Trigger Page 5

  Anna and I were left staring after him.

  “Well, don’t we have all sorts of new friends,” I muttered dryly.

  “I do love making new friends!”

  “I suppose we will be going to this party then?”

  “Definitely, yes!” Anna declared as Enzo winked at her from across the restaurant.

  “You better be careful. I am thinking that Francesco would be jealous,” I chastised playfully.

  “Francesco is a million miles away. Besides, what did he think that I was going to do, mope around hoping he would show up out of the blue?”

  I shook my head at her. The two of us finished our dinner, paid the bill, and made our way back to the room for some much-needed sleep.

  The following morning, I got out of bed and crossed to the small balcony attached to our room. What it lacked in space it more than compensated for with the view. Before me was a jaw-dropping panorama of the plaza, the beach, and the dazzling waters of the Mediterranean.

  Hearing Anna stirring behind me I called out to her, “You have got to come check this out.”

  “Wow!” was all she could manage when she joined me.

  As we put what was needed for the day into our small packs, we discussed the plan for the hike. The trail between the villages could be traversed in either direction, so you would need to take a train at some point if you didn’t plan on walking back to where you started. After minimal debate, we decided that we would take the train to the first village, Riomaggiore, and then hike back to Monterrosso. We made two quick stops on our way to the train station. The first was in the hotel’s breakfast area to grab some food on the go. The second stop was at a market where we bought bottled water and snacks for later. The short train ride to Riomaggiore was uneventful and, after disembarking, we easily found the beginning of the hiking trail.

  The narrow path was cut into the hillside like a jagged scar, with the mountain rising on the right and a precipitous drop to the ocean on the left. The sea glittered under the hot sun in ever-changing shades of turquoise, sapphire, and deep purple. Lovely flowers and a variety of green shrubbery edged the pathway and dotted the landscape above.

  I led the way at an easy pace. The trail was steep in places, but in general it wasn’t too demanding, which allowed us to enjoy ourselves. Each viewpoint we came upon was more incredible than the last, so we stopped frequently to soak it all in and take lots of pictures.

  Despite the popularity of the trail, we only passed two other hikers in the first hour. In the middle of the second hour of walking, I spotted someone up ahead. This person wasn’t walking or taking pictures as you would expect. They were simply sitting on a boulder on the side of the trail watching us approach. Their behavior wasn’t what bothered me. What I found disturbing was that I recognized this person.

  I came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the path. Anna yelped as she stopped just short of running into me. When she peeked around me she let out a low whistle.

  The person sitting on the rock was Chase.

  CHAPTER 4

  A MILLION DIFFERENT THINGS streaked through my mind at once. Unable to condense them into a single coherent thought, I just stood there.

  “Chase?” Anna was incredulous. “What on earth are you doing here?”

  “Hello, Anna.”

  Although he had addressed Anna, his eyes never left mine. “Hello Jordan.”

  “Hello.” I was guarded.

  What was he doing here?

  Anna walked up to him as she sipped from her water bottle. Forcing my limbs to cooperate, I went and stood beside her. Chase silently looked up at both of us.

  “I didn’t know you were in the Cinque Terre. What a coincidence, huh?” Anna tried again.

  I could always count on her to be blunt.

  “It is a lovely day for a hike, isn’t it?” he said.

  “Yeah, it is. You must be heading toward Riomaggiore?” Anna asked.

  “No, I started there,” he replied.

  “We didn’t see you before. Did you start early and then decide to cop-a-squat on this rock?” she speculated.

  “Exactly,” he said blandly.

  She gave him a long, measuring look. “Well scoot your squat on over.”

  He moved over far enough so that both of us could join him. The way the rock jutted out from the cliff, Chase was now sitting with his legs dangling over the edge. He glanced down indifferently at the ocean crashing below him. Anna plopped down next to him, careful to stay well away from the edge. I sat next to her, trying to shake off my mental paralysis.

  “Where is your man-cation buddy now?” I asked, finally finding my voice.

  “My what?” He eyed me quizzically.

  “The man you are on vacation with.” I emphasized the applicable words.

  His lips tweaked into smile. “He got sidetracked in Rome.”

  “Were you planning on squatting all day or did you want to walk with us?” Anna asked after a few minutes.

  “I am ready when you are,” he replied.

  Anna nodded that she was ready, so I jumped up. I teetered a little on the uneven ground by the cliff’s edge. In an instant, Chase was there holding my arm to steady me. Impressed with how quickly he had moved, I muttered a thank you as I turned to lead the way down the path.

  Anna and Chase followed me, making small talk. I noticed that he seemed almost painfully aware of his surroundings. He didn’t react when two birds burst out of some brush on the side of the trail next to us. They startled us so much we both jumped sideways. He noticed a goat way up on the hillside that I could barely see even after he pointed it out. He warned us of some hikers that were approaching that neither of us could hear nor see for several minutes. The other peculiar thing that I noticed was that there was no wasted action. Every move he made was efficient, controlled, and graceful. It was as if he was totally in tune with himself as well as his environment.

