Chapter 105: Hiking with Analise (1)
It was five am Saturday morning, and the city was slowly waking up. Despite the early hour, Jack was excited and looking forward to hiking with Analise. He pulled into a guest parking spot of Crest View Apartments and grabbed his phone to send her a message to let her know he had arrived. Just as he was pressing send, someone knocked on his window. His head snapped up to see who it was and found Analise grinning, bouncing, and waving at him excitedly.
She was wearing a light jacket over a yellow sports top, with black spandex shorts, green knee-high socks, and hiking boots. She had a small backpack slung over one shoulder and was holding a wide-brimmed hat in one hand.
He had his pack and boots loaded in the back, so he got out to open the back gate for her. As soon as he was clear of the door, she grabbed him in a hug.
"Oh, Jack," she said, "I’m so excited! Thank you for inviting me to go hiking with you."
He returned her hug, enjoying the feel of her body against his. Then he took her backpack off her shoulder and said, "Here, let’s get this loaded so we can get on the road."
As she followed after him as he headed to the back of his Land cruiser, she kept one hand on his back. When he opened the back hatch and she saw that his hiking boots were sitting in a box next to his backpack, she looked down and noticed he was wearing sneakers.
"Oh, um, are you wearing sneakers so you don’t get dirt in you car?" she asked.
"That and I just don’t like how hard it is to feel the peddles when I’m wearing boots."
"Um, do you want me to get my sneakers? My boots are clean now, but they’ll be dirty by the time we get back from the hike."