"I can't believe you've actually grown used to being here," Alec said, stuffing a sandwich into his mouth. I don't even think he chewed it, he just swallowed it whole.

"Why?" I wiped my hands on a napkin. "You were the one who said that it gets into your bones "

"I did say that, but I didn't think it would happen so quickly. Especially since you were so determined that you weren't going to like it here because the city is your home."

"The city is still my home, it always will be. What's wrong with growing a little comfortable?"

Alec laughed. "Nothing! I'm just saying that you took faster to this place than I would have thought."

I shrugged. In truth, I felt the same way, but it had been over six months so it made a little sense that my feelings towards the country had changed. London would always be my home, how could it not be after I spent most of my life there? That didn't mean that I couldn't enjoy myself a little in my country and grow to love the place that had been my home for a few months. Alec had been right all those months ago, the country did get into a person's bones.

We ate the picnic in silence with Alec inhaling more of the food than chewing it. Mrs Thompson had made the picnic with it consisting of small sandwiches, cakes and general snack foods to keep us going for the day. There were bottles of ginger beer that had been labelled so Alec wouldn't get it confused with the water, although that would be a feat seeing as they looked so different from one another.

The weather held up. The sun lurked just above the trees, lighting everything up in a warm glow that made the slight heat a little more worth it. We had placed the picnic blanket in the shade of trees so we wouldn't be overly hot, but it did mean we were finding ants on the blanket and having to contend with the flies buzzing around and being interested in our food. A picnic in the country was a lot better than a picnic in the city, even with the bugs.

Once the majority of the food had been eaten - mainly by Alec who didn't even stop to breathe - we sat in the silence of the country. Silence, however, had never been something Alec had been a fan of.

"Right, I need to climb a tree," he said., wiping his hands on his jeans.

"Any particular reason why?"

"I always feel like I need to climb a tree after I've eaten, it's good fun. A chance to blow off some steam, if you will."

"Or projectile vomit your lunch."

"Exactly, good fun."

"You're disgusting."

"Thank you."

Alec grinned his usual lopsided grin, and stood up, brushing his hands off on his trousers once again before making a b-line for the trees that surrounded our little spot. I watched him, trying to fight the smile at his stupidity, I didn't want to seem like I encouraged him if he fell and got hurt. Brushing an ant off my slacks, I stood up and followed him over to the tree as he stood at the base of it to try and figure out his route up to the top.

After a few seconds of staring at the trunk of the tree, Alec started forward by placing his foot on a small notch at the bottom. He grabbed onto a different notch and hauled himself up, slowly starting to make his way up the tree. A few times, his foto slipped on the bark and he almost fell backwards, but he managed to recover his balance and continue his climb up the tree without a care in the world.

He continued to climb until he could shimmy his way onto one of the thicker branches mid-way up the tree. I watched him slide along the branch and sit on it, grabbing onto the one just above his head and smiling down at me through the tangle of branches. I shook my head and raised an eyebrow. The branch didn't look all that stable to me.

"Mind you don't fall, I'm not scraping you off the floor," I said.

"Where's your sense of adventure? This is supposed to be a fun day out."

"You're the one with the bruised fingers, remember?"

"Ah, that was your fault. You hit me!"

"Because you were shaking the board. You set me up so you could have the picnic."

"And what if I did?"

Alec jumped down from the tree and landed on the floor in front of me with a thump, stumbling before managing to collect himself, but he had already embarrassed himself by stumbling a little. Granted, he didn't fall onto his face, although that would have been hilarious, but whatever he might have been trying to achieve by jumping out of the tree, failed the moment he almost fell over.

"Why? I could have broken your fingers with that hammer and then you would have been no help to anyone, especially your dad who needs you on the farm now your brothers are gone," I said.

"But you didn't. I've watched you before, you're never heavy-handed with a hammer and are always overly cautious so you don't hit yourself." He waved his hand dismissively as if it had been common knowledge, but I didn't even know I did it. "And I did it because I thought it would be the only way to get you away from the farm or the village for a few hours. Was I right?"

I frowned. "What's wrong with me spending my time on the farm or in the village?"

"Because you have to be adventurous a few times in your life, right? Do something different?"

"All my time here has been something different, even riding Jigsaw."

"Yes, but it stops being different when you do it often enough. You've been to the clearing once and that was months ago. This is different." He paused. "Do you know what else is different?"

"No, but I'm sure you're going to tell me."

"Climbing a tree."

"No way."

"I thought you were a daredevil? What with fixing the stable roof and everything. Would a daredevil refuse to climb a tree?"

