the middle of the night while I was sleeping.

A sound rustles loudly in the bush next to me and I eye it warily. It could be the squirrel. He could have gone back and gotten all his squirrel friends to prepare for an ambush.

“I don’t get out much and I’m not from here, actually,” Theo says and my thoughts are wrenched solely back to him.

I slow my pace and glance over at him, my stomach full of butterflies.

“Where you from, Theo?” I ask.

“Wisconsin.”

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