Many times, Natalie had gone on leisure walks or a run through here with Talon, but never had she gone as far as she intended to go today. Plenty of times she had heard the sound of the river in the distance, had known it was there, and had known that one day she would need to go there for some alone time.The River Kids—that was what her mom and Ava’s mom had called them. Some kids liked beaches, some kids liked swing parks, but she and Ava had liked rivers. No, they’d loved rivers. Loved the sounds, loved the surrounding wildlife, and loved paddling in the shallow water and balancing on old tree branches that crossed the expanse of the river. Something was calming about them, she thought. Right now, she needed to calm the hell down.On eventually reaching the river, she found a boulder to perch herself on and took a deep, cleansing, calming breath. Again and again, she filled her lungs with the fresh, crisp forest air, letting it relax her. The familiar smells of wet earth and pine
Last Updated : 2026-01-03 Read more