Aim High Mountain Man (Whispered Echoes Season 2: A Wounded Mountain Man #6)

Chapter 1

***** Johanna *****

Istared at the picture of my son in his fighter pilot gear, a smile on his face, his arm around another young man. Chance, my son had called him. Or, well, Trouble, as that was his callsign. They were always together, always causing havoc on the ground or in the air.

“God, do I miss you, baby,” I muttered, running my nail over his face.

“Ma’am, are you sure it’s up here?”

I stared up at the rocky road the uber driver was looking at. It didn’t look like a car had made it up this way in ages.

Although, the view of the woods, and the changing of the leaves, was utterly gorgeous.

“This is what he gave me. Do you think your car would have a problem making it up?”

“No, I think it would stall out.”

I tried to hide my annoyance at this man. When I landed and gave my address for this cabin, I put in my notes that it was in the mountains, which, to me, meant it would be a climb. But I knew jack about cars or ones that were four-wheel drives.

“That’s fine. I’ll get out here and climb out. I don’t have anything more than this little bag away. Thank you.”

I climbed out of the car, really not thinking I would be here long.

And why would I?

When I got the letter from Chance, saying he had a couple of things of Johnnie’s and he didn’t feel comfortable sending it, I didn’t think twice of hopping on a plane and making my way here.

I get it, Johnnie has been gone now for a year and a half. I still had things to go through that I couldn’t. And if they were valuable to Johnnie or Chance, I wouldn’t want to ship them either, not with the way people handled packages or what could happen to break within the package.

With a huff, I started trekking my way up the mountain, glad I at least had the foresight to wear jeans and hiking boots.

Fifteen minutes later, I let out a huff of breath, giving myself a moment to rest. That was some climb, and my legs were screaming at me. Not that I worked out a lot, but dang, I didn’t think I was that horribly out of shape.

Maybe I needed to look into a membership at the gym when I returned home.

I took one more deep breath, looking around the area, and nearly fell in love. Chance was a lucky man if he got to wake up to this every morning. It was serene and peaceful, a place I’d love to have of my own. Far away from the city and the noise.

But then again, a place like this, a place of solitude, could let the silent voices creep in and I had enough of that.

With one more sweeping look, I finally turned around and knocked on the door, waiting for the young man to answer it. I waited for almost a full minute with no response then knocked again.

I mean, I had told Chance I’d be out today. Or that I was flying in today.

Maybe he thought I’d rest before I’d come to his place?

It wasn’t an unlikely thought.

I frowned, turning to look down the path I had just come up. I really didn’t want to go down, only to find another way up.

And I don’t think he’d be too fond of my sitting on his porch, just waiting for him. And that’s even if he came home tonight. What if he didn’t?

This high up, with all the trees, I could feel the difference in temperature and would imagine that at night, it was a lot colder. I sure didn’t want to sleep out here and freeze to death or something.

“Damn it,” I muttered, looking around again. I wasn’t a nosy woman by nature, so I didn’t want to snoop around to try and find him.

“Can I help you?”

I heard the snap of metal hitting metal and turned around to find a shot gun pointed at me. I raised my hands slowly, not sure what the hell to make of this.

“I….uh….,” I stuttered, my brain easily malfunctioning with a gun trained on me.

“I repeat, can I help you?”

“Chance.” The word exploded out of me, almost as if it was my saving grace.

“What do you want with him?”

“He…um…” I cleared my throat, waving my hand at the gun. “I’d talk a lot better if that was not pointed at me.”

He lowered the gun, but I realized he didn’t put the safety on, so my sense of peace was short lived.

“What did he do, ma’am?”

“He told me to come see him.”

“I’m sorry, you’re Johanna Ridge?”

“Yes,” I answered, my hands now digging into my pockets.

“Johnnie’s mother?”

“Um, yes,” I answered again, now more concerned by what was going on. “Look, is Chance here? I’d really like to talk to him.”

