Page 68 of A Cup of Autumn
He flipped on the blinker and turned left into the parking lot. “Must be a relief.”
“Huge. October’s only a week old, but it’s a hundred times better than September.”
Keaton hoped he was a part of the improvement this month. He parked at the trailhead. Three other cars were there. “We won’t be on our own.”
“This isn’t bad.” She unbuckled her seat belt and glanced over her shoulder at the other row of parking spots. “During the summer, you have to wait for a parking spot to open.”
“We lucked out.”
“The overcast skies help.” She grabbed her backpack from her feet and slid out of his car. “Come on.”
He got his pack from the back seat. “Didn’t know we were in a hurry.”
Raine had her backpack on. She wore cargo pants, a tech tee under a long-sleeved button-down shirt, and hiking boots. Nothing looked new, but she belonged out here. “What do you smell?”
Keaton inhaled. Nothing stuck out, though there was something a little sharp. Must be the trees surrounding them. “Pine?”
“Yes, but I smell rain.”
“Smell rain?”
She nodded. “We should have time to make it to the falls and back if we don’t dawdle.”
Raine headed from the asphalt of the parking lot to the trailhead at a fast clip. Her hiking boots hit the dirt path.
He hurried to catch up to her. “That’s a funny word for someone who slept in and wanted to take her time this morning.”
She glanced over her shoulder with a cute smirk. “Hey, I wasn’t dawdling. I was ready to go by nine thirty.”
“So does one become a dawdler after ten?”
“Depends on the day and time and if—”
“You smell rain.”
“You catch on fast.”
Her grin lit up her entire face. Who needed the sun with Raine’s smile? But for some reason she left him more off-balance today than usual.
“I’m trying.” Around Raine, he wasn’t sure he always succeeded. An odd feeling, but one he was getting used to. He considered himself smart, always had, but book smart wasn’t the only kind of intelligence. Logically he’d known that, but he judged those without degrees or multiple degrees, including Callie. But street smarts and common sense counted, too. More so in some cases.
“Stop thinking so much and look around. We’re outside. Nothing to do but soak in nature.” Raine held out her arms and spun around. “Inspiration awaits, dear writer.”
“You’re not like this at the coffee shop.”
“The whole business thing. And I’ve been so stressed with everything—that’s made it harder to relax. But I’ve tried not to become a hard-nose boss.”
He imagined Dean Fredricks, who’d run the college where his department had belonged with a metaphorical judge’s gavel. “You’re not. And you’re right.”
Trees flanked both sides of the trails. “It’s beautiful out here.”
She inhaled deeply. “It is. There are lots of places a short drive from Seattle when you want to get away, but Silver Falls is different. Special.”
Keaton enjoyed seeing this side of Raine. No lines creased her forehead or formed around her mouth. He wished she could always be so carefree. “Gorgeous.”
He didn’t mean only their surroundings.
“Let inspiration take you wherever your muse needs to go. If you follow me, you’ll get where you need to go.”
