“We should take a photograph with all of us,” Amelia said. “That way we can always remember today and how much fun we had on our hike together.”
“Great idea,” Ian said. “I can set my phone up and hit the camera shutter with my watch.”
As she had done, he experimented with angles for a few moments and she and the children made funny faces that made them all laugh until he set it just right.
She felt a little odd being photographed with them in what was really a family picture but decided to just go with it.
“That should do it,” Ian said after several frames. “Wait right here while I make sure the pictures worked.”
He crossed to where his phone was propped on a rock facing them and looked at the images with a curiously intent look on his face. “Wonderful,” he finally said. “They’re perfect.”
“I want to see, Dad.” Amelia hopped down from their spot to where her father held his phone and took it from him. “Oh, it is wonderful!” she exclaimed. She held it out for Sam to see.
She looked at the image and felt a funny little catch in her throat. They all looked so right together. The children smiled brightly, as did Ian. She hadn’t seen him smile very often. It made him look young and handsome, even with his perennially messed hair.
“Can you text me these?” she asked. “It will make a wonderful memento of today.”
“Certainly. I’ll do it as soon as we get back to a signal.”
She handed the phone back to Ian. As he took it from her, their hands brushed and Sam hoped he didn’t notice her shiver.
“Who’s ready for lunch?” Ian asked.
Sam and both of the children raised their hands at the same time, then smiled at each other, in full accord.
* * *
SAMANTHA COULDN’T WAIT for Ian to send her those pictures, but she knew she wouldn’t need that tangible evidence to recall what had turned out to be one of most delightful days she had enjoyed in a long time.
The picnic was simple roast beef sandwiches Mrs. Gilbert had prepared, but they were made on fresh-baked bread with a creamy mustard and horseradish sauce and tasted better than anything from the best restaurants around the lake.
Sam had a vague memory of going on a camping trip with her father once when she must have been six or seven. She could remember him saying something about how food eaten outside always tasted better. Was it a true memory or something she had imagined? It didn’t really matter, she supposed. Either way, it was definitely true.
They ate under a tree with the waterfall in the background, serenaded by birds as a light breeze made the wildflowers dance around them.
Samantha wanted the moment to go on forever.
When Amelia finished her dessert of shortbread cookies, she gave a happy sigh. “This has been the best day. Thank you for showing us such a beautiful place,” she said. “I shall remember this always.”
“As will I,” Samantha said softly.
“I still wish we could go for a swim,” Thomas said mournfully.
“You wouldn’t enjoy it, trust me,” his father said.
After lunch, they walked around trying to identify wildflowers. Sam shared as many as she knew, mostly Queen Anne’s Lace, wild iris, columbine.
“June is still a little early at these higher elevations for flowers. That’s what my friends who are experts say, anyway. In another month, there will be many more wildflowers up here, of all colors. It’s quite a spectacular display.”
“We’ll be back home by then,” Amelia said with a little pout. “Maybe you could send us a photograph.”
“I’ll do that,” Sam said, trying to ignore the pinch in her heart to think about them leaving. How had they all wormed their way into her life so quickly? She adored the children and was well on her way to developing a terrible crush on Ian.
So much for her intentions to remain distant but friendly. She had crossed that line a long time ago.
It didn’t feel like any crush she’d had before, though. She didn’t remember oversharing so much with another man. He knew things about her she had never shared with anyone besides Katrina.
Funny thing, though. He hadn’t seemed disgusted by her honesty. There was a lesson in that for her, she supposed. Maybe she needed to stop being so ashamed and focus on moving forward instead of looking back.
They were all more quiet on the way down the mountain than they