"Even if they've done bad things?"

He nodded, seeming sure of himself. "Everyone deserves a second chance."

I stayed quiet, looking at the island. Even your dad? He was the one who'd almost broken Jax. But not quite. Jax was a fighter—he'd survived, despite the odds.

Jax interrupted my thoughts. "So, you're my favorite lockpicker. Think could you break out?"

I laughed, glad for a reason to forget my dark thoughts. "Hah. I can pick a lock, but this place was built for people who knew more than me about escape plans. If I were stuck in there, I'd probably just rot."

He put his arm around my shoulders and kissed the top of my head. "If you couldn't get out, I'd break you out."

"It's reassuring to know my boyfriend will help me plan a jailbreak," I said with a wry smile. Reaching for Jax's waist, I pulled him closer. "Maybe—"

A sharp wolf whistle carried through the air aimed at us, and I stopped, surprised. Who did that?

I looked around. We were alone on the landing, and no one climbed the stairs behind us. Jax stared at the steps leading upwards, frowning, but the people walking up them had their backs to us, and were too far away besides.

Jax turned back to me, his brows drawn with annoyance . "That's not —"

The whistle came again, but this time it was louder. And from the direction of one of the small houses that clung to the hillside.

Jax followed my gaze and scowled. "What, is it some asshole peeping Tom?"

The whistle sounded again, but this time my eyes connected it to a flutter of movement in a tree next to the house.

Seated on a branch above our heads was a green bird with a tan curved beak and a blotch of red covering its head.

"A parrot?" I cried.

It squawked in reply, then made another human sounding whistle.

I clutched Jax's arm. "Do you see that? What's it doing out here?"

Jax narrowed his eyes at it. "Someone's taught it to be rude. Shouldn't be whistling at my girl like that."

"Do you think it's lost?" I asked, moving closer to the tree to get a better look at the bird. It cocked its head calmly and regarded me with intelligent eyes. Did it belong to the owner of the house?

"It's too laid back to be lost," Jax observed, a look of understanding dawning over his face.

I shook my head, not buying his take on the situation. "If it's a pet then we should rescue it and bring it to its owner. Maybe the bird doesn't feel lost, but he might be just the same."

I gauged where the bird sat perched on a branch above my head. He didn't look too high up—maybe I could climb up and get him? Or maybe he'd just come to me. "Here birdie," I coaxed, holding out my hand.

Another squawk sounded on my left, and I whipped my head around. On a branch higher up, another parrot was perched.

I shook my head, amazed at what I saw. One was someone's pet gone missing. Two—did that mean they got loose from a pet shop?

I was startled by the sound of Jax's laughter.

"What's so funny?" I demanded.

"You." He held his side as he laughed.

"I don't know what's funny about helping lost pets."

Jax stopped laughing and wiped his forehead. "So you really haven't heard of these parrots before? It took me a minute, but I figured it out."

I folded my arms impatiently. "I don't know, was it in the paper that someone lost their bird?"

He exhaled and looked at me with amusement."You've really got to start watching more Netflix. There was a documentary I watched last year on these wild parrots. San Francisco's got a flock of them that were probably released by their owners, since they were caught wild in South America and didn't turn out to be good pets."

My mouth fell open. I couldn't stand selfish people who bought pets and then dumped them to starve or freeze to death, just because having an animal took too much effort.

"That's awful," I cried, "How could anyone do that?"

Jax shrugged. "These are wild birds, Riley, not puppies. They're actually doing better out here."

I looked up at the parrot perched above my head. It cheerfully began cleaning the feathers on its chest. Okay, it did look pretty content. My outrage faded and was replaced with awe.

"So they're a tough bunch then," I said.

"They know how to survive," he replied dryly, and I glanced up at him, surprised at how he'd unintentionally echoed my earlier thoughts.

"Come on," he continued with a grin, "Let's go. I've still got to win my bet."

As we started up the next flight of stairs, I took one more glance at the parrots. Wild exotic birds weren't exactly what I expected to see out here, but along with Jax's surprising turnaround, so far nothing about this day had turned out the way I thought it would.

The sun began to fade as we climbed. The short rest on the landing had done me good, and I gleefully matched Jax's pace. We'll see who's going to carry who up the last few flights.

But keeping up with him had a price. My thighs burned and I had a stitch in my side when I reached the last flight. One more. Thank fuck.

With Jax in the lead, I climbed the last few steps, my face flushed and sweat making my shirt stick to my back. At this rate, maybe I'd skip dinner if I won, and just go for a shower.

Then I reached the top. I'd thought climbing the stairs was enough to take my breath away. But that was nothing compared to how I felt when I turned back to look at the new view.

Higher than we were before, now the entire city stretched before us. The Golden Gate Bridge loomed in the distance, silhouetted in the setting sun. Bright reds and yellows tinted the sky, and the sunset colors reflected off the water of the bay.

"It's beautiful," I gasped, holding my aching side.

"It's worth the hike, isn't it?" Jax replied, smiling as he gazed into the distance.

I nodded, unable to find any other words for it. My body tingled, both from the exercise and a sense of awe. The scene had so much natural beauty, but the city sprawling far below somehow made it even more breathtaking.

"You know what this reminds me of?" I asked.

"What?"

"The first time I saw Manhattan from the top of the Empire State Building when I was a kid. I remember feeling so . . . in love with New York the minute I saw it. From then on I always knew I wanted to live in the city."

I gazed at the view, sensing Jax as he came up beside me. I spun around and took his hand. "Hey, you know what we should check out? There's a park I like to watch the sunset from in Manhattan. South Cove. It's actually really peaceful." I laughed. "It's flat though, not much of a hike. I can leave the clown shoes at home."

An emotion I couldn't read flashed across his face, then he smiled and pointed to something out over the bay. "See that down there? That's Fisherman's Wharf."

My face flushed at how neatly he avoided the real subject—one that I hadn't meant to bring up. He doesn't want to talk about New York. And why would he? With all his recent worries, making plans about our future had to be the last thing on his mind.

As far as our relationship was concerned, we were still taking it one day at a time. Getting ahead of myself like that—that was something I should avoid if I wanted to keep my peace of mind. Wasn't this date enough? It was a chance for us to act in a way that I hadn't been sure we could—like a normal couple.