There were several other cars in the parking lot, and Reese could see people on a nearby boardwalk.
“What’s over there?” she asked, pointing to the people.
He followed her gaze. “A couple of spring pools. Did you walk around at Old Faithful and see the ones there?”
Reese shook her head. “No. I texted you while I was waiting for Old Faithful to go off. I haven’t explored that area yet.”
“Oh. You’ll have to go back. There’s lots more to see there.” He smiled. “I’d be happy to show you around.”
Reese wasn’t interested in anything approaching a date—and she hoped Edward wasn’t viewing their hike that way. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Are you ready to go?”
With an enthusiastic nod, Reese said, “Yes.”
Brody parked at the far end of the parking lot, hating how he felt like a stalker.
Until you man-up and talk to her, you are a stalker.
He sighed as he watched Reese talk to the man. After they spoke for a few moments, they began walking.
Torn between wanting to insert himself between Reese and the interloper and wanting to drive back to Malibu and forget he had ever met Reese Montgomery, Brody stayed right where he was. It didn’t take long for Reese to go beyond his sight.
I’m not going to follow them on their hike, hiding behind trees and sneaking around. That’s where I draw the line.
His phone chimed a text.
Logan: What did Reese say?
Feeling like a loser, Brody ignored the text, then pulled out his laptop and tried to work on the app he had been programming. At least I can get some work done while I’m waiting.
His gaze went to the trail where Reese and the man had gone.
What are you waiting for exactly? For Reese to see you and come running into your arms?
With a sound of disgust at himself, Brody didn’t answer his own question and instead focused on his work.
Eight
“These flowers are gorgeous,” Reese said as she snapped pictures from different angles. She had stopped several times already to take pictures, and she could tell Edward was getting impatient with her.
Brody wouldn’t mind.
The thought came to her mind unbidden, and when she pictured his face, she had to take a deep breath to calm the sadness that flooded her.
“This hike’s going to take a lot longer if you keep stopping to take pictures,” Edward said with a laugh that sounded forced.
They had been hiking for twenty minutes, but had gone less than half a mile. Reese straightened and looked at the man she had only met this morning. “I did mention that I’m a photographer, right?”
He crossed his arms as he sighed. “Yeah, about ten times.”
Trying to remain calm in the face of his obvious irritation, Reese smiled. “It’s important that I take as many pictures as I can.”
“Yeah, I get that. I do.” He sighed. “I guess I’m just used to hiking at a faster pace.”
Her mouth tightened. “That’s how I make my living.”
“Right.”
The hike that had begun so pleasantly had turned into something she wasn’t enjoying at all. Though there weren’t many other hikers, she felt confident that she could continue on her own. “Look, I appreciate you coming with me, Edward. I really do. But maybe you and I don’t make the best hiking buddies.”
His eyebrows rose. “Are you dismissing me?”
He seemed to be offended, which Reese hadn’t meant to happen. “Of course you’re welcome to stay, but I’m not planning on going any faster.” She pushed a smile onto her mouth to convey that she was okay with whatever he decided to do.
Edward frowned. “Yeah, I think I have some other things I’d rather do today.”
A hint of nervousness at being on her own tingled the back of Reese’s neck. “I’m sorry I wasted your time.”
A half-smile turned up his mouth. “It’s no big deal.” He began turning away, then faced her. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”
“Sure. Thanks, Edward.”
He nodded, then began walking at a steady clip, back the way they had come.
Once he was out of sight, the stillness of the area settled around Reese. The faint sound of a waterfall tumbling over rock echoed in the distance, but besides that and the occasional chirp of a bird, all was quiet.
Reese enjoyed the peacefulness as she continued walking, stopping whenever something caught her eye, liking the fact that she didn’t have to worry about annoying Edward.
It had been thirty minutes since Reese and the man had left on their hike, and as much as Brody tried to concentrate on his programming project, he found his gaze continually going to the end of the bridge where they had walked before they had gone beyond his sight.
Frustrated at his lack of ability to focus, he snapped his laptop closed and put it on the seat beside him and just watched the place where Reese and the man would eventually appear.
A few moments later the man who had gone on the hike with Reese stepped into view. Expecting to see Reese appear as well, Brody sat up straighter, his gaze remaining steady on the bridge. But she didn’t appear, and the man was walking fast, his mouth curled into a frown.
When the man walked directly to his motorcycle, got on, then drove away without a backwards glance, alarm bells clanged in Brody’s head.
Where’s Reese? What did he do to her?
Panic, thick and constant, poured over him, and without even thinking about it, he leapt from his truck and raced to the bridge. Hardly noticing the stunning turquoise pool of water to his right as he ran along the boardwalk, his mind was on Reese and making sure she was all right.
His thoughts went to Megan, the woman he had been so in love with, and how devastated he had been when he had found out she had been killed in a car accident. It had been a year since that tragedy, but he still wondered if things would have been different if he had been with her that night.
