Breaking Stars - J. Sterling Page 0,63
really like to take you both out to dinner tonight if that’s okay,” I said. “You do have a restaurant in town, right?” I searched my memory, trying to recall if I’d seen one, but I was certain they had to have one.
Tatum laughed. “We have one café.”
Mrs. Montgomery smiled. “You don’t have to do that, Paige, but it’s kind of you to offer.”
“You both have done so much for me since I’ve been here. And Mrs. Montgomery, you haven’t stopped cooking or baking since I arrived. I’d love to let someone else cook for you for once. Please?” I put my hands together in prayer and stuck out my bottom lip.
“So you don’t like my cooking? Is that it?” Mrs. Montgomery teased, and as I opened my mouth to argue, she stopped me. “I’m kidding, Paige. That sounds nice. I’d love to go out.”
“Yay!” I said a little too enthusiastically, and Tatum rolled his eyes.
Rubbing my full stomach, I hoped that my day with Tatum would consist of more talking much like last night. My thoughts felt somewhat pushy in a sense, but I hoped he was on the same page as I was. As we washed the dishes from breakfast, I nudged my hip against his upper thigh, shoving him over a step. He turned and splashed water from the sink at me, and I squealed.
“All right, you two. I can do the dishes. Get out of here.” Mrs. Montgomery came up from behind us and took the plate from my hand.
“No, really. We can do it,” I argued.
“You’ll make a mess of my floors and I’ll have to mop them. Get on out.” She reached for a towel and tried to smack Tatum with it.
“Let’s get out of here before she beats us to death.” Tatum squirmed to get away from her well-aimed swipes. He ran outside, Buster on his heels and me not far behind. “Wanna go for a walk?” he suggested, and I felt my face light up.
“I would love that.”
The heat wrapped itself around me with each step, making me wonder if people got used to it. I still wasn’t. Tatum reached for my hand and rubbed his thumb across my palm. Buster wagged his tail and followed behind before Tatum shooed him away and told him to stay put. The dog whined, but stopped walking and plopped down right in the dirt.
“So, where are we going?” I asked when I realized we weren’t headed the same direction as the swimming hole, and I hadn’t been to any other part of the property before.
“You’ll see when we get there.”
“That’s helpful.”
“You’ll like it,” he assured me, and I believed him. It made me realize that when Tatum said something, I knew it was true. For some reason I implicitly trusted him.
We walked through a wide-open field and directly into a line of trees. The sun disappeared as we stepped under the canopy of oversized branches and green leaves. Tiny rays of sunlight would stream through the space in the trees when they could, forming what looked like roads to the sky. Our steps echoed into the space around us as branches and old leaves crushed under the weight of our feet. My sandals slapped against my feet, and somewhere along the walk, I’d started counting the clip-clap sounds they made.
“Are we almost there?” I asked, breaking the vocal silence.
“Almost.” Tatum smiled, and I noticed that his usual stress lines looked less pronounced. He looked happy.
Was it because of me?
Pulling me through the trees, it seemed that he knew exactly where to head. All the trees looked the same to me, and heaven help me because if Tatum ditched me in here, I’d never find my way out. I’d be lost in the land of sunless forest forever. And then I’d die there.
A few more steps and the trees thinned out, the forest opening up into a meadow with tall grasses. I spotted something out of the corner of my eye and knew this was where he was taking me. A swing hung motionless at the edge of the darkened woods and the brightly lit meadow. The tree that held it was large at its base, with sweeping branches that almost touched the ground in places. It looked like something straight out of a picture book, the way the light hit it on one side.
I smiled at Tatum. “Do I get to swing on it?”
He nodded. “Let me look at it first. I tightened the rope