The winding road clung to the side of the mountain as Peter negotiated the curves with his SUV. These twists and turns were nothing compared to those his mind had taken about Ashley in the past few weeks. She had him tied in knots with her sweetness and her honest way of looking at everything. He was losing his battle not to care too much about her. Maybe today would help him sort things out. But was that going to happen when they weren’t alone?
Murmurs from Jessica, Libby, Drew, and Brandon mixed with an occasional trill of laughter from one of the girls filled the otherwise quiet interior of his vehicle. He glanced at Ashley, who was studying brochures about Amicalola State Park. Peter forced himself to focus on the road as he followed the white SUV driven by one of the other college students in the group.
“Tell me about the house we’re fixing next week. You said it was in bad shape.” Ashley’s comment came out of the blue and nearly made him jump.
“Yeah. Most of the paint on the outside is gone, but that saves some time because we won’t have to do as much scraping. Some pieces of the clapboard siding are missing. They also need more insulation. So I’ve put in an order for that, too.”
“Have you met the people who own the house?”
“Yes. An older couple, about the same age as Ida and Cecil. Is there some reason you’re asking?”
“No, just curious. I should meet them, too. Would you include me next time you visit a project?”
He’d left her out again, and she was reminding him in her quiet, polite way. She never failed to put him on the spot with a reasonable request to include her. Why hadn’t he thought about it? He should have the procedure figured out by now. One of these days he was going to get it right.
The turn signal on the vehicle up ahead started to blink, taking Peter’s attention away from Ashley. “We’re almost there.”
Ashley turned to the backseat. “I’m sure glad y’all invited us to go along. I’ve been reading about the falls and the park. Just think. Near here is the beginning of the Appalachian Trail, which goes all the way into Maine. I wonder what it would be like to hike the whole thing.”
“I’ll leave that to someone else.” Peter chuckled.
After they turned onto the road leading into the park, they stopped and paid the entry fee, then found parking at the visitor center and went inside to pick up a map.
Peter looked over the group. “Okay, what does everyone want to do? There are a number of trails for hiking, or we can take the stairs that go to the top of the falls.”
“I think we should climb the stairs to the top,” Ashley said.
“How many stairs are there?” Libby asked.
Ashley glanced through her brochures. “About six hundred to get to the top of the falls.” She looked up. “That’s a lot, but that won’t stop me.”
“Is that a challenge?” Peter asked, forgetting that they weren’t the only ones on this trek.
“If you want to make it one.” Ashley turned her attention to the others. “What do y’all think?”
Some of the girls looked at each other as if they weren’t sure. Then Peter caught the looks on Jessica and Libby’s faces. They didn’t seem too enthused about the prospect. Did that mean Peter and Ashley couldn’t make the climb because they had to keep an eye on the girls?
“I say we take Ashley’s challenge and climb to the top,” Drew said. “We can’t let these old folks show us up, can we?”
Turning to Ashley, Peter laughed. “Do you think he’s talking about us?”
“Speak for yourself,” Ashley said.
“Now I know I have to go to the top to prove I’m not one of the old folks.”
After Drew agreed to go, the others decided they could make the climb, too. Starting at the visitor center, they followed a broad path that eventually ran beside a creek. Along the way, they came to the reflecting pool where some folks relaxed while they sat on the edge and dipped their feet in the water.
After they passed the pool, they meandered up the path as it continued to run alongside the creek. A hardwood forest covered the hillsides surrounding the falls. Ashley snapped pictures as she went. Her obvious delight touched Peter’s heart.
Suddenly, she grabbed his arm and pointed to the forested area opposite the creek. She whispered, “Look. Do you see the three deer?”
Peter peered into the wooded area as the others stopped and looked. Keeping his voice quiet, he said, “Yes, I see them.”
Ashley took photos with her phone. Seemingly unafraid, the deer didn’t move but continued to nibble on the low branches.