Now, as he ran past the few other people who were on the boardwalk, and then onto the dirt trail, he knew if anything happened to Reese, he would never—never—be able to forgive himself. Not when he had stood by and let her go into the woods with some other man because his fear of rejection had kept him from revealing himself.
“Reese!” His voice was loud, but there was no answering call. “Reese, where are you?” Panting from his exertion, heart pounding, Brody ran on. Terrified that the man who had taken Reese into the woods had harmed her, Brody felt adrenaline flood his veins.
I’ll find her and she’ll be okay. She has to be okay.
Then he saw her, kneeling beside a group of wildflowers, her camera lens only inches from the blooms.
She’s okay. She really is okay.
About thirty feet away, Brody stopped to catch his breath. Bending forward, he placed his hands on his knees, but kept his gaze on Reese. She hadn’t yet noticed him, but his relief at finding her unharmed made him giddy, and he wanted to race to her side.
Then he remembered that she didn’t know he was in Yellowstone. She didn’t know he had come looking for her. She didn’t know how desperate he had been to find her just now to make sure she was okay.
She didn’t know he had been stalking her.
Watching her as he got his breathing under control, he frantically tried to think of something to say.
She must have sensed someone nearby, because her head jerked upward, then turned in his direction. When she saw him, her eyes widened and she jumped to her feet.
“Brody?”
Nine
Reese blinked, not able to believe her eyes, and she said again, “Brody?”
“You’re okay,” he said as he walked toward her, a wide smile on his face.
“Of course.” Confused as to why he was there, Reese had no words. How is he here? Why is he here?
“I was so worried . . .” he began, but then he stopped as if he had said too much.
At first Reese wondered why he woul
d have been worried about her. But then she understood. You left without saying good-bye, right before the dinner party you were supposed to help him host. Of course he was worried. “I’m sorry.” And she was. At least that she had made him worry. She wasn’t sorry she had left. She still believed it was the right thing to do.
He stared at her a moment. “Sorry? It’s not your fault.”
More confused than ever, Reese didn’t say anything as she tried to put together what was happening. “What are you doing here, Brody?” Not that she was unhappy to see him, although she wasn’t looking forward to saying good-bye a second time.
“I came to find you.”
Reese’s eyebrows pulled together. Of all the places in the world, how did he find me on this trail in Yellowstone? Why did he want to find me?
Brody could see Reese was at a loss as to what he was doing there. He had almost blurted out that he had panicked after seeing that man come back without her. That would have brought up a lot of uncomfortable questions, like how did he know she was with that man in the first place?
Now, with her standing in front of him, none of that seemed important. The important thing was that when she had seen him, she hadn’t run away.
She’s just in shock. She could still bolt.
“How did you know where to find me?” Reese didn’t come any closer to him as she spoke.
“When you came for dinner at my house one night you mentioned that you wanted to visit Yellowstone.” He hoped that talking about the time they spent together in Malibu would warm her up. He had felt a connection with her in Malibu, and he had believed she had felt one with him.
She nodded. “Yes, I remember.”
“I . . . well, I took a chance that you’d be here.”
“I can’t believe you found me.”
From her tone he couldn’t tell if she was happy he had succeeded.
“How did you know I was on this trail?” Her eyebrows pulled together. “Did you see my RV in the parking lot?”
That was partly true, and to keep things simple, he said, “Yeah.”
Reese nodded.
Then he asked the question that had been on his mind from the beginning, from the moment he had gone to the RV park in Malibu and discovered she was no longer there. “Why did you leave, Reese?”
Guilt sliced through her at the hurt in Brody’s voice.
Does he feel the way I did when Josh told me our marriage was over and that he no longer loved me?
Not able to bear the idea that she could cause such pain, Reese shook her head. Intellectually she knew there was no way he could have been as hurt as she had been. They barely knew each other. Still, she didn’t like knowing she was the cause of someone else’s unhappiness. Her intention in leaving had been good—to keep them from getting too involved, and therefore preventing much deeper pain later when they inevitably had to go their own way.
“I’d really like to know,” he said as he took a step in her direction.
With him standing only a few feet away, his blue-green eyes boring into hers, it was difficult to resist the magnetism she had tried so hard to forget. “I just…I…” She didn’t have an explanation she could easily give him. How do you tell someone that you left because you knew you were falling for him, but you also knew he would dump you once he discovered you were from the wrong side of the tracks and you were only protecting your heart? That would make him sound shallow and mean. Two things Brody definitely was not.
Brody tilted his head, obviously waiting for some sort of answer.
“I was scared,” she finally said, knowing it was a weak reason.
“Scared?” His eyebrows bunched. “Scared of what?”
Great. Now I have to come up with something more. Then she realized she didn’t. “I don’t want to talk about this right now.”
He smiled. “Okay. That’s fine.”
Relieved he wasn’t pressing her for answers she didn’t want to give, she smiled in return. “Do you want to finish this hike with me?”
Brody smiled. “Sure.”
