you’ll never be able to even try loving me because you can’t love anyone the way you loved him?” He said it matter-of-factly, but his eyes oozed vulnerability.
What could she tell him when she didn’t know the answers herself?
Up ahead, a vista jutted off the pathway, granting views of a plush valley below. When they reached it, Eva dropped her poles, grabbed Marc’s hand, and dragged him off the trail. She peeked back and saw her sister-in-law lower herself onto a boulder facing the opposite direction several yards away. Thankfully she’d received the hint to give them their privacy.
Eva returned her gaze to the valley below. A river ran through, touching the plants along its bank, giving them life as it moved.
“Marc, I don’t know what’s going to happen after this. It’s truly all I can do to get through this race.” It was breaking her down piece by piece—her body, her mind, her spirit. She only prayed at the end of it she would somehow be built back up, a newer, better version of herself.
Marc squeezed her fingers. “I know, and I wasn’t trying to push you into anything. Sorry if it felt like it.”
“It just felt like you being honest, which I so appreciate. It’s true I don’t know what I’ll do career-wise or what I’ll do with my home. But I do know that I want to be with you, Marco Cinelli. I made that decision weeks ago, even before you came back to New Zealand. But I was afraid to tell you because . . . well, the unknown is frightening. And I have some of the same fears you do—like what if Brent was it for me? Still, I care about you so much and I want to see where this can go.”
And he deserved to know just how much she cared. Here went nothing. “Do you remember that night we were video chatting and I was trying to create bouquets for a wedding? The first bouquets I’d created since Brent died?”
“Yes.”
The man paid attention. She liked that. “When I hung up the phone, I was shocked to see a picture-perfect flower arrangement in my hands. One of the best I’ve ever done.”
“Okay.”
She wasn’t making sense, was she? With her free hand, Eva rubbed the tip of her nose, her mouth moving to one side as she considered her next words. “Marc, there’s only been one other time I was inspired to create in that way—without any thought to what I was doing, without believing I had it in me to do it. And that was the day I met Brent.”
Silence. What was Marc thinking? Maybe she shouldn’t have told him. Perhaps he’d be offended that she’d compared him to Brent.
Finally, he spoke. “So what does that mean?”
Courage. The whisper to her soul felt familiar, like a long-lost friend tapping on her door.
She studied Marc, but his eyes were unreadable. “It means I found my inspiration again. In you.” And that was the truth of it. Because even if . . . But it was impossible, for her to love him, right? They’d only been dating a few weeks. “And I thought you should know.”
“Thank you for telling me.” He pulled her into his side and kissed the top of her head.
Together they watched the river rush and splash, bringing sustenance to the world around it by simply being itself, the distant roar of its victory in their ears.
“And I would love to take credit for inspiring you, Eva. But the truth is, I’m just a man. That inspiration came from somewhere inside of you.”
* * *
As Angela, Marc, and Eva trudged across the Stage 4 finish line, a gentle rain began to dot the dirt around them.
Marc whisked Eva under a nearby tree and turned to kiss her softly. Angela maneuvered around them, giving them the privacy now like she wished she’d been able to earlier. But with only fifty feet permitted between them, she could only do so much. Clearly, though, their talk had proven fruitful. Angela would ask Eva about it later tonight.
As for right now, she had another mission on her mind.
Angela needed to apologize to Simon, because he’d never done anything wrong to her. In fact, she’d wronged him, abandoning him without explanation last night on the trail. And that was inexcusable.
Feet numb and legs trembling, Angela lumbered through camp. This one was situated in an open meadow surrounded by a few hills and a small forest of trees on