The Fading Trilogy: Fading, Freeing, Falling: Includes 2 BONUS short stories: Hoping and Finding Forever (20 page)

"Thanks."

"No problem. So, are you ready?"

"Yep. I haven't been out to Rainier since this past summer," I say and then I open my water and take a sip.

"I didn't know you liked to hike."

"I like most things athletic, although the majority of that is inside the confines of the ballet studio. I mainly just run the trails there, but I've been hiking a few times as well."

Picking up the waters, he says, "You're a runner too? I'm impressed," while walking towards the door. I walk over and open the door for him when he says, "You should come running with Mark and I sometime. We've been going early Tuesday mornings before hitting the gym."

We walk out, and Ryan tosses the waters into the car. I still haven't responded when he questions, "What do you think?"

I look down before looking back at him. "I haven't been out running in a while. I'd probably just slow you guys down. It was always something I did alone anyway."

Jase comes up to me, puts his arm around my shoulder, and asks, "What do you do alone? Besides everything."

I elbow him gently in the ribs and smile as I walk around the car and hop in the back seat. "I'm ready to go," I teasingly announce before closing the door and putting on my seatbelt.

Ryan gets in the front with Mark, and Jase slides in next to me. For most of the two-hour drive, the guys talk amongst themselves as I doze in and out of sleep. I have been spending a lot of overtime in the studio, and last night I was there pretty late, so I didn't get much rest.

When my body suddenly jerks out of a restless sleep, and I gasp in a loud breath, all eyes turn to me, but Ryan's are the only ones filled with questions. Mark turns around and starts talking to Ryan to take the attention off of me while Jase undoes his seatbelt and slides up next to me, wrapping his arm around my neck. Resting my head on his shoulder, he whispers in my ear, "You okay?"

I nod my head, close my eyes, and concentrate on my breathing. I feel embarrassed, and attempt to force out the thoughts that are creeping through my head. I just want to have fun today. I need to have fun today. For the remainder of the drive, I sit in the comfort of Jase's arms.

When we get to the turnoff, we have to drive about twenty minutes on a pot-holed gravel road to get to the Wonderland Trail that will lead us to Tolmie Peak. When we finally arrive and park the car, Mark opens the hatch, and I sit on the bumper while I tie up my hiking boots. It is lightly raining, and I pop the hood on my raincoat up and over my head. This time of year, the lower trails can become extremely muddy with the increase in rain. Ryan hands me an extra bottle of water to throw into my backpack before I sling it onto my back and wait for everyone else.

Once the guys are ready, we start making our way over to the trailhead. Mark told me the hike should be around four hours. The terrain isn't too difficult to navigate as we start on the trail. We are all keeping a pretty decent pace and Mark is talking about the last show they played at Ryan's bar. I have never been to Blur. Jase has invited me a few times to go watch the band play, but has never pushed too hard.

A couple hours into our hike, the clouds open and it begins to rain. As we continue to trek on, the ground becomes marshy beneath our feet. I start to fall behind a little, but I yell to Jase to keep going and I'll catch up. I pull the hood on my jacket further over my head, so I don't realize that Ryan has stayed back until I almost pass him. Stopping, I look up at him, and he doesn't have his hood over his head. Rain is dripping off the ends of his hair, and it reminds me of the first night he came into the coffee shop with his rain soaked hair.

"You don't have to hang back. You can hike on ahead."

"Don't worry about it," he says as we continue to make out way through the trail. "I would hate for you to fall and hurt yourself and nobody be around."

Turning to look at him, I give him a grin and say, "Thanks."

"This shit's freezing."

I start laughing and agree with him. The rain is really cold.

After about a half hour, the rain finally lets up, and at this point, I am soaked from head to toe. I stop for a moment, take the hair tie that is around my wrist, and pull up my stringy wet hair on top of my head. Ryan walks closer to me. Laughing, he swipes his hand across my cheek, and the gesture makes me a little uncomfortable, until I see the brown mud on his fingers, and I laugh with him.

"You are covered in this shit," he chuckles, and all I can do is shrug my shoulders. You can't expect to not get dirty when you are hiking in the rain.

"Yeah, well, you're covered in it too," I say as we keep moving forward.

We manage to catch up with Jase and Mark near the incline to the peak. It's a mile hike up, and there is a light dusting of snow throughout the trek. When we reach the top, I climb the stairs to the lookout house and take in the view. I look out at the Sound and just stare. It's a breathtaking view. I walk back around the lookout, sit on the stairs, and grab a protein bar out of my backpack. Jase sits down behind me and kisses the top of my head. I look down to Mark and Ryan who are standing down below and catch Ryan looking up at us before he walks around to the other side of the lookout.

"Having fun?"

Turning my head to look at Jase, I say, "I actually am."

"Good." He wraps his arms around my shoulders, and I lean back into him as I eat my snack and rest.

"We should start heading back," he says after ten minutes or so.

"Okay."

We walk back down the stairs and find the other two.

"You guys ready to head back?" Jase asks them.

Everyone agrees, and we start the trek back down after we have all taken in the spectacular views. The walk down the peak is a slippery one from all the rain earlier. It isn't long before my feet slide out from underneath me, and I fall back into the mud.

"Crap!"

Reaching out both of his hands, I grab tightly onto Ryan's wrists as he pulls me out of the soggy mud.

"You're a complete mess."

