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“Mason!” I scream, ducking and trying to shield myself from the spray. “Stop!”
He hunches down and gathers more water in his cupped palms. “What? You scared to fall in love with me? Huh, Tough Girl?” He dashes even more water in my direction.
“You’re such an asshole!” Going against my better judgment, I duck down, filling my palms with water and spraying him, too. “I’m gonna make you obsessed with me. I’m gonna make you grovel for me. Just out of spite.”
Mason charges in my direction. He captures me around the waist and pulls me close. “Whatever. You’re already obsessed with me.”
“You wish,” I mutter half a second before his lips cover mine.
Moments later, we’re giggling and drenched and marching hand in hand through the forest as we make our way back toward the house. Internally, I’m trying to convince myself that I never believed in the old wives tale anyway. I mean—a waterfall with the power to make people fall in love. Psht. Silly. Who would believe that?
As we go, Mason points up at a wooden structure in a tree. “Hey, what’s that?” he asks me.
I smile as a flood of memories come rushing back. “That’s the treehouse my dad built for me when I was nine,” I tell Mason. “I practically lived out here that whole summer.”
He wanders closer, his eyes fixed to the old building. “Man, I wish I had a treehouse as a kid.” Only two walls and the floor have survived the years of neglect. But Mason stares up at the structure with awe on his face, like it’s an architectural masterpiece.
“Wanna check it out?” I offer.
“Hell yeah.” He grips my waist and lifts me up to climb onto the edge of the treehouse, and then he follows me up.
“Being the only girl in a house full of boys, Dad wanted to make sure I’d have an escape if I ever needed it.”
“Wow, yeah. I hadn’t considered that. My experience was the exact opposite, being the only boy in a house full of girls.”
We sit there, with our legs swinging. As we watch the sun dip below the trees, we compare our childhoods, getting lost in the stories we share.
“I love my brothers, but with the way they hover over me, I’ve always felt like I was suffocating,” I admit to him.
He shrugs. “It’s annoying—I know—but they’re trying to protect you. I get where they’re coming from. I can’t count how many brain-dead turd sacks I’ve had to chase away from my own sisters.”
I laugh.
“Some guys are ready to take advantage of any woman that crosses their path. That’s what your brothers are trying to protect you from.” He slicks a lock of my hair behind my ear. “They love you a lot, Karli.”
“Well, I wish they’d back off sometimes.” I huff. “I don’t need their protection and guys have never been a priority for me anyway. My brothers hovering over me just creates a whole lot of pressure. Living under that kind of pressure is hard. All my life, I’ve felt like a complete failure, and sometimes I think I won’t be able to succeed at anything until my brothers and my dad give me a break. That’s why I wanted to succeedso badlywith med school. I wanted to prove to myself that I could accomplish something on my own. But I failed. I just couldn’t keep up. The moment the pressure became too much, I crashed. I’m not dumb. I swear,” I rush to add.
“Psht. You’re the farthest thing from dumb. You’re freaking brilliant. You awe me every day.”
I continue opening up while Mason traces patterns on my palm. “It’s just that tests have always freaked me out. Because it always felt like there was so much at stake. Sometimes I’d get so nervous in the examination room that I’d just clam up and forget everything I’d studied.”
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Karli. Everybody learns differently. No one way is better than any other.”
I sigh. “I know. It’s just frustrating. I just feel like I’ve always needed a crutch, and I hate that feeling. If it’s not my parents, it’s my brothers.”
Mason nods, watching me as he continues to play with my hand. It’s soothing.
“I get that,” he says. “I know what it’s like to want to break out of your family’s shadow. But now that I’m here in this town on my own, I can appreciate how my family makes me a better version of myself. I think I appreciate them now more than ever.”
“They’re lucky to have you.”
He goes on. “And I know you think that getting into med school is some magic wand that will instantly make you happy and make all your problems go away and make your life perfect. But let me tell you that it won’t. Being able to stick those degrees on your wall won’t suddenly make you worthy. I followed the rulebook, Karli. I stuck to the perfect plan. And it led me to a dead-end. The whole reason I ended up in this town is because I followed the perfect roadmap but Istillgot lost.”
I feel a rueful smile on my lips. “Looks like we’re lost together.”
A grave expression crinkles his brow. “Or maybe we’re helping each other find ourselves. In ways we least expected.” He brushes my hair from my eyes and cups my cheek.
“I like that,” I hear myself say.