She held up her camera. “I hope you don’t mind if I stop to take pictures along the way.”
“Of course not. I know that’s your passion.”
I knew he wouldn’t mind. Thrilled to have her feelings confirmed, she immediately dialed back her enthusiasm. I can’t get too attached to him. I’ve got to make it clear that there’s no future for us.
Relieved she hadn’t sent him away, Brody fell into step beside her as they walked along the dirt trail. His mind went to the man she had begun the hike with, and wondered what the story was there. Was he an old boyfriend? Was he someone who could show up again? And if he did, would that become an issue? But how could he ask about him without giving away the fact that he had been watching her from a distance?
Then he thought of a way.
He turned to her, enjoying the sight of her face—something he had feared he would never see again. “Do you go hiking by yourself very often?”
She laughed. “No. This is actually my first time.”
That didn’t get me any information.
“I have to admit,” she added, “I was a little nervous about going alone, especially with the possibility of coming across a bear. But now that I’m out here, I don’t feel as worried.”
“That’s good.” Brody chuckled. “Safety in numbers, right?”
She glanced at him. “Yes.”
They walked in silence for a few minutes, then Brody looked at her. “Have you gotten a lot of good pictures?”
With a wide smile, she nodded. “Yes. Tons of great pictures.”
“More than you got in Malibu?”
“Oh, yes. Way more.”
“Good thing you came here then, I guess.” He had meant his comment as a joke, but right away he could see he had hit a nerve.
Ten
Reese heard the underlying criticism in Brody’s words. He’s upset with you for leaving the way you did. You would feel the same way if someone did that to you.
“Where are you staying?” he asked.
Glad for the change of subject, but not sure she should tell him, she decided it wouldn’t hurt to be honest. “At Bridge Bay. What about you? Are you at the Old Faithful hotel?”
Brody laughed. “No. I’m actually tent camping at Canyon Village.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Logan let me borrow his gear.”
“That was nice of him.” And does Logan know why you wanted to borrow it? The idea that Brody had shared his reason for coming—and she didn’t know why he wouldn’t—embarrassed her. Logan doesn’t even know me, and now he knows I ran from his brother and made him chase me down.
Reese glanced at Brody, wondering how to make it clear that he shouldn’t have followed her here in the first place. “When did you get here?” she asked. “To Yellowstone, I mean.”
“Uh, yesterday afternoon.”
She wondered how hard he had been looking for her, how many places he had looked. How had he come across her here? Then she focused on the most important issue—determining how to help them both move on with their lives. Separately.
“That was a long drive,” she said. “All the way from Malibu.”
He glanced at her as they walked. “You drove the same distance.”
The sound of the waterfall became louder, and the heat of the sun felt good against the chill in the air as they drew closer to their destination. “But I don’t live in Malibu.”
Brody looked at her, his eyebrows bunched. “Where do you live? I mean, when you’re not traveling in your RV. Where’s your home base?”
Is this the opening I need? To let him know we’re completely wrong for each other? How does a girl whose only home is her thirty-year-old RV fit with a man who owns a beach house in Malibu? A man whose father is a plastic surgeon, whose brother is an engineer, whose sister is studying to become a doctor?
Reese frowned. I don’t even know about his mother. He’s never told me abo
ut her. “What does your mother do?”
He laughed. “What does that have to do with anything?”
She just raised her eyebrows as she waited for him to answer.
“She’s an attorney. Why?”
Well isn’t that perfect? Every single member of his family is educated and sophisticated. Totally not my tribe.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Brody said, looking at Reese pointedly. “Where do you call home?”
Maybe that’s my play. Tell him the truth, then he’ll figure out on his own that we don’t belong together. “You’ve seen it.”
His head tilted. “You mean your RV?”
“That’s right.”
He chuckled. “I know that’s where you’re living right now, but where are you going to go when you’re done traveling?”
He’s not getting it. “That’s it. That’s my home.”
“Oh.” His gaze went to the creek running beside the trail, then came back to her. “I’ve heard of people who live in their RV’s full-time, but I thought they were all retired.”
Reese shrugged. “Guess not.” She couldn’t tell what he thought of her announcement.
“What about your family?” he asked.
I thought he understood I don’t like talking about them. When he asked me before and I changed the subject, he let it go, so I thought he got that. I really don’t want to have to tell him my father’s in prison and my mother’s an alcoholic. Nothing like his parents. “What about them?”
“Do you see them much?”
No way. Not if I can avoid it. “We’re not all that close.”
That was the most Reese had ever told Brody about her family—besides what she had told him about her brother Seth, who she seemed to adore. And the news that her RV was her home had taken him by surprise. For some reason he had pictured her having a little cottage tucked away in a grove of trees, just waiting for her return.
But her housing circumstances didn’t matter to him. She mattered to him. Which led to the point of his coming all the way to Yellowstone to find her. She was here now, so this was his chance to discover if there was a future for them, or if the trip had been a waste of time.
Searching for Love: The Complete Story Page 14
