Trent waved Carissa over, and in an instant, all the attention he’d given to Kate had disappeared. Kate’s eyes burned, and disappointment sank like a lead weight to the bottom of her stomach. “I, uh, can see the parking lot from here,” she said. “I’m going to go, and you two can do the photo shoot. Since I’m not part of it.”
“Are you sure?” Confusion knitted Trent’s brows. “You’re welcome to stay.”
And hear you remind me again that all your memories of us are just about the book? No thank you. “I have plenty of writing to do.”
“Oh yeah, that solitude thing.”
She nodded and turned away. Yep, being alone was the best choice right now, even if it sounded like the saddest thing she’d ever heard. Work, concentrate on work, she told herself. And maybe then she’d forget this day and the way Trent’s touch had made butterflies riot inside her. She took a few steps, waving to Carissa as she passed by.
“Hey, KitKat.”
Kate pivoted back to Trent, her heart leaping all over again, silly and foolish and delusional. “Yeah?”
“Let me know when you want to come up for air. Maybe we can grab some food from Chick and Cheese.” The lopsided grin she knew so well spread across his face and reflected in the blue of his eyes, as bright as the sun on the falls a moment ago. “And, you know, talk about the book while we eat.”
“Sounds…great.” Kate hurried away before the disappointment in her eyes became something silly like tears.
Nine
Tuesday morning, Trent’s world exploded.
Well, not his world, exactly, but his social media. Last night, he’d finished uploading his pictures from the Moulton Falls hike to his Instagram. He’d scanned them after work on Monday, had seen landscapes, and posted the whole lot of pictures without a second thought. He’d added a few lines about the “Amazing day among such incredible beauty!” and hit Post.
This morning, he’d woken to dozens of messages on his page. Normally, he’d get a few messages asking about the hike or what GOA products he’d used. A bunch of likes, a couple of shares or retweets, because his Instagram fed into both his Facebook and Twitter. Today was different—in a bad, bad way.
I see one of the new GOA ladies’ boots in that picture. First time I’ve ever seen someone else on one of Trent’s adventures. Who is that mystery woman?
Is the confirmed outdoor bachelor settling down?
One of my friends saw a couple doing a photoshoot at the falls this weekend. Could it have been Trent and his mystery woman?
Are you going to tell us who it is, Trent? Who’s the new lady in your life?
The comments both panicked him and calmed him, which made no sense. He knew the publicity could turn on him and hurt his business. But the thought of being paired with Kate, even if only with a boot and a waterfall, sounded oddly…nice.
“Well, well,” Sarah said as she stepped into his office first thing on Tuesday. She held up her phone and wiggled it back and forth, the controversial image filling her screen. “What were you up to this weekend?”
Even from his desk, Trent could see what Sarah and the rest of the internet had seen—an image of the bridge with the river rushing underneath it and Kate’s ankle, pink socks and boot in the corner. He hadn’t even noticed her in the shot. Maybe because it had seemed so natural to be there with her, soaking up the scenery, remarking on the birds and the trees and the other people. She’d fit in as easily as the thick carpet of ferns filling the forest floor.
He’d loved the entire trip, surprised by how well she’d taken to the hiking and how easily they’d worked together on the steeper parts. The girl who had never wanted to be a part of his world when they were younger had made it seem as if she’d always been there.
Since she’d left the park on Sunday morning, Trent hadn’t talked to Kate. They’d exchanged a couple of emails when she’d asked for clarification on some of the stories he’d shared with her, but that was it. She needed solitude to work, he told himself, and that’s why he was staying away.
Not because getting so close to her this weekend, and the overpowering urge to find an excuse to touch her, again and again, had left him scattered and distracted. When he’d gone to sleep that night, he’d thought about her. And when he’d woken up, he’d wondered if she had thought about him.
No wonder he hadn’t paid attention to what pictures he was posting. His brain had been lost somewhere in la-la land with a relationship that would never happen again.
“Seems you created quite the buzz,” Sarah said. “I can’t believe how many comments you have on that one photo.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose. I’m deleting that picture.” He picked up his phone, but Sarah put a hand over the screen.
“Don’t. Leave it.”
“What? Why? The entire internet is trying to figure out who I’m dating.”
“Which is great PR,” Sarah said. She sat in one of the visitor’s chairs and rested a hand on her belly. “Have you seen how many times that photo has been shared and retweeted? How much speculation is going on? You’re a handsome, single commodity, Trent, and the social media world is all aflutter trying to find out if you’re settling down.”
Handsome and single? He could barely run his own company right now, never mind settle down with anything other than his accounting program. He didn’t need to become the newest gossip sensation. “I was with Kate. We were talking about the book.”
Why did he feel the need to defend the picture? If he and Kate had been running off and getting married—whoa, where did that thought come from?—it was his business, no one else’s.
“Great. Glad to hear it. This—” Sarah tapped his phone “—is exactly the kind of pre-launch buzz we need. People will be scooping up copies of the book to see if you spill any secrets about your personal life.”
“I’m not doing that at all,” he grumbled. Which was something Kate had complained about often. She wanted more scoop, more inside information. Trent didn’t have any, and even if he did, he wasn’t in the mood to share with the rest of the world. He’d made his own luck in the world, had climbed mountains without any help. There were no deep dark secrets to expose. “This is exactly why I don’t tell people about my personal life. One boot and a second later, I’m on the cover of People magazine.”
Sarah laughed. “We should be so lucky to land a cover like that. Hey, if you have more boot pictures, feel free to share and keep the rumors flying.”
Trent shook his head and got to his feet. “I have other stuff to worry about today. Make that go away. Please.” He waved at his phone, then headed out of his office and down to the lobby, right as the elevator doors opened and two burly men stepped off. Finally, something business-related that he could concentrate on. “Just in time, guys.”