  “Do you have some military experience or martial arts training or something?” The question popped out of my mouth as quickly as it formed in my head.

  He flicked his eyes to mine and I realized I’d actually surprised him.

  “Why would you think that?” His tone was cautious.

  “You seem to have some heightened situational awareness, that’s all.”

  “Situational awareness?” he repeated slowly.

  “Yeah, it is like you are constantly on guard. I was just wondering if you have had some specialized training, or if you are just seriously paranoid.”

  Instead of staring at me with his usual blank or amused expression, he appeared dumbfounded.

  “Where’d you get that?” he finally said.

  “Get what?” I was confused.

  “The term situational awareness isn’t exactly common.”

  “I read it somewhere. Why?”

  “You have a seriously overactive imagination,” he said, dropping his gaze for once.

  A little irritated at his defensiveness, I didn’t respond. The silence hadn’t been broken by the time we passed the next town, Corniglia. At this time, Anna moved ahead of us after tossing a meaningful look at me.

  Beyond the half-way point now, I started to get anxious. I had a lot of questions I wanted to ask him because I didn’t know much about him and this bothered me. I was hesitant to ask, though, because somehow I knew that he wouldn’t divulge much no matter how skillfully I interrogated him.

  I glanced up at him surreptitiously then dove in anyway.

  “So, what are you doing here in the Cinque Terre?”

  “This is just where I ended up.”

  “How long have you been here?”

  “Since yesterday.”

  “What about you? Why are you here?” He turned the conversation back to me.

  “This is just where we ended up,” I said casually.

  “Really,” he drew the word out. “You just sort of stumbled off the train in Monterosso?” His eyes were twinkling.

  “How did y
ou know we were staying in Monterosso?” I asked suspiciously.

  He seemed almost uncomfortable as he answered. “Educated guess. Most tourists stay in Monterosso for the beach, plus it has the most hotels and pensiones.”

  I wasn’t satisfied with his answer.

  Unfazed, he continued. “How did you end up here?”

  “We heard about the Cinque Terre while we were in Paris, so here we are.”

  “Word travels fast about places like this. Too quickly, they become overcrowded and lose their appeal. You’re lucky you’re here now, in a few years this place will be unbearable.”

  His comment intrigued me so much I started speaking without worrying about what he would think about my comments.

  “One of the reasons I’m on this trip is because I don’t want to miss out on anything. I had a pretty good internship opportunity back home, but the last thing I wanted was to be crammed in a tiny cubicle all summer. I know I’ll never get a chance like this again,” I said.

  He was looking at me intently, measuring again.

  “What is your deal anyway?” I blurted out, irritated.

  “What do you mean?” He seemed genuinely a little staggered by the question and my vehemence.

  “What is your particular problem?”

  “No problem.” He sounded defensive.

  “Then why do I feel like a lab rat that you are examining?”

  “You’re being dramatic.” He was back in control of himself now.

  “You’re being evasive.”

  He shot me an exasperated look. “I’m just trying to pinpoint something.”

  “Pinpoint what?” I pressed.

  “What it is about you that is different.”

  “Different from what?” I pushed forward relentlessly.

  “Different from anyone I have ever met.” His voice was velvet soft, as though he was sharing something he shouldn’t be talking about.

  Not expecting this at all, I was stunned.

  “I’m not so different from everyone else,” I stammered.

  He shook his head slowly in disagreement. “There is something inimitable about you; I saw it the moment I first laid eyes on you.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Why are you on this trip?”

  I knew that he wasn’t looking for a flippant or commonplace answer. For some unknown reason I not only wanted, I needed to tell Chase exactly what I was thinking. I just wasn’t sure if he would think I was crazy afterward.

  “Do you ever feel like life is just one big show?” I began.

  He raised an eyebrow at me questioningly.

  “That all the world is a stage and everyone is just in denial?”

  “In denial about what?”

  “If they’re happy, what they really want in life, the list is endless. People work so hard to put on a show for everyone else and even themselves that I find it exhausting. They project this facade, but if you look closely enough, you can almost feel their desperation.”

  “Desperation?”

  “They are so desperate to be happy they fake it and often convince themselves that they’re happy. They settle for what they have, and pretend that they like it, rather than striving and working for something more.”

  “And you?”

  “I felt…adrift or maybe empty is a better word. The more people told me what I should want or what I should do, the worse it got. No matter how much I wanted to fill that emptiness, I couldn’t. After a while it started to suffocate me.”

  “Why?” He seemed to be considering my words carefully.

  “I started to worry that eventually I would just accept that life was as good as it was going to get. That terrified me because to me that would be giving up, on me, on everything.” I took a breath before continuing. “One day at college I was at a party that was supposed to be the bash of the year, watching everyone posturing and posing, and it was like this giant swirling vortex sucking me in.” I frowned off into the distance remembering. “That is when I had my moment of clarity.”

  “Moment of clarity?”

  “Most people don’t look at what something really is under the surface. They accept the superficial because they either don’t want to know what is underneath or they’re afraid of what’s there.”