"Probably."

"You don't even have to go that high." He chewed on the inside of his cheek. "Alright, another wager. If you don't climb the tree, I have to follow you around for the next month. Wherever you go, I'll go."

"Do you work at being annoying or does it come naturally?"

Alec grinned and then motioned his head towards the tree. "Tree. Climb it."

I shook my head. "You're such a pain."

Although I wasn't all too keen on the idea of climbing a tree, even with my climbing skills and the daredevil attitude, I didn't want to have to put up with Alec following me around for a month. In truth, I had never free-climbed anything and had been reliant on ladders and safer options rather than the strength in my arms and legs. Ladders were safe because I always knew where they were or how safe they were, a tree branch could break at a moment's notice.

Still, if it was between the tree or Alec, I'd go with the tree every time.

I walked past Alec, sizing up the tree he had climbed just a short while before. There were small grooves and knots up the entire trunk, but none of them looked right to grab onto or looked strong enough to support me. Then again, if Alec had done it, I could too. I took a breath and grabbed onto one of the tree knots, digging my fingertips into the bark and using that grip to hoist myself onto the tree.

From there, I sought out several other knots and notches before slowly starting to make my way up the trunk. Pieces of bark flaked off and some landed in my hair and face, but I spat them out and kept climbing. I had a point to prove and a wager to win. My fingers ached from where the bark had dug into them and I knew I had a small hole on the knee of my slacks from where I had scraped it against the tree. Still, I kept climbing.

Eventually, I reached the branch that Alec had sat on just moments before and slowly shimmed my way up the tree trunk until I could shuffle along the branch the same way he had. It didn't feel all that safe and I could have sworn I heard the branch creak, but I pushed myself a short distance away from the trunk and sat on the branch, swinging my legs back and forth and looking down at Alec through the thicket of small branches and leaves.

"There! Was that so hard?" Alec called up from the ground.

"I win!"

"I never said there was a winner. I just said I would follow you if you didn't climb the tree, I never said what would happen if you did climb it. You should have asked."

"Wait, what does that mean?"

"It means that I get to follow you around anyway."

"That's not fair, I climbed the tree."

"And I didn't mention anything about you winning." He laughed, the sound echoing through the mess of branches and leaves. "Come on, climb back down. I'm hungry again."

"Give me a second."

I didn't have the skill, or the ankle strength, to throw myself out of the tree the same way Alec had. Instead, I had to shuffle my way back along the branch and use the same foot and handholds to get down. It was slower, but at least I didn't break a bone in the process and I was glad to be back on solid ground rather than suspended in the air by a small branch.

Alec grinned at me when I reached the ground, and I resisted the temptation to slap the smug look off his face, although it would have been a lot of fun. I followed him back to the picnic blanket which had been overrun with ants, the two of us having to brush them off before we could even think about sitting.

Once the blanket was ant-free, Alec dug around in the basket until he came across some of the food he had yet to eat, biscuits. It reminded me of our first trip to the clearing all those months ago when he had decided to take a nap and I spent the time eating the biscuits. This time, he kept a watchful eye on me to ensure I didn't eat more than my fair share. The same, however, could not be said for him as he ate more than half the plate in the same inhaling method he had used on the sandwiches.

As we ate, I couldn't help but wonder why Alec would have so much time to spend following me around. Even though I had never seen him with anyone other than his family, and still thought it odd that he had never mentioned any of his friends, I thought that he would at least have to help out at the farm. With Alec's brothers gone off to war and Mabel far too young to help, the farm chores had to be completed by either Alec or Mr Thompson, but he had spent more time with me than he had at the farm.

"Can I ask you something?" I said, knowing this could end badly if I didn't phrase my question right.

"Go for it. I have no secrets."

"Why have you been spending so much time with me and at the Goodwin farm these past few days than on your own farm?"

He almost dropped the biscuit he had been eating, appearing a little taken aback at the forwardness of my question. "Because I like spending time with you."

"I'm being serious."

"So am I!" He paused. "Alright, maybe not. Look, can we not talk about it? We're supposed to be having fun and that is not a fun conversation I want to be having."

"Alright, fine."

"Thank you. I'll tell you eventually, just not now."

I nibbled on the corner of my biscuit and watched him drop his hand to his lap and refuse to take another bite for the rest of the picnic.

It had only been a simple question, but maybe I went too far.

~~~

A/N - We are back with Chapter Twenty-Three and the picnic! I love these two together.

Questions! What do you think Alec is hiding?

Comment below!

First Published - October 27th, 2021