After she finished, she turned to Peter. “I can’t believe they just stood there. That is too cool. Let me show you these.”
Peter watched as Ashley scrolled through the photos. Her proximity was making it difficult for him to concentrate on them. Several of the others crowded around to look at the digital images, too.
While he stood there, he wished these other people would disappear and leave him and Ashley by themselves. He was going to have to make a time to be alone with her. Should he ask her for a date? He could, but the same old doubts crowded his mind. What would Richard say about that?
What had happened to the confident man who never hesitated to ask a woman out? He’d come face to face with Ashley Hiatt, and she’d made him care about missions, about his spiritual life, and about her. Asking her for a date meant more than having a beautiful companion for an evening out. They worked together, and she was still his boss’s daughter. If the relationship went sour, there could be bad repercussions. Was he brave enough to take that step—a step that might put him in quicksand?
Peter let those questions roll through his mind as the group finished looking at Ashley’s photos and resumed their trek to the stairway that would take them to the top of the falls. Up ahead the water tumbled down the rocky mountainside.
Walking beside him, Ashley leafed through a brochure. “It says here the water falls seven hundred twenty-nine feet down the mountain.” She stopped and took another picture. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” Peter couldn’t help thinking Ashley was beautiful. He was beginning to realize how much he looked forward to seeing her every day. He admired the way she encouraged people, how she made everyone feel important, and how she wasn’t afraid to try something new. Even while she admitted not always understanding everything, she forged ahead. She even tried to understand him. Maybe that was capturing his heart, too.
Peter and Ashley dawdled at the back of the group. Having her beside him gave him a sense of happiness. It had been a long time since any woman had made him feel the way Ashley did. Images of her filled his mind. He could still see her with paint in her hair, singing with her guitar during the devotional, and savoring a mustard-covered hot dog like it was a gourmet meal. What new images would make him plunge into this relationship like the water plunging down the mountainside?
When they reached the first observation platform, the group halted. Ashley took more pictures, while Peter surveyed the zigzag configuration of staircases leading to the top of the falls. He took a chance and put an arm around Ashley’s shoulders in what he hoped would appear as a friendly gesture. “Are you going to push this old man to the top?”
She laughed. “No, you have to make it under your own power. Are you ready?”
Enjoying the sound of Ashley’s laughter, Peter turned to the others. “Okay. Here we go.”
As they climbed, Peter came to the conclusion that he wasn’t in as good a shape as he thought he was. Stair climbing in the real world was different than in the gym. He was glad to catch his breath on the bridge while Ashley took more photos of the falls, as well as photos of everyone on the trip. When she finished, they resumed their ascent. After another four hundred and twenty-five stairs and numerous rest stops, they stood at the top of the waterfall.
“We made it!” Ashley immediately started taking more photos.
Jessica frowned and pointed to a parking lot near the falls overlook. “You mean we could’ve driven up here?”
“Looks that way,” Peter smiled wryly. “But the exercise did us good.”
Ashley chuckled. “Yeah, he’s not complaining, and he’s a lot older than you.”
“Is that some kind of backhanded compliment?” Peter wrinkled his brow.
“Take it however you’d like.” She continued snapping photos of everyone.
“I think you’re having too much fun taking photos with that phone.” Peter slowly approached her. “What do you think, gang? Should we take away her phone?”
A chorus of ‘yeses’ filled the air. Peter reached out to grab it, but Ashley managed to dodge him as she stepped away, still snapping photos. As he got closer, she took more pictures of him. Just before he reached her, she took off in a sprint, but she couldn’t outrun his long strides.
When he caught her, he gently wrapped his arms around her. She stopped. When he let go, she turned to face him. Her face was flushed as she gazed up at him through her glasses, her amber eyes full of mischief.
His heart raced from the chase and holding her in his arms. If it weren’t for the onlookers, he’d have pulled her close and kissed her. Instead, he gently extracted the phone from her hand and took pictures of her. At first she stood with her hands on her hips and frowned at him.
