Page 68 of Forbidden to Fall

“Reporting for duty.” James shrugged off his jacket.

I put a hand to my chest and let out a breathy, relieved laugh. “You scared me.”

“Sorry,” he said, though he didn’t look particularly sorry.

He looked better than when I’d left him yesterday, and it wasn’t just the way his sleeves hugged his arms. There was no frown on his brow. In fact, he looked…excited? And he smelled like campfire.

I suppressed the desire to ask him where he’d been. “So, what now?” I hung a hand towel on the oven handle and turned to him. “I sit here and stare at the wall for sixteen hours while you monitor me?”

“Is that what you want to do for your break?”

I looked at the wall. I wasn’t sure it could hold my attention for sixteen seconds, much less sixteen hours. “Not particularly.”

“Are you hungry?”

My pulse skittered. Was he about to ask me out? Was a supervised meal considered a date?

I didn’t think so.

Either way, I knew my answer. “Yeah…” I said, as if I was wary of what he had in mind rather than happy it would involve him.

The thought of sitting in my apartment for the next sixteen hours didn’t particularly appeal to me.

“Good. Come with me.” Slinging his jacket over his shoulder, he pushed open the door he’d just come through, then used his body to keep it open.

I shot him a glance as I passed, but he looked enigmatic as ever.

It was fully dark out now, and he clicked on a flashlight as he closed the door.

I waited for him to lead the way, and the beam illuminated the path ahead. It skipped past the way to the house, though, and lit up the path that led deeper into the trees. It was littered with leaves, but they padded our footsteps rather than crunching. They weren’t dry enough for that yet.

Especially after the oven-warmed sugar shack, the evening air was sharp with an autumn chill, and the vast darkness that encompassed everything around us made my skin prickle with anticipation.

Where was he leading us?

“I hope the batteries in that flashlight are fresh,” I joked.

James glanced at the flashlight, making its beam shift suddenly. “I found it in the old storage room.”

My eyes widened, and I looked up at him. “Seriously?”

He smiled. He seemed to be in a teasing mood, which made me feel a bit breathless.

“How’s your mom doing?” I asked.

“Pretty well. Always trying to do too much, but tonight she’s having virtual dinner with my aunt—Archer’s mom.”

“Virtual dinner?”

He pushed a branch out of the way, holding it back until I’d cleared it. “They eat what they made while they chat over video.”

I smiled at the thought. “You think she’ll really be up for helping at the festival?”

“Absolutely. Whether she should is the question. But short of physical restraints, there’s no way to stop Mama when she fixes on a plan.”

“She’s a tough woman.”

“She is,” he said, his voice a bit softer.