“Denise!” Ali shouted in her ear.
Denise turned around. “There you are! Ted said you just decided you weren’t speaking to him for no reason! Ali, come on, you know how important tonight is for me.”
“Ted tried to feel me up and wouldn’t listen when I said no,” Ali snapped. “I don’t care what Ted wants. I’m heading out.”
Denise’s eyes followed Ali’s hand back to Grey’s tall form behind her, visibly sizing him up. Ali was afraid to look over her shoulder and see what he thought of all of this.
“Well,” said Denise finally. “If Ted was a jerk to you,” And if you’re scoring this guy instead, her eyes communicated, “I get it. Have a good time.”
“Thanks, Denise.”
When they turned around, their positions were reversed so that it was Grey who led Ali toward the door. His grip on her hand was firm, and he strode through the crowd without seeming to worry about finding a path. It just appeared in front of him.
They stepped outside into the crisp early-spring air, and Ali inhaled gratefully. The open night around them was so much better than the crowded bar had been.
Maybe I should just become a hermit. The thought floated up unbidden, and Ali couldn’t help but think that it sounded absolutely wonderful. She’d love to live out in the great outdoors somewhere, deep in the forest where no one could get to her.
Be realistic. She couldn’t hack it alone in the wilderness. She had no survival skills at all. She’d been much more interested in clothes and makeup than outdoor camp and scouts when she was younger.
And she did still like clothes and makeup, to be fair. She was just…tired of people. Tired of having to defend herself to everyone she knew, of dealing with come-ons and insults and deep-rooted expectations. She wanted to get away.
She’d been lost in thought for a good five minutes, she realized, and shook herself out of it, trying to think up some kind of conversation to make up for having been awkwardly silent for so long.
But Grey was looking up toward the black shape of the mountains with an expression on his face that suggested he was thinking along the same lines as she had been.
Or maybe Ali was just projecting.
Then he blinked and focused back on her, that faint smile appearing on his face again. “My truck’s just this way.”
She followed him to his pickup, and accepted his boost up onto the high seat. He was a total gentleman about it, didn’t even try to grope her or anything, which was absolutely 100% unique in her experience of men helping her into high trucks.
He got in the other side and said, “Where to?”
“Could we just go for a drive?” Ali asked impulsively. “Would that be okay? I mean, not if you have to be somewhere.”
“Sure.” He put the truck in gear. “I don’t have to be anywhere. I was just going to go home and have a quiet night.”
“Do you live in Ryder’s Lodge?”
He shook his head. “Out in the woods. I bought a cabin when I moved here. Tiny little thing, but it’s well-put-together. And it’s far away from any neighbors.”
“That sounds nice.” Ali could hear the wistful tone in her own voice.
Grey pulled onto a road heading out of town. “The scenery’s beautiful up there. Too dark for you to see any of it now, but it’s something.”
“I love the scenery around here.” Growing up in the mountains was like waking up to a beautiful painting every day. It was the one thing Ali really loved about her hometown.
“You local?”
“I live in Prescott.” She tried to keep her voice neutral, but it wavered a little. “With my brother and sister-in-law. They have a little house in town.”
“You like it?”
That was the heart of the issue, wasn’t it? She glanced over and he was looking at her, while they idled at Ryder’s Lodge’s only stoplight.
She shook her head.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” The light turned green and they started up, and pretty soon they were leaving the buildings behind and heading into the forest.