“That pose isn’t going to look very good in the photos.” Peter continued to take snapshots.
“Oh, you want me to pose. Okay.” She gave him a cheesy grin, then made a silly face and finally struck several exaggerated poses imitating fashion models. “Will those do?”
Chuckling, Peter shook his head. “Wait until you see them.”
She stopped clowning and gave him a very somber look. “One nice thing about digital photography is being able to delete.”
“Oh, so you think you’re going to delete the silly photos of you?” Peter turned to the others and held the phone high in the air. “What do you think? Should we confiscate her phone so she can’t delete?”
Another loud chorus of agreement and applause filled the air. Other nearby park visitors voiced their approval of Peter’s suggestion and chuckled at the group’s antics.
“Do you think this is fair? You’re much bigger than I am. Besides getting the whole group to gang up on me, you’re even getting strangers to take your side.” She tried to maintain her frown but finally started laughing helplessly and held out one hand. “If you give me my phone, I promise I won’t take any more pictures.”
“Oh, no.” Peter wagged a finger at her. “You can’t fool me with sweet talk. I’ll keep it until after we upload the photos. Then you can delete all you want.”
Ashley shrugged. “Okay. Doesn’t bother me. Who cares about the silly photos anyway?”
I do. Peter wanted to tell her, but he kept quiet. The joke was more on him than on her. While he’d held her in his arms, even in a playful way, she’d found her way around his defenses and made him forget about that caution sign that flashed in his brain every time a woman got too close to his heart. He was in way more trouble than he thought.
***
As Ashley made the trek to the bottom of the falls, she sensed something different about Peter’s attention to her. Ever since he’d first put an arm around her just before they started their ascent, she’d wondered what he was thinking. A fluttery feeling had churned in her stomach during the whole trip. His playful actions involving her phone made her hopes soar. Did she dare believe he might have an interest in her that went beyond their working relationship? The thought scared her as much as it excited her.
Did love sometimes turn rational people into folks who did silly things? Maybe like the way her dad had been acting around Charlotte. Ashley hadn’t thought much about that relationship in the few weeks she’d been gone.
During the descent, Jessica, Libby, and the college students raced down the stairs ahead of them. Peter and Ashley brought up the rear much as they had on the way up. Occasionally, Peter went a few steps ahead and snapped her picture.
“Why are you taking more photos of me? Don’t you have enough already?”
“I want to be sure you have a lot of memories of your trip. When you’re the one taking the photos, you’re never in them. So now you have some of both.”
“Don’t you think this would be a good time to give my phone back to me?”
Grinning, Peter waved the phone in the air. “No, I wouldn’t want anything to happen to any of the pictures we’ve taken today.”
“Oh, sure.” She rolled her eyes. “You really want to protect those pictures.”
“I do.”
She narrowed her gaze. “How soon do I get my phone back?”
“As soon as the photos are uploaded onto a computer.”
“My computer or yours?”
“Either one. We can do it together.”
“Somehow that still doesn’t make me feel better.”
He draped an arm around her shoulders. “You’re too suspicious. My intentions are completely honorable.”
Her heart racing, Ashley wished she knew exactly what his intentions were regarding the photos and her. When they reached the reflection pool, a number of the kids took off their shoes and sat along the edge with their feet in the water.
Peter glanced at Ashley. “You want to stick your feet in the water, too?”
“Not really.”
“Me neither. Let’s sit over here.” He led her to a nearby picnic area.
Ashley sat on the bench and leaned her back against the table. Peter sat next to her and did the same, stretching his long legs out in front of him. They remained quiet while they watched the activity of dozens of people, young and old, who wandered through the area.
With the lack of conversation, Ashley’s mind ran rampant with questions. What did Peter’s actions mean? Was the way he teased and touched her today the way he treated all of the women he knew? How should she react? What did her feelings mean?
