Summer to Winter

Chapter Seventeen

They finished lunch quickly and got in Syden's car to go to the hike. She knew where she was going, and Henry didn't mind not being in control... an unusual feeling he was quickly getting used to with her. He was usually the one who took charge and it was nice not to be the one planning things and making sure his partner was happy. Other than her understandably sad moment before lunch, she was perpetually happy. Like nothing could bother her, not even Sarah's incessant texts and emails about unimportant things that had nothing to do with the production of this movie.

They had been driving for about 30 minutes when he asked, "Why does it feel like you are driving me out somewhere remote to kill me, leave my body in the woods and take Kal for yourself?" He had never driven to this part of Los Angeles. It had been a particularly rainy winter and he had never seen Los Angeles as lush and green as what was whizzing by his window.

She smirked, "That would be a good idea... but I don't know if I could afford to feed Kal for a week, let alone the rest of his life. I need to talk you into putting me in your will before I do that." She pulled into an unassuming parking lot and smiled. "We're here! I can't wait for you to see how beautiful it is up there!"

They piled out of the car, Kal pulling Henry along the trail, excited with all the new smells his nose was picking up in the air and on the ground. Henry took him off leash and Kal bounded ahead like a bunny. It was one of the cutest things that Sy had ever seen, a 100+ pound ball of fluff, bouncing to the right and left of the trail and his tail wagging like a pendulum. "I haven't seen him this happy in a really long time."

Henry himself hadn't been as happy as he had been in last few days in longer than he can remember. In fact, he couldn't really remember when he laughed as much as he did when he was with her. He met his last girlfriend on a film, it started out great but as the relationship progressed, his rising fame began to put a strain on the both of them. He thought about how they had been together for almost a year and he may have only been comparatively happy for the first four months. His ex had become obsessed with whether or not his fans liked her as much as his previous girlfriend. He had fought getting into social media, but with press ramping up on his last few high-profile movies, his team wanted him to post more. The ex wanted him to post about her as well, which blew up in her face. His fans went rabid on her and then she blamed him for it. That was the nail in the coffin and he ended things with her shortly after. That was over a year ago and he can't even say that he was as happy then as he was in this moment of his life.

Her giggling made him smile. She had taken her phone out to Boomerang Kal's bounding back and forth but then put it back in her pocket without posting it. "Aren't you going to post that on the gram?"

She looked back at him with a smile. "Not everything has to be posted in the moment! I'd rather live in it, wouldn't you?"

He couldn't agree with her more, but he didn't find many women who thought the same way. Many of the last few dates that he had only wanted to take photos with him as if to prove who they were out with. He had even cut so-called 'friends' out of his life for the same reason. It seemed like she only wanted someone to hike with, even if that someone was Kal.

Kal was leading the pack and Sy was a few paces ahead of Henry (as usual), but he lingered back a few more paces to admire the view ahead of him. It was a sunny spring day, the light coming through the tree tops and illuminated her figure. Before they left her house, she had changed into a light blue tank top and cropped leggings. The tank was just long enough to cover her behind, but the material was just thin enough that he could see the floral pattern of her sports bra and outline of her butt as she walked. At this sight, he suddenly felt a heat rising from the bottom of his stomach. He stopped to take a photo of the beautiful sight in front of him and was thankful that he was wearing loose athletic shorts to help cover up the mild arousal happening below.