"You never had a chance with her." I pull the car away from the curb and drive off.

Looking in the rearview mirror, I see Cole standing in front of his house, watching the car as I round the corner.

Veronica leans forward. "Can you pull over? I want to sit up front since the seat is now vacant."

"You may want to spray it before you sit in it."

She shakes her head. "I wish you would let up on the poor guy. Haven't you both been through enough during the past ten years? He loses his parents, and you lose touch with yours, and then you have a near-death experience. We all know what he did to you, Julia. You should have a proper heart-to-heart with him. After you've shown me around, I want you to go back to his place and talk."

I sigh. "Fine, I'll have a proper heart-to-heart with Cole. Don't expect too much to come out of it."

"I won't."

When it's safe, I pull the car over and wait for Veronica to climb into the front seat. She puts her buckle on and looks over at me. "Where are we going first?"

"I thought that we should go to my favourite spot. It looks over the whole city. Not many people know of this place as it's mostly through the bush."

"How did you find the place?"

"When my eldest brother first got his license, he wanted to check out bush tracks, and we did that. He found this place by mistake. Ever since then, I've come up here. It also has a waterfall and lake to swim in during summer."

A smile spreads across her face. "It's a good thing I'm wearing my bikini. I think a nice swim is in order, don't you?"

"I supposed so." Looking at the back seat, I see two towels. "There are towels in here also. I think Mom put them in before I left with her car. She somehow knew that I would take you up here."

I see the turnoff for the track ahead and indicate. Turning onto the track, I see a Ford wheel-drive pull behind me, and a guy steps out of the car.

He walks over to my car and bangs on the window. "You can't go in there; it's private property. Plus, there's nothing in there."

I pull my window down. "I know it's private property because I own it."

He closes his mouth. "Oh, I didn't know that." He walks away and climbs back into his car.

"Do you own this property?"

I shake my head. "He doesn't need to know that. The people who own it found us at the lookout one day and threatened to call the police, but I talked them out of it. We promised them that we wouldn't tell anyone about it, which we haven't. You're the only new person to know about this place." I continue to drive to the lookout.

When we get to the lookout, I turn the ignition off and look around at my favourite spot.

Veronica steps out of the car. "You are right. This place is great." She looks around. "So, which way do we go to the waterfall?"

I point towards the fence. "We follow the fence until we find a gap and then squeeze through it."

"Isn't that dangerous to go off track in the bush?"

"Usually, but it will be safe if you follow me closely. Can you grab the towels? Then we'll head to the waterfall."

Veronica grabs the towels and walks over to me. "Can you take a picture of me? I want to post it on Facebook."

"Okay," she says, handing me her phone. I take the picture for her. She pulls her dress off and poses for the camera. "You look great. Who are these photos for?"

A smile spreads across her face. "Do you even have to ask?"

I laugh. "Of course. It has to be for my brother. Maybe we should get you to pose on his car while he's in his bedroom, and then you can show him the pictures."

"That's a great idea." She puts the dress on and leads the way to the hole in the fence. When she gets to that point, she waits for me. "After you, your majesty."

"Thank you," I squeeze through the gap and then hold onto the tree trunk close to me as I move down the hill. Letting go of the tree, I slide down the dirt track until I reach the rocky ledge.

Turning around, I see Veronica slide down the path towards me. She stands up and looks at me. "I should have worn jeans. At least with those clothes, I wouldn't care if they got dirty, but I do care about this dress."

I ignore her and walk down the rocks that lead to the water. There's a clearing up ahead with the clear water from the waterfall.

Veronica stops next to me. "Wow! I can't believe you've kept this place a secret. Can we come here more often?"

"My brother will bring you back here. You'll have more fun with him down here than with me." I pull the dress off and walk into the water. I dive into the deep end and start swimming.

Veronica followed my instructions and then drank water. Her teeth began to chatter. "The water is freezing."

The water isn't that bad, but that's because I'm used to the temperature of the waterfall. Looking at the sky, I see dark clouds moving across.

I should have checked the weather before bringing Veronica out here. If the sky opens up, it could be dangerous to walk back to the car.

"Ronnie, we need to head back to the car."

She looks at the sky and then back to me. "Why?"

"If it starts to rain, we will have problems getting back to the car. I remember once when my brother and I were here, the sky opened up, and the dirt started to roll down the hill, making it harder for us to get off the cliff safely. I nearly fell off the cliff, but my brother had a good hold of a branch and helped me. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to you." I swim over to the ledge and walk over to our clothes. I put my clothes on and grab my towel. I wrap it around myself and grab Veronica's dress and towel.

She takes it from me. "Thanks, Julia."

I head back to the trail we took to get down here, and Veronica follows closely behind me. I move aside and say. "You should go up first. I'll follow closely behind you."

Veronica grabs onto the tree trunk and pulls herself up. When she reaches the top, she squeezes through the hole in the fence and waits for me.

As I climb up the dirt, the sky opens up, and my feet slip on the dirt. I look towards the fence. "Veronica, go to the car. I'll join you shortly."

"I'm not leaving without you, " she tells me. Now, hurry up and get up here."

Pulling myself up on the trunk, I make it halfway up before I lose my footing again and slide down the dirt.

This hill isn't going to take me.

"Move," a deep male voice says, and I see my brother squeeze through the gap in the fence. "Julia, why didn't you check the weather before coming here?"

"I forgot."

Liam grabs onto the trunk and slides down the dirt until he reaches me. He wraps his arm around me and pulls us up the dirt track. "You're lucky I was listening to the radio. When they said rain was coming, I knew you would probably get stuck out here."