over her head with a deep, contented sigh.
No wonder reptiles lay on rocks to warm themselves. This was heavenly.
Josh draped another blanket over her before flopping down beside her. He twitched the edge of the blanket over his legs and lay back, propping his hands behind his head.
“The term ‘cold-blooded’ is a misnomer,” Mia said. “Ectothermic animals don’t actually have colder blood than endotherms.”
Josh swiveled his head to look at her, and she realized her mental leap had only made sense inside her own mind.
“Sorry, I was just thinking of how lizards sun themselves on rocks.” She shook her head. “I’m trying not to do that so much.”
“Do what?”
“Blurt out conversational non sequiturs. According to my ex it makes me sound like a freak.”
“He said that to you?” Josh’s eyes narrowed with murderous intent.
She tried to shrug it off, not wanting to make a big deal out of it. “He said a lot of things. That’s why he’s my ex now.”
One of the things he’d said was “we should break up,” which was the only reason he was her ex now. If Paul hadn’t dumped her, she might still be trying to hold on to him from a thousand miles away. And then she wouldn’t be with Josh right now.
“That guy sounds like a real asshole,” Josh growled. She turned her head to look at him and he reached for her hand, holding it between them. When he spoke again his tone was much softer. “The way your mind works is what makes you special. The fact that your brain is always five steps ahead, making connections no one else can see, is why you’re so good at math. Just because the rest of us can’t keep up doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you.”
She squeezed his fingers, smiling at the dim outline of his face.
No man she’d ever dated had understood her so well. Or been so willing to accept her exactly as she was. Her past boyfriends had always wanted to improve her. Or compete with her. Or they’d simply been puzzled by her. Whatever the case, eventually they’d all wound up so frustrated they’d left.
Would Josh end up frustrated with her too? It was hard to imagine, with his easygoing personality. He was so patient. So perceptive. So kind.
He was exactly the sort of man Mia could imagine herself loving for the rest of her life.
The thought froze her for a second before reality intruded, reminding her she wouldn’t have the chance. Not with her leaving Crowder as soon as her contract was up—and with Josh inextricably tied to the farm.
He’d never leave this place, and she could never stay. They were a paradox. A mathematical impossibility.
Her throat tightening, Mia turned her face to the sky so Josh’s sharp eyes wouldn’t discern her change of mood.
She’d never seen so many stars in her life. They spread across the sky like a great, glittering blanket, so thick in some places it was impossible to pick out the spaces in between them. It made her feel small and insignificant, but also somehow reassured that the universe would continue to produce wonders, regardless of the relatively minor struggles of the tiny organisms living on the surface of an inconsequential planet orbiting an unremarkable yellow sun in a forgotten arm of one spiral galaxy lost among hundreds of billions of others.
“Why’s the water here so cold?” she asked, thinking of the coldness of space.
Josh took her abrupt change of subject in stride, as he always did. “It’s spring-fed. All the swimming holes along Cooper Creek are.”
“It must feel great in the summer. Not just the Holler, I mean, but the non-nude swimming holes too.”
“Yeah, we spent about as much time up here as we could manage every summer. We were always nagging our parents, begging someone to drive us. We’d pile as many kids as we could into one car and spend the whole day up here.”
“That sounds nice.” Idyllic, actually. Josh’s childhood sounded like something from a novel. Mia had always been proud of where she was from, but she found herself a little envious of him.
“What’d you do in the summers growing up?” he asked her. “I have this image in my head of kids in Brooklyn playing stickball in the streets and splashing around in open fire hydrants.”
Mia laughed. “I think you’re confusing Captain America’s childhood with real life. It certainly wasn’t like that for me.”
“What was it like?”
“A lot of families in my neighborhood would leave during