Delphic Song

Chapter Four

“Vain, much?” I teased.

Nate stopped at the end of the driveway, looked both ways, and pulled out to the left. I frowned, unsure what to make of this. Left would take us down to Lovell, which was pretty much empty road with a few long, narrow driveways winding off into the trees. A right turn would take us into town, and although there were only four decent places to eat, including the newly installed Subway and two small pizza places (one of which was in the building next to an Auto Parts store) at least they were buildings. The only restaurant in Lovell was a good forty minutes from us, and even then it wasn’t worth the drive.

So where was Nate taking me?

I voiced this question aloud, and Nate only laughed. “It’s a surprise,” he said.

I groaned. “Would you tell me if I informed you that I didn’t like surprises?”

“No.” He grinned. “But trust me, you’ll like it.”

Ten minutes later, Nate pulled the car over to the side of the road and put in park. I was in the middle of explaining a story about Joshua when he was a toddler, and I broke off mid-word. “What are you doing?”

“This is our stop.” Nate climbed out of the car and walked around to my door, opening it for me. I thanked him and hopped out, grabbing my bag from the floor of the car as I went. The bag held my “sexiest” bikini, according to Payson, a beach towel, my phone, sunglasses and a sweatshirt. I might need the extra layer, especially if I ended up going swimming.

“This is our stop?” I asked. “Are you sure you’ve gotten the hang of our Maine roads yet? You’ve only been up here, what, a week?” I tried to make my voice light, but my stomach was twisting itself in knots.

“Ten days,” Nate corrected, “And yes. This is the place.”

I glanced around warily. We were stopped on the side of the road, the car pulled over onto the dirt side. To one side, the road went on until it curved sharply away, and to the other, forest stretched out for miles. I peered closer at the dense underbrush, trying to distinguish a path or something that might clue me in on why we had stopped here. But there was nothing; only the trees and the leaves and the endless miles of wood. I swallowed. This was strange, and it was making me uncomfortable.

“Nate,” I started, but he interrupted me.

“It’s okay, princess.” He put his hands on my shoulders, his eyes catching mine and boring into them. The beautiful tortoiseshell eyes darkened, and a strange calm began to sweep over me. “It’s just a little surprise.”

My thoughts warred with each other; the serenity arguing with reason, reason that told me to be worried. Nate’s eyes flashed, darkening to an even darker shade, and his mouth tightened.

I blinked, my unease vanishing. “I trust you.”

He smiled, stepping away from me, back to his old self. “Good. Then we should probably be going.”

I followed him around the car to the back hatch. He popped it open and withdrew a picnic basket, a red and blue checkered blanket and an old black backpack, which he swung over his shoulder. He threw a grin over his shoulder at me as he began tramping into the woods. “C’mon. You wouldn’t want to ruin my perfect date plans, would you?”

I laughed. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

We walked in comfortable silence for a few minutes. Nate trudged along in front of me, pushing aside branches to clear a path. I was surprised at how easy it was already to be here with him, not talking but still at ease. We had met yesterday – could it have only been yesterday? It seemed like I had known him for so long.

I just hoped that Liam would be okay with this date. I really didn’t want to lose him, and I knew that if it came down to a choice between Nate and Liam I would follow Liam. He was my best friend, my confidant, and although I had instantly trusted Nate, it didn’t compare to the bond Liam and I shared. But if he let my relationship with Nate develop – if it did – without saying anything until it was too late… I bit my lip. I hope it didn’t come to that. Liam was civil, and I liked to believe that he would put our friendship before his “bad feelings” about my dates.

“So…” Nate broke the silence, holding a branch back so it wouldn’t slap me as I walked by. “I hear your birthdays in a few days.”

I groaned. Somehow, I had managed to forget about that dreaded event. Working in the orchard in all my spare time had kept me from noticing Liz and Dad planning the “surprise” festivity, which is what usually clues me in.

“Yeah,” I said with a grimace. “Four days until the horror begins.”

“The horror…?” Nate asked slowly, as if he was asking me a different question but didn’t want to go out and say it.

I sighed. “I hate my birthday.”

“What?!” Nate turned around to gape at me. “You hate your birthday? How is that even possible?”

“Well…” I shrugged. “I have my reasons. Can we please drop the birthday topic?”

Talking about my birthday always led to this. Questions about why I disliked it turned into questions about why my mother left me, and that wasn’t appropriate for first date talk. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Nate; I did full heartedly, it was that I didn’t want to put myself through the whole talk. And I definitely didn’t want Nate feeling pity towards me because of what happened.

“Of course.” Nate nodded. “But it doesn’t matter anyways.” He pointed through the trees ahead of us. “We’re here.”