We get out of the car, and I do as he says, sliding my arms through the sleeves and flipping my hair out of the collar, letting it fall across my shoulders. Parker sticks his hands into his pockets and gestures with his chin for me to follow him along the path leading to the forest.

As we walk through the woods, I focus on trying not to trip on the roots beneath my feet, grateful I chose to wear my Blundstones today. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

“Nope,” he responds promptly, not seeming to mind matching my slow, unsteady pace.

It’s quiet save for the sound of twigs snapping, the dirt crunching under our feet, and the occasional bird twittering in the trees above. My nose is met with the smell of pine needles and fresh air, and I find myself unwinding from the day I had at school. There’s something about being out in nature, away from it all, that makes me feel at ease, even if my body is a little wobbly.

“Are you doing okay?”

“Yeah.” My cheeks warm. “Sorry I’m so slow.”

He crouches slightly, ducking under a branch then holding it out of the way for me. “It’s all right, nature is meant to be savored.”

“So,” I begin, trying to keep my voice light, “how long have you and Audrey worked together at Antonio’s?”

The trail gets wider, and a man on a bike whizzes past, going in the opposite direction. It’s wide enough for us to walk side by side now, so I fall into step beside Parker.

“It’s been about seven months. That’s where we met.”

“How long have you been together?”

“We started dating after a month of knowing each other.”

“When did you move in with us?”

“Is this an interrogation?”

“I have a very limited memory bank. Sorry for trying to learn literally any information I can.”

Parker coughs out a laugh at the unimpressed tone of my voice. Some of my anxiety begins to uncoil itself when I realize he’s not going to pull anything like he did when I came home from the hospital. “Touché,” he says. “Just under two months ago.”

“That’s a while.”

“Longer than I anticipated,” he agrees.

Even though I’m badgering him with questions, I don’t have enough answers quite yet. “Are you going to tell me what really happened between us?” I ask hesitantly. “I deserve to know.”