Page 64 of Not Until I Found You

She tips her head back, looking up through the trees where the sunlight filters in soft, broken patches. “I thought after a storm like that, it’d cool off the temperature a bit.”

“It has,” I say. “Trust me, this is much better.”

She hums softly, but when her gaze returns to me, there’s a thoughtfulness reflecting in it. “I didn’t want to ask you last night, but I was wondering what made you fearful of storms.”

I let out a slow breath, my eyes tracking the trail as Sven trots ahead of us. I consider brushing it off and making a joke or changing the subject. But it’s Maxinne, and we’ve never really done things surface-level.

“When I was ten, we lived in a small trailer before we moved to Covewood. It would rattle even when a truck passed by, let alone a storm.”

The woods seem quieter now. Even Wren and Ashton have gone silent behind us, their usual commentary replaced with the soft crunch of their steps.

“One night, a tornado touched down, and we didn’t have anywhere to go except the small, cramped bathroom. All of us crammed into the bathtub together. My dad braced over us, and my mom was praying out loud, her voice shaking as much as the walls were.”

Maxinne’s expression softens, and she slows her pace to match mine.

“The next morning, we walked around the neighborhood. Less than half a mile down the road, houses were just…gone. People I knew and kids I played with lost their homes. No one died, thankfully, and it could’ve been much worse. But storms like that stick with you.”

Maxinne’s fingers brush against my arm, and it’s the lightest contact, yet somehow, it’s everything. I glance down at where her hand lingers. My breath hitches, not enough for anyone else to notice, but enough that I do.

This attraction between me and her is becoming unshakeable, and that makes it harder to pretend it’s nothing more than friendship. The more I try to hide my feelings, the more they seem to grow. One small touch shouldn’t knock the air out of my lungs. And one look from her shouldn’t undo every boundary I’ve tried to put in place, and yet I can’t find it in me to stay away from her. If anything, I crave more.

My jaw tightens as I force myself to look away, dragging my attention back to the trail ahead. The plan was to stay friends, not to slowly fall for her. Yet, somewhere along the way, my heart decided it wasn’t interested in the plan at all.

This is exactly why I made my list in the first place. It’s meant to protect me from this exact kind of recklessness. Maxinne checks none of the boxes, and yet, somehow, she’s become the only thing my heart yearns for, which seems less like attraction and more like standing at the edge of something wildly out of my control.

“Alright,” Ashton’s loud voice cuts in from behind us. “What’d we miss? Why’d it get so quiet up there?”

Maxinne’s hand drops from my arm, as if the moment never happened, which is hard to do as I try to pretend that I didn’t feel it everywhere.

I clear my throat and take a step forward, putting a little space between Maxinne and me—space that I don’t actually want. “Enjoying the hike, man.”

“Mm-hmm,” Wren hums skeptically. “That’s not suspicious at all.”

“Maybe we finally broke him,” Ashton adds. “Too much ’elevation gain.’”

I huff a laugh, shaking my head, but my gaze flicks back to him for a second. Ashton is my best friend, and the last thing I want to do is cross a line that costs me our friendship. He told me to not get involved with Maxinne. The reminder settles heavily, cooling whatever sparked to life a moment ago.

Sven’s sharp bark cuts through the tension, and he barrels past us, tail wagging, paws kicking up dirt as he disappears farther down the trail. His bark echoes ahead, and with it is something else. I slow my pace, tilting my head as I listen. The sound of running water carries through the wind. It’s faint at first, a whisper threading through the trees, until it starts growing louder with every step.

“Tell me that’s what I think it is,” Wren says, suddenly reinvigorated.

“That,” I say with a grin, “would be your reward for not passing out.”

Sven barks again as he runs around the bend. The trail opens up, and a waterfall comes into view. It spills over a jagged rock face, a wide curtain of rushing water crashing into a clear pool below. Sunlight catches the spray, shining a small rainbow through the mist that drifts through the clearing. The air instantly cools, and the scent of wet stone replaces the humid heat of the woods.

The sound of the rushing water fills the space, drowning out everything else. Sven charges straight into the shallows, barking like he’s announcing his victory to the entire forest. Beside me, Maxinne goes still. Her eyes are fixed on the water as she soaks in every inch of it. I don’t admire the waterfall, though.

I admire her.

The mist drifts toward us, settling against her skin, getting stuck in the loose strands of her hair. One curls at her cheek, and her lips part in awe. My legs pull me to her before I can stop it.

“Was it worth the hike?” I ask, setting my backpack and cell phone down onto the ground.

Maxinne nods, her eyes still on the waterfall, and she lifts up her cell phone to capture a photo. “Absolutely.”

A small smile curves her lips, and her gaze holds mine for a beat too long before she turns away.

“Finally!” Wren’s voice shatters the moment.