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“Ooh, colour me intrigued. You know I love a good sightseeing spot.”
“I’ve never forgotten.” He glanced down to my footwear. “Glad to see you’re wearing something more practical thanpretty shoes.”
“Of course. Never sure how far I’ll have to park and walk, especially in this weather, and I’m not really a huge fan of falling.” I licked my lips and stared at him.
The arm closest to me twitched and the elbow came nearer to me and then abruptly pulled back, almost as if he was warring with offering it. However, I wasn’t slipping in my solid footwear, and as comfortable as we seemed to be with each other, I honestly didn’t think we were at the point of linking arms. To me, that seemed next level when offered before it was a necessity – like last time.
He tipped his head to the left and spun on his heel. “This way. A block up, then a turn on Mountain Lane, and uphill for a bit.”
“For a bit?” I followed, this time, matching him step for step. Wearing boots with grip was a sensible idea.
“Do you remember that place we visited back before we started our first year of college? Where we climbed the hill to the lookout point and had a picnic?”
The night of our second kiss.
It was a beautiful grassy hill surrounded by trees, aside from the lookout opening. Once through the small forest, the downtown stretched out and the river snaked between the business towers. Naturally, the view was better at night because the buildings in the core were lit up.
I nodded. “Yeah, it was amazingly gorgeous.”
“This view is sort of like that.”
“Well, that’s raising the bar mighty high, Mr. Cross.” A gentle chuckle rolled out, and I stole a sideways peek to watch his face morph into an upturned smile.
“You’ll see.”
The end of the block was quickly approaching as we passed the stores. It felt as if we were walking at a slight incline. We rounded the corner onto Mountain Lane and continued following it uphill. It was the type of road situated between two blocks of buildings a passerby could’ve mistaken for a back lane as opposed to a true road. Must be one of those hidden gems the travel sites boast about.
“We need to cross here.”
There was no crosswalk, no crossing lights, just the empty asphalt. It didn’t even look like there was a sidewalk on the other side.
“You’re right, this does feel like that lookout spot we went to.” It was kind of eerie how similar it was starting out. Open roads. Stairs to climb. Just the two of us.
“Between those trees.” He pointed across the snowy road we were navigating over. “There’s a huge set of stairs. We’ll climb those, and we’ll be closer to the restaurant. It beats taking the long and windy road all the way up.”
“Going to make me work for my supper, eh?” I laughed. “This had better be worth it.”
The uphill walk was already causing my heartbeat to accelerate, doing a flight of stairs was going to send it atmospheric. I hoped I wasn’t sweaty and red-faced at the top.
We stopped at the base of the wooden stairs which rose into the fresh-smelling forest for as far as I could see, and under the glow of the streetlight at the top, the top was still a flight or two away.
At first, I was all gung-ho and climbed the stairs like a rock star, but by the time we got to the fourth platform, I was feeling more than a little winded but fought against the rapid and loud exhales my body needed. I knew I was out of shape, but I didn’t need to highlight it with bright neon arrows.
“All good?” Carter asked. “We’re almost there.”
Thank the Lord, who I felt I was going to meet soon if we had to keep going. I needed to cut back on the daily donuts and calorie-laden drinks at his shop, although Carter wasn’t having any issues. Maybe he did these stairs daily and it was no big deal. Had to admire the stamina though.
He stopped and turned, giving me a minute to catch my breath. “You can see the rooftop patio on my building.”
We were high above Main Street, which curved around the bend off to my left, with the rest of the town awash in an amber glow and dots of golden orbs sprinkled along the roadways. To say it was enchanting was an understatement.
“Wait, what?” I spun and looked through the clearing of trees. “Where?”
Carter stepped down a couple of stairs to stand beside me and pointed to a set of buildings to the right, which meant we likely walked by them as we strolled down the block. Why hadn’t he said anything at the time?
“It’s the unit above Meeples & Magic.”
“Say again?”