  I hazarded a look from under my eyelashes before continuing. “There I was in the middle of this party that everyone felt was the place to be and all I could think about was how to get away.”

  “Why?” He seemed honestly curious.

  I inhaled a deep breath. “Life is full of amazing possibilities yet people get so caught up in the mundane, the monotony and the minutiae that they forget that. They lose sight of who they really are because they are so busy going through the motions of life, they aren’t really living it. During that moment of clarity, I didn’t know what I wanted, but I knew exactly what I didn’t want.”

  “So what did you do?”

  “I walked out of there, called Anna, and bought a plane ticket.”

  “So what do you think will happen on this trip? You’ll find yourself?” His tone seemed to border on sarcasm.

  “No,” I scoffed. “I’m not lost in some weird existential conundrum that I’m using as an excuse to do whatever I want.”

  He laughed, amused by my choice of words. “What are you doing then?

  “I’m just trying to keep from getting sidetracked from the life I want to lead.”

  We walked in silence for a few moments as he mulled over what I had said.

  “I’ve no idea why I’m even telling you all this.” I suddenly felt insecure about opening up to him while he was still closed off to me. “Here I am laying it all out there for you and I don’t even know your last name, where you’re from, or anything about you, really.”

  He didn’t say anything and I wondered if he would actually open up or if he would maintain his standard protocol of silence.

  “Hudson,” he said in a clear voice after what seemed like a very long time. “My name is Chase Hudson.”

  Chase Hudson. I liked the sound of it as I rolled the name around in my head. I waited for more but he remained quiet as we walked.

  “That’s all I get?” I was incredulous.

  “It’s quite a bit actually. With a person’s name you can learn almost everything about them and even track them down when they may not want to be found.” He flicked an unreadable look at me. “Anonymity can be very powerful.”

  “You are oddly analytical, aren’t you?” I shook my head up at him.

  “My favorite color is blue, I enjoy long walks on the beach, and I adore fuzzy white bunnies,” he said with a smile.

  I knew that I wouldn’t get any more out of him for now, so I let the matter drop.

  “Right,” I said dryly.

  By this point we had caught up to Anna, who had found another rock to sit on. As we walked up to her, she pointed her camera at us.

  “Hold it! I want a picture of the two of you with that background,” she declared.

  Smiling as I started to pose, I was taken aback when Chase quickly moved out of the way and up the path so he couldn’t possibly be in the photo. Anna looked puzzled while Chase merely stood there as if nothing was amiss.

  “Come on, Chase, get in the picture,” she encouraged.

  “I think it is a much better with just Jordan,” he said, not moving an inch.

  I smiled widely to try to hide my disappointment and concern over his behavior. Reluctantly, Anna snapped the photo and put her camera away. Why wouldn’t he want his picture taken with me? I was just about to ask when inspiration struck. Maybe it had nothing to do with me. Perhaps Chase didn’t want his photo taken at all. I didn’t know why this may be the case, but for some reason I thought that it was.

  The three of us continued walking together along the trail. Now that we were in close proximity to Anna, he resumed his earlier aloofness. I didn’t know what to make of him. He was by far the most mystifying and absorbing i
ndividual I had ever come across, which completely vexed me.

  By this point we were nearing the end of the hike. I wanted to see him again, but didn’t know how to broach the subject.

  “You know what sounds good?” Anna piped up.

  “What?” I was hopeful her answer would be dinner al fresco.

  “Gelato!”

  The day was very warm and the icy treat did sound perfect. It would also prolong my time with Chase.

  “You know what else I think?” she continued.

  “What?” I asked. I didn’t know where exactly she was going but I knew her well enough to know that it was probably worth finding out.

  “I think that since we were nice enough to accompany Chase on this lovely hike, he should buy,” she said with a bright smile.

  “That is so thoughtful of you.” I smiled winningly at him.

  “Sounds fair enough,” he said.

  “Excellent, let’s go find some shade,” Anna said, picking up the pace.

  She led the way downhill and into the town of Monterosso. It would have been nice to freshen up since I doubted that I smelled very appealing. However, with Chase’s propensity to disappear, I wasn’t going to let him out of my sight.

  Once we hit the town streets, Anna made a beeline for the gelato shop in the plaza close to our hotel. Familiar with moped drivers’ tendencies to travel at breakneck speeds, I kept a sharp lookout behind me. Glancing over my shoulder also allowed me keep an eye on Chase so he couldn’t vanish. About the third time I flicked a look over my outside shoulder, I heard a sharp intake of breathe behind me.

  “Why do you keep doing that?” The tone in his voice was sharp.

  “Doing what?”

  He had stopped walking so I did too. I suddenly felt very small and scrutinized with him towering above me.

  “Looking over your shoulder like that?”

  “I am watching for crazies on mopeds.”

  “Why do you always look over your outside shoulder?” he practically growled.

  “Outside of my what?” I said, baffled.

  He grimaced in annoyance at having to explain. “When you glance back it’s always over the shoulder that is away from the road, which is your outside shoulder.”