Falling Like Leaves (Bramble Falls, #1)(54)

The final team sprints away from the tubs and heads toward the ropes for the three-legged race. Most teams seem to be struggling with it, though, and I wonder if we might be able to catch up.

I nod at the teams ahead of us. “I think we still have a chance. What’s the secret to getting an apple?”

“I wouldn’t call it a secret, but you can’t be all delicate and slow or else you just end up pushing it around. You have to dive right in.”

I climb back onto my knees beside him, close enough that his body heat warms the side of me. Taking a deep breath, I dive quickly at the red apple I’ve homed in on.

And this time the apple crunches between my teeth.

“Hell yeah! You did it!” Cooper shouts.

It was pure luck, but whatever.

I can’t stop smiling as I drop it into our pile. Cooper snags one last apple, gives me a high five, and we’re off to the next task.

“Hurry!” I shout to Cooper once we get to our rope. He stands next to me and holds his hand out, but instead of giving him the rope, I attach our legs with a perfect bowline knot.

“Whoa,” he says as I tug on it to test it out. “You’ve never bobbed for apples, but you can do that?”

“I was a Cub Scout.”

His eyebrows shoot up. “Seriously? That’s pretty badass.”

“You can shower me with compliments later,” I say, trying to ignore the flutter in my stomach. “Right now we have to go. Inside legs first.” We step forward in unison. Inside legs. Outside legs. Inside legs.

Soon, with most teams falling or their knots coming untied, Sloane and Asher are the only people ahead of us.

“We’re coming for you, cuz!” I shout to Sloane.

She glances back and screams through her giggles. “Faster, Asher!”

“Your legs are too short to go much faster!” I hear him say to her.

“Just shut up and run,” she laughs.

They speed up, and Cooper glances at me. “Ready to sprint?”

I nod, and we pick up our pace.

Ahead of us, Sloane and Asher are stopped, retying their rope.

“We might actually be able to do this!” I say.

“Stay steady,” Cooper says. “If you get too excited, you’ll—”

Suddenly, I’m tripping over a fallen branch that was hidden beneath the leaves—and taking Cooper down with me. We land on the ground in a heap of tangled and twisted limbs, Cooper grunting as he falls on top of me.

His cheek is pressed to the side of my head when his whole body begins to shake with his contagious laughter. We lie there, chest to chest, cracking up until our stomachs hurt.

Teams pass us by, and finally Cooper leans to the side and hovers over me. His eyes are watery but bright, crinkling at the corners as he looks down at me with a smile that nearly knocks the wind out of me. My fingers itch to reach up and push his hair out of his eyes, to trace along his jaw, to touch the divot in his cheek.

A few yards away, Sloane and Asher throw their pumpkins on the finish line, pulling me from my trance. Sloane does cartwheels across the lawn while Asher celebrates with a goofy victory dance that seems to meld choreography from Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” video and Jenna Ortega’s dance in Wednesday. Then the two best friends collide in a hug.

Cooper sighs. “Well, we lost.”

“You don’t say,” I laugh. He maneuvers off me, and I immediately wish I could rewind time and press pause.

We sit, and I untie the knot, freeing our legs. When I look up, Cooper’s eyes are traveling over my face, almost like he’s studying me. When his gaze finally meets mine, my pulse feels like it’s misfiring, and a flush creeps across my cheeks.

I dip my chin, suddenly shy, fighting the urge to hide from him. “What?”

He doesn’t answer as he reaches his hand into my hair and pulls out a leaf. He tosses it on the ground. A rivulet of water trails down his cheek and drips from his chin as he swallows, his eyes never leaving mine. Then, slowly, he leans in. I hold my breath, wondering if I’m imagining it.

Wondering if I’m imagining what’s about to happen.

“That was the closest race in years!” Sloane yells, running over to us holding a medal.

Cooper shoots upright and looks away, running his hand through his wet hair. “I should get back to the tent.”

I open my mouth to say something, but I can’t find words.

Sloane keeps talking, but my focus is on the boy walking away from me.

Because seriously, what the hell just happened?





Chapter Twenty-Four




Sloane and I spend the rest of the day catching up on sleep. When I wake up, I feel like a whole new person—with a fresh outlook on what transpired at the end of the race.

Obviously, I imagined Cooper leaning in.

I was simply sleep-deprived and physically exhausted, and I misread the situation.

Still, I spend extra time on my hair, curling it into loose waves that fall over my oversized Babaà sweater, and give myself a soft smoky eye. My lips shine with a pale pink gloss as I head downstairs.

“Damn. You realize it’s going to be dark, right?” Sloane says. “No one’s going to see how amazing you look.”

“I spent the afternoon covered in dirt, leaves, and wet toilet paper. I needed to feel human again.”