She’d never had a serious relationship with a man. Could this be love? Was her eagerness to see him every day part of falling in love? Was the way her heart beat faster when she saw him part of that, too? Or were these feelings only physical attraction she couldn’t help because Peter, a very handsome and charismatic man, attracted women without trying? How was she supposed to know? She had nothing in her life with which to compare these feelings. She was definitely not a woman with a wealth of knowledge about men.
“Looks like the kids are headed our way.” Standing, Peter glanced back in her direction.
Ashley looked at her watch. “I suppose the Atlanta group needs to hit the road about now.”
“That would be my guess.” He held out a hand to her.
She placed her hand in his, and he pulled her up from the bench. “Thanks.” She tried not to read anything into his assistance.
She watched Jessica, Drew, Libby, and Brandon as they approached. The way the couples looked at each other, touched, laughed, and talked together was a clear sign they had romantic feelings for each other. But there were no clear signs with Peter. All of her perceptions were like someone groping through the dark. If only he would give her an obvious indication of his true feelings towards her, then she wouldn’t keep second-guessing her own emotions.
When the group reached the parking lot, Peter immediately unlocked his SUV and opened the door for Ashley. He put her phone into the console. “Your phone will be safe there.”
“And under your watchful eye.”
He gave her a wry smile. “Yeah. I wouldn’t want you deleting any of those great photos.”
Ashley slid into the passenger seat as Peter got behind the wheel. They waited patiently while Jessica and Libby bid goodbye to Drew and Brandon, as well as the others in the group. The reluctance of the two couples to leave each other showed on their faces.
Peter leaned across the console toward Ashley. “Ah, young love. It can be so painful.”
“I suppose.”
Was Peter speaking from experience? Had he been hurt by young love? Or was he only making an observation? What would Peter say if he knew she’d never come close to being in love until she’d gotten to know him?
Finally, the goodbyes ended, and Peter drove back along the winding highway. Ashley tried not to let the questions roll through her mind while she listened to Jessica and Libby talk about their plans to visit Drew and Brandon during the summer.
After the girls fell silent, Ashley wondered what she was going to do about her feelings for Peter. He’d sparked an interest in her the first day she came home, but now that little spark was more like a full-fledged blaze. If she didn’t get it under control, it could rage like a forest fire that devastated the beauty of the forests covering the hillsides. Letting things get out of hand might lead to an emotional tinderbox that could ignite and destroy her life. Lord, help me to understand my feelings for Peter and know how to deal with them.
When they arrived back in town, Peter glanced over at Ashley. “Do you want to grab a bite to eat?”
“Sounds good.” Ashley turned to the girls in the back. “Do you want to come, too, since your parents aren’t home yet?”
“Sure,” they chorused.
“Let’s go to the Mexican place across from the lake, okay?” Ashley looked at Peter for approval.
“Yeah. Let’s go there. The food’s really good,” Jessica said before Peter could reply.
“Is the service fast?” Peter asked. “We have to be at the church by seven to meet the new work groups.”
“Usually.”
“Okay, Mexican it is.”
The restaurant was nearly full, but they got a table by the window that looked out on the lake and surrounding mountain peaks. They perused their menus and put in their order. Lively conversation and mariachi music accompanied their delicious meals, and they finished in time to make it to the church to greet the newcomers.
The workers for the week consisted of another group of college kids and two college professors and their wives. After Ashley paired them with the families who were providing their lodging, Peter drove to the Weavers’ house.
“Are your parents home yet?” Peter asked.
“Probably not, but we have a key to the house.” Jessica gathered her things and stepped out of the SUV. “Thanks for taking us today.”
“Yeah. We really appreciate it.” Libby joined her sister on the lawn. “Are you coming, Ashley?”
“No. She has to go to the office. I’ll bring her back when we’re done,” Peter said.
“See you later,” the girls chorused as they hurried to the front door.
Ashley glared at Peter. “So you’re ordering me to go to the office?”
Peter grimaced. “I did it again. Made plans without asking. Although we did talk about uploading your photos.”