"Yeah, I know," I say with a muddy face and now a muddy ass. I feel absolutely disgusting.

I keep ahold of Ryan's arm until we finally reach the bottom and let go. Jase and Mark are several steps in front of us, apparently lost in their own conversation, and it's not long before Ryan and I start talking about his job.

"So, how did you come about owning a bar?" I ask.

"Just kind of fell into it. When I graduated college, the economy was starting to decline, and I couldn't find a job. So, when I found out that the previous owner of that bar was about to shut the place down, I worked out a deal with him and was able to do a slow buyout."

"You went to U-Dub?"

"Yeah, I graduated back in 2007."

"So, that makes you...?"

Laughing at me, he says, "Twenty-eight."

"What did you study?"

"Business Finance. So, it wasn't too far out of reach that I would come to own my own business."

"You enjoy it?"

"I do. When I did the buyout, I changed the whole place out and created a new vibe for it. It wasn't before long that the business was taking off quicker than I expected. At this point, the staff pretty much runs the place, and I have a trustworthy manager, so my schedule is very flexible."

"Sounds like the perfect job."

"You ever been there?"

Looking over at him and smiling, I say, "No. I don't really ever go out." I shake my head and continue, "I'm sort of a work-a-holic. Jase is always nagging me about that."

"Well, you should stop by sometime."

"Yeah. Maybe."

He laughs and says, "You're full of shit, aren't you?"

"Yeah. Maybe," I say, chuckling back at him.

Still laughing, he shakes his head at me as we continue the hike back.

When we finally reach the car, all of us are a mess, wet and covered in mud. I grab one of the towels that is in the back of the Range Rover and attempt to clean myself off, but at this point, most of the mud has dried and is now a hard, crusty matting on my clothes and face. Not wanting to drive all the back in these clothes, I ask Jase if he brought any extra. He tells me that Mark keeps a bag full of clean clothes in the back for when he goes to the gym. I reach in, grab his gym bag, and pull out a t-shirt and athletic pants, along with a dry pair of socks. I wouldn't think twice about changing in front of Jase, but I tell Mark and Ryan to go sit in the front so that I can change. Mark laughs at me, but gets in the car along with Ryan. I quickly strip out of my soggy clothes and Jase hands me the clean ones. Once I am good to go, I hop into the back seat and snuggle up tightly with Jase to try and warm up.

After everyone has showered and cleaned up, we all sit around the living room and tune into the Washington vs. Colorado football game. Mark throws a few logs of wood into the fireplace, and I go to get a bottle of wine from the kitchen. Mark and I have the same taste in wine, so we decide to share a bottle while the other two drink beer.

"What kind of pizza do you want, Candace?" Ryan hollers to me from the other room.

While I am opening the wine I shout back, "I don't care. I'll eat anything at this point."

As I walk back in with the wine and two glasses, Ryan is on his cell ordering dinner, and Jase is already finishing his first beer and watching the pre-game show on TV. We sit around, talking about our day and begin planning our next hike and the other trails we want to explore.

After a couple hours and way too much pizza, I lie back on the couch and laugh at Jase who has had a few too many beers and is screaming at the TV at a penalty call. Enjoying the entertainment of his theatrics, I hear my phone ring from the kitchen. Before I can get off the couch, Jase runs in and answers it with an obnoxious slur. When I stand up, he is walking my way, holding the phone out and mouthing 'I'm sorry' to me.

"Who is it?" I whisper as I take the phone from his hands, and he quietly says, "Your mother."

I walk out to the back patio when I finally say, "Hi, Mom."

"Jesus, Candace! I have been trying to get ahold of you for over a week. Why haven't you returned any of my calls?"

"Sorry, I've been busy and I guess a little distracted lately." Truth is, I have been purposely avoiding her calls. Thanksgiving is this Thursday, and she loves putting on a show at the country club. God knows the woman would never lift a finger in the kitchen, so for my whole life, every holiday dinner has been at the club.

"Well, your father and I were wondering when you were coming home?"

"Umm...I have a lot of schoolwork to get done, so I won't have much time," I lie. "What time are the reservations for?"

"That's it? You are just going to come for dinner? We haven't seen you in three months!"

Why does she do this? She always wants me to call her and visit her, but when I do, all she does is criticize me. "Mom, I'm really pressed for time, plus I am not sure when I have to work." Another lie.

"Well, that's just great! I had invited the Anderson's over for brunch Saturday morning. Now, I will have to rudely cancel."

My heart skips a beat when I question loudly, "Why would you do that, Mother?"

"What do you mean?"

"Mom! I haven't spoken with Jack in months." God, I hate saying his name. My stomach is knotting up just talking about this. But what the hell is she thinking? Why would she invite his parents over and just assume I was involved with that asshole?

"Well, what happened?"

"Nothing, Mom. We just didn't have anything in common."

"So, you ruin yet another possible relationship. What did you say to him?"

"Of course this is my fault, right?" I yell at her. "You are unbelievable, Mother!"

"I just have to wonder why, at the age of twenty-two, you have yet to meet anyone." Her voice is like ice to me, and I lose it.

"Why does it matter? Why do you even care? I wish you would show as much interest in me as you do my non-existent dating life." My voice is harsh and loud.

"Candace. Please. This is so childish of you to always yell at me when you don't like what I have to say. I'm just concerned, that's all."