The Other Side of the Pillow

“If I do this, you realize everything is going to change?”

Winsome nodded. “All good changes.”

“All good up and until something happens and he breaks my heart.”

“You’re assuming that something negative is going to happen.”

“It’s inevitable.”

“So why do it then?”

“Because you said I should do it.”

“I said you should do it because you want to do it.”

I closed my eyes and contemplated my next move.

“What are you doing? Praying?” Winsome asked.

“No, but I need to be. I was thinking about how much ice cream and chocolate we need to stock up on so that when I get hurt, I don’t have to run out to the store.”

“Speaking of fattening shit . . .” Winsome looked at the time on her cell phone. “It’s nine thirty and the gym closes at eleven. We need to get moving. I’m not going to sleep with all this grease in my stomach so my ass will feel like lead in the morning.”

We gathered our trash to throw it away. Winsome reached over and took mine. “I’ll throw this away. It’s loud in here. Go outside and call Tevin and ask him what time you need to be ready tomorrow.”

I grinned. “Okay.”

“And also tell him that he has to meet me tomorrow to get my approval before he takes you out of town. I’m sick of only seeing him from the window.”

“Yes, Mother!”

Winsome headed toward the trash receptacle while I went outside on the pavement to call Tevin and accept his offer. It was time for me to take a chance.

Chapter Nine

“One day, someone will walk into your life and make you see why it never worked out with anyone else.”

—Unknown

This view is breathtaking!” I exclaimed, trying to catch my breath.

Tevin had taken me to Shenandoah National Park to go hiking and we were on the Appalachian Trail at the Panorama.

“It’s great how you can see everything for miles from here.”

“And in every direction,” Tevin added. “So do you like hiking?”

I looked up into his almond eyes. “I do now, but this is honestly my first time.”

Tevin chuckled. “Your first time? Why did you agree then?”

I shrugged. “Why not agree? At some point, everything is someone’s first time. Good thing that I’ve been going to the gym on the regular or I wouldn’t have been able to hang.”

He looked me up and down. I had on all kinds of hiking gear that I had rushed to purchase at Arundel Mills Mall the second he had told me the plans. In addition to the clothes, I had utilized Google to find out what essentials I needed for hiking.

“You had all of that in your closet already?” he asked.

“No, not at all, but I like to be prepared. I did my research and once I found out that this park has five hundred miles of trails, more than a hundred of them being the Appalachian Trail, I wanted to make sure that if we get lost, we’re covered.”