“We did. So you want to do that now?” Ashley couldn’t help smiling.
“Yeah. Then you can get your phone back.”
“Okay.”
A few minutes later, he parked in front of the office and retrieved her phone. He unlocked the door and switched on the lights. Cool quietness greeted them.
After connecting the phone to his computer, he turned it on. “I’m going to upload the photos onto my computer. After I’m done, you can put them on yours, too.”
“You’ll have to show me how.” Ashley sat at her desk and turned on her computer.
“No problem.” While the photos loaded, he gazed at her from across the room. “I had a good time today.”
His statement hung in the air as if it wasn’t complete—like he wanted to say something more. Or maybe he was waiting for her to agree. Or possibly she was imagining things. Being alone with Peter was wreaking havoc on her mind, especially after the crazy thoughts that had hiked through her brain today.
“Yeah, it was fun, even though I came away with my legs feeling like spaghetti.”
“That makes two of us.” Laughing, he turned back to the monitor on his desk. “You want to look at these or put them onto your computer first?”
“Does this mean I can have my phone back?”
“Absolutely.”
“I’ll upload them first.”
“Okay.” He unplugged the cord from his computer. Without getting out of the chair, he rolled it across the room until he was next to her. He connected her phone to her computer, and in minutes the photos were uploaded. “Ready to take a look?”
“Yes.” Ashley clicked the mouse to start a slide show.
As the photos appeared one by one on the screen, Peter leaned closer. Ashley’s pulse quickened as their shoulders brushed. She gave him a surreptitious glance. He was totally absorbed in the pictures. Then he chuckled, and she returned her gaze to the screen. Her image appeared. One silly pose after another popped up on the screen.
“Do we have to look at these?” Letting out a loud sigh, she gripped the arms of her chair.
“Why not? I think they’re pretty entertaining.”
“I don’t.”
“You’re the one who posed.”
“Yeah, but I thought I’d delete them.”
“You can do that any time you want.”
“But they’ll still be on your computer.”
“True.” He grinned.
“Just exactly what are you going to do with those?”
He pressed his lips together as if he were thinking hard. “Maybe print them out and use them to scare away burglars from my condo.”
“Quit teasing me.”
“I can’t. You’re fun to tease.” Peter turned to look at a photo of Jessica and Drew. “Well, what do you think? Will Jessica and Libby find some new love interests in this week’s group?”
“That’s a cynical thing to say.”
“No. Just reality.”
“They spent the afternoon with Drew and Brandon, and they’re making plans to see each other through the summer. Do you still think the girls will find some other boys to latch onto this week?”
While the slide show continued, Ashley stared at him and wondered whether that was his view of romance and the dating game. Maybe that was why he never dated someone for more than a few months.
Surely there was something more to his inability to have a long-term relationship than the feeling that one woman would do until a new one came along. That kind of thinking didn’t fit with the man she’d come to know over the past few weeks. If that was his attitude, what was she doing letting herself fall in love with him?
“They’re young. Their attention spans are short.”
Frowning, Ashley shook her head. “My mom and dad were high school sweethearts. Just because a person’s young doesn’t mean they don’t know what love is.”
“Okay, I’ll agree some young relationships do last, but you have to admit those are few and far between.”
“You’re not young. So what’s your excuse for finding a new woman every time you turn around?”
Peter rocked back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Ouch! You sure know how to hurt a guy. An old Casanova, is that how you see me?”
Seeing the hurt on his face, she hung her head and wished she could take back her tactless words. What had possessed her to blurt out her unkind thoughts? “I’m so sorry. I don’t think you’re old, just older than Jessica and Libby. And dating a lot of different women doesn’t make you a Casanova.”
“There’s one thing I like about you. At least I know where I stand.”
Still hanging her head, Ashley couldn’t look him in the eye. All of the foolish thoughts she’d had about Peter this afternoon must have short-circuited her brain. “Who you date is none of my business. Please forgive me.”