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“Unh.”
I laughed. “Morning, sunshine.”
“It’s Saturday. Why are you up so early?”
“Cats.” I ran a hand down Ada’s back. She arched into my touch and I smiled. She was always quickest to forgive. Charles would need another day. “Even if I had to bribe them into loving me again.”
“Aw.”
There was rustling on the other end of the call and I pictured Austin sitting up in bed. Then I dragged my thoughts away from that, because I now had entirely too much firsthand experience with him shirtless. Dwelling on Austin shirtless in bed was not the way to keep my thoughts pure.
“What does this have to do with waking me up?”
“Luke called. Something’s up with him. He asked me to go walking on the Mount Vernon trail with him this morning. I wanted to…I don’t know…let you know, I guess.” I frowned. Maybe I shouldn’t have? It wasn’t as if I couldn’t have friends. Male friends, even. But it seemed like if the position had been reversed, I would have preferred a heads-up.
“Mm. Have fun with that.” There was a pause. “If he says it’s okay, will you fill me in? I have a feeling this is about me, right?”
Was it? I didn’t see why it would be. On the flip side, he’d started the whole call out asking about Austin’s money. So maybe it was. “Dunno. It’s possible. But yeah, of course, I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for not being weird about it.”
Austin laughed. “You can have friends. I trust you. Also? I love you.”
“I love you, too. Go back to sleep.”
“Gonna try. Bye.”
The call ended. I shook my head and set the phone down before heading to my room to shower and dress. I wasn’t sure how far Luke expected to walk on the trail. Surely not all the way to Mount Vernon and back? Did I need to bring a water bottle?
I spent a few extra minutes rubbing Ada. I hadn’t planned to leave the house today to, hopefully at least, remind the cats that I was back. But friends were worth a little extra effort. If I needed to bribe the babies with tuna again tomorrow, then that was what I’d do.
“I’ll be back. Promise. Maybe even before lunch.” I hadn’t really eaten breakfast. Maybe I’d drive through Starbucks and get coffee and a scone on my way.
Not too much later, I pulled into a parking spot at the trail entrance Luke had suggested. He was already there, sitting on the trunk of his car.
I’d eaten the scone, but there was still plenty of my latte in the cup, so I grabbed it before closing the car door and locking it.
“Hey.”
Luke looked up from his phone and managed a tight smile. “Hey. You ready?”
“Sure. We’re not going all the way to George’s house, right?”
Luke chuckled. “Probably not. Although it’s a good run down and back.”
I gave a mock shudder. “I don’t think I knew you ran. Long distances, even.”
“I’m doing the Marine Corps Marathon this year.”
I winced. He was one of those people. “Good luck?”
He laughed again. “Thanks. I’m actually starting to look forward to it.”
“Better you than me.” I sipped my coffee and fell into step beside him on the asphalt trail that ran along the Potomac River’s edge. Should I prompt him? As much as it was a beautiful spring morning, and the river was lovely, this really wasn’t what I wanted to be doing today. “How was your trip to Mexico?”
He glanced over at me, his eyebrows lifting. “How’d you know about that?”
“You mentioned it. Did you not think I listened when you talked?”
He shrugged. “I guess I didn’t figure you cared.”
