for piano lessons when I was little, but Mom and Dad said we didn’t have room for a piano in the cabin.”
We start off again, leaving the rock wall behind. As we climb, the trail becomes steeper and rougher and dotted with patches of lingering snow. We step around large rocks and over the occasional felled tree blocking our path. When we reach an outcropping of rock that offers a view that seems to stretch all the way to the next dimension, we stop to rest. Sitting side by side, we stare out over a sea of evergreen treetops broken only by scraps of pale green meadow.
I take an apple out of my pack and offer it to Ty. He shakes his head, and I’m about to bite into it when I hear a noise on the trail. “Someone’s coming,” I say, setting the apple aside.
Frowning, he looks in the direction we came. “I don’t hear anything.”
“No, I’m sure of it.” I push to my feet when I see movement in the trees and a patch of blue coming closer. Wyatt appears from around the curve, pausing when he spots us.
“Hey!” I wave and jog to meet him. “What’s up?”
“Gran went by your house. Your mom mentioned our hike.” He glances at Ty and makes a huffing sound. “Gran was worried about you going up the peak alone. So was I. Stupid me, huh?”
“Don’t be mad,” I say in just above a whisper, hoping Ty won’t hear. “Ty wanted to climb the peak, so I offered to take him, that’s all. I knew Mom would make a big deal of it, so I didn’t tell her.” I gesture toward Ty with a tilt of my head. “Come on. Meet him. He’s a nice guy.”
As if on cue, Ty stands and comes over. “Hey,” he says, offering his hand to Wyatt. “I’m Ty Collier.”
The tops of Wyatt’s ears turn red as he shakes hands with Ty. Shifting his attention back to me, he says, “Could we talk?”
I look at Ty and wince. “We’ll just be a minute, okay?” He nods, and I follow Wyatt to the outcropping of rock where our backpacks lie. “What’s going on?”
“Gran’s not happy about you lying to your mom. She said for me to find you and if we aren’t back in a couple of hours she’s going back to your cabin to tell her.”
“She’d do that?” I ask hesitantly.
“You know my grandmother. What do you think?”
Frustrated, I make my way back over to Ty. “I need to go home.”
He frowns. “Everything okay?”
“Yes, but we’ll have to save the hike for another day.”
Ty pretends not to care, but I can tell he does. I wouldn’t blame him if he decided that trying to spend time with me isn’t worth the effort.
The return walk down the peak to the trailhead is pure torture, for me at least. Being with Ty and Wyatt at the same time makes me nervous so I start to babble. I tell funny stories about things Wyatt and I did together as kids, but Wyatt remains focused on the path ahead, not amused. He doesn’t look up until we reach the trailhead where his four-wheeler is parked next to mine.
Ty draws me aside for a second, saying, “I hope everything’s okay at home. I’ll call you later, okay?”
I nod. “I’m really sorry about the hike.”
“We’ll do it another time.”
He starts off toward his car, and when he passes Wyatt, they mumble good-bye to each other.
As Ty drives away in his car, Wyatt climbs onto his four-wheeler, stares down at the seat for a minute, then turns to me. “You coming?”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told Mom I was with you and put you in the middle of this. But she has such a weird cautious streak when it comes to Ty.”
His brows lift briefly. “Maybe she’s smart to, Lil. I mean, what’s he doing here?”
“In Silver Lake? Working for Mom, for one thing. Putting a roof on the cabin.”
“Yeah, your mom told Gran he’s working dirt cheap. She isn’t thinking straight or she’d wonder just why he’d do that.” He squints at me. “Why do you think he’s willing to work for next to nothing?”
I shrug. “Because he needs the money?”
“Or wants to be close to you.” Wyatt blinks and looks away, his jawline tight.
I cross to him. Take a breath. “We need to talk about things.” He turns to me, and his green eyes don’t hide anything. I see all of his