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“No. I usually just enjoy the peace and quiet while they’re napping.”
He opened the passenger door, then rounded the front of the car to get behind the wheel. “Unfortunately, you’re probably not going to get much peace and quiet on this hike.”
“That’s fine. It will be nice to spend a little time outdoors. It wasn’t something I did much of in Atlanta.”
“The outdoors is a big draw in this area,” Jay said. “Though lots of people come for skiing in the winter, we’ve also got a lot of hiking trails for the summer.”
It didn’t take too long to get to the parking lot where they were meeting up. Will was there already, but there was no sign of the others yet.
“Hey, Misha,” Will said with a smile when they got out of the car.
“Hey.”
“Glad you decided to come,” Jay told him.
Will shrugged. “I didn’t really have anything else to do this afternoon.”
“Misha brought some of her mom’s cookies for us to eat, so if you don’t complain too much, you can have some.”
“Well, that’s a hard bargain,” Will said with a frown. “You know how much I dislike hiking.”
“How did you two become friends?” Misha asked. “You seem very opposite.”
“Wearevery much opposites,” Will agreed. “But we’ve been friends from the first day we met in elementary school. I was the person tasked with helping the new kid. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it.”
Jay chuckled. “Yep. Will was a scrappy little kid who was determined to be the best friend I’d ever had.”
“Well, that’s sweet.”
“We kind of grew into our differences as we got older,” Will said. “By then, our friendship was solid, so those differences didn’t really impact it.”
Gareth’s vehicle pulled in next to Jay’s, drawing their attention from the conversation.
“You convinced Janessa to come?” Will asked with a laugh.
“Yep. So, the two of you can whine about the hike together.”
Soon, they were setting off. Because it was an easier trail, the path was wider meaning they could walk side by side. Garethand Aria led the way, holding hands. Jay made Will and Janessa go next so that they wouldn’t fall behind, since they were most likely to dawdle.
Jay had transferred the container of cookies to his backpack with the bottles of water he’d brought so that Misha didn’t have to carry them. He was tempted to eat one before they began the hike, but he knew that Janessa and Will would want some too. He needed to keep them as an incentive for the pair.
“This is beautiful,” Misha said, tipping her head back to look up at the trees that rose high above the trail.
Jay kept an eye on the path, making sure that there were no bumps or roots in front of Misha, so she didn’t trip while she wasn’t paying attention to where she was going. He was glad she was enjoying the trail. It might have been more enjoyable if it had been just the two of them, but he didn’t mind sharing the time with the people cared about, even if they did whine a lot.
Things between him and Gareth had improved enough over the past few months that Jay didn’t mind spending time with him socially. Jay had a feeling that they had Aria to thank for that.
It seemed that Gareth now ran a lot of his ideas by Aria first, then he only mentioned the ones that she thought were doable or necessary to Jay. It had helped to take the tension of their interactions down several levels. That was good for their relationship and definitely good for the clinic.
Though his romantic relationship might not have worked out, Jay was happy that it seemed the ones within his family were improving.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Misha was glad that Jay had talked her into getting the hiking boots. The path was definitely rougher than anything she was used to walking on. It was also more beautiful than any place she’d ever walked.
It wasn’t that Atlanta didn’t have nice outdoor spaces, but they definitely weren’t in the areas where she had lived and worked. The best outdoor place she’d spent any amount of time in was Doctor Martin’s backyard, which was basically like a park in and of itself.
“Let’s stop here,” Janessa said, pointing to a bench that sat along the end of a small stream.
