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“Who said I want to go on an adventure with you?”
“Who said you didn’t?”
I rolled my eyes.
“Anyway, think about it.” He tapped his open palm over his fist and turned toward the front of the bus. “And hey, Ace?”
“What.”
“Nice figure.” He smirked as I growled and slammed the door to the sleeping area. Even through the pine, I could hear his murmur of a laugh.
* * *
“Where are we going?”
Andrew continued to look out the window, not saying a word.
“I mean,” I continued, “if you drag me somewhere, the least you can do is let me know where we’re going.”
“Still don’t like surprises, huh.” Andrew hummed a lyric-less tune. It sounded a bit like “Row your boat.” He contemplated the sky as he responded. “Don’t worry, I’m not taking you somewhere to die.”
“Not knowingly,” I muttered. I sighed and tapped my fingers on my legs impatiently. “Can’t I get a hint? Anything?”
“It’s outside.”
I gave him a sour look.
“Alicia,” he said. Inwardly, I melted at the brazenness of the command. I tried to control the pang of lust that rippled through my body at the sound. “Just enjoy the ride, okay? We’ll be there soon.”
I sighed again, the beat of my fingers getting faster with each second. “Fine. I’ll wait.”
It didn’t take much longer to get to our destination. After about twenty minutes, the Lyft stopped at the edge of a what looked like a large cluster of trees. I looked at Andrew suspiciously, but his face remained neutral.
“Trees, Parker? Really?” I looked back at the forest. “I just got clean, and you want me to visit some fucking trees?”
He opened his door and unraveled his legs from the car. “Yes, Alicia, we’re at a forest. Will you get out of the car already?”
Letting out a sustained grumble, I, too, unraveled myself from the car. Almost immediately, after I shut the door, the Lyft took off. I frowned. “Where are we?”
“McDowell National Forest.” He started walking toward the trees. “I found it yesterday.”
“When?”
“When you were at the gym.” He turned around once he realized that I wasn’t following him. “Alicia, what is it? Are you afraid of the trees?”
I squinted at him. “No, I’m not afraid of the trees, Andrew, Christ.”
“Just Andrew is fine. And if you’re not afraid of the trees, what is it?”
I paused, contemplating the towering droves of branches and leaves. It reminded me so much of the place Dante had wanted us to spread his ashes. Just sprinkle me among the trees, he had said all those years ago. I don’t want you to mourn my death but celebrate my life. And what better represents life but a forest?
“It’s nothing,” I said finally. I put one foot in front of the other until I caught up to Andrew. “Let’s do this.”
About ten minutes later, we came to an open space. Trunks as wide as I was tall stretched up toward the sky, exploding into a dark green canopy. Rays of sunlight beamed down like the common depiction of God. Dust motes lazed in the light.
The burning feeling that had started in my gut spread through my esophagus and lent heat to my exhalations. My heart knocked against my rib cage in a frighteningly erratic pattern. My breath quickened with each step deeper into the forest, and my vision narrowed until I could only see a small pinprick of light directly in front of me.
When we got to the clearing, I stopped, my hands on my knees. Though I could only see a small bit of light, I sensed Andrew’s rising alarm. “Ace?”