The man before me took his hat off and the fluffiest brown and blonde wavy locks came out. My fingers inched to run through them, and I had to mentally yell at myself for that because I didn’t know who this kid was.

And he was most certainly a kid. At least far younger than I was.

“Wow, Johnnie never said his mom was a looker.”

I blushed under the compliment and then shook my head.

“I’m sure he wouldn’t have, since he never saw me that way.” I tilted my head to the side, giving the man before me a pointed look, which only made his lips quirk up slightly. I got the feeling he didn’t smile and that he truly was a recluse.

Which might mean that he was watching the property for Chance if he wasn’t here. I really couldn’t afford to come back, though.

“You look just like him.”

“Who?” I asked.

“Johnnie.”

“And you know how?”

The man stepped forward, hand outstretched. “I’m Chance.”

**** Chance *****

When Joker, well, Johnnie as his call sign was Joker, would talk about his mom, he talked about her wit, her charm, her sharp skills with numbers, but damn, never talked about legs that were long and luscious.

He never talked about her eyes that were the color of the sky overhead.

And he sure never talked about a smile that was disarming.

Though that was all great, she was also on my mountain, at my cabin, and I never took kindly to that.

So even though I asked her to come because I didn’t want to ship precious items, I needed her out of here. I liked my solitude, it was my sanctuary, and I never cared for people being here long.

“I’m s…sorry,” she stuttered, clearly flustered, and I almost smiled.

Almost.

But I hadn’t cracked a true grin since that day with Johnnie.

“For?”

“Johnnie never showed me a picture, so I just didn’t know what you looked like. I didn’t even know what to expect.”

“He didn’t have a need.”

I knew I sounded like a grump, and I never minded. The sooner I could get rid of people, even if I invited them, the better it was for me.

I suffered enough that day that I knew I was never great company.

Even my sister, when she called me on the odd occasion, said that I needed to be more outgoing and personable, but that wasn’t going to happen.

Even worse when I was still so young. But I was totally fine just being solo and living my life up here.

Well, me and my thoughts, I guess.

“Right,” she finally said, nodding some.

“Let’s go in so that you can grab the stuff.”

“Oh, sure.”

I walked up the steps, trying not to let the limp I had show. I always had people ask me about it and I never answered. It wasn’t their business. But they often labeled me a grump, and certainly a recluse.

Neither title did I have a problem with, honestly.

I glanced behind me to look at her, seeing her following, but then glancing around, I picked up on the lack of a car.

How was she going back to the hotel?

“Something wrong?” she asked.

“No car.”

“Oh, uh, no. I had a driver take me up here and I can get a driver to take me back down. It’s not a problem.”

I nodded, surprised that someone could get up here, but I also noticed the lack of fresh tire marks, so I was going to assume that they didn’t make it all the way up. Which was normal, too.

“I see,” I muttered, finally walking into the cabin.

I walked over to the counter, ready to grab the box I had for her when I noticed she had paused right by the door, her attention captured by something. I followed her line of sight, seeing the picture by the doorway, knowing what had stopped her.

That was the group of us when we were all stationed together for the first time. There were ten of us that day, and only five of us had made it home safely.

“Johnnie never sent me this photo. I wish he had. You all looked so happy.”

“We didn’t know what life would bring us.”

She hung her head, swallowing hard. “We never do. Each day is something new.”

I just watched her, not knowing what to say to that. I knew that I wasn’t the only one who lost something that day, that he was her only child. So, I couldn’t imagine the pain it caused her when she got the notice.

“Why did they call him Joker?”

“What?” I finally zoned back in, seeing her look at another picture of two of us with our heads pushed together, our names on the side.

“Where did Joker come from?”

“He was always joking to ease everyone around him. He didn’t have a call sign until he got to the outpost, and because of that, we gave him that. It seemed to fit him pretty well.”

“He never told me where it came from. But it makes sense. He loved seeing other people smile and always hated seeing people uptight or tense, so yes, he would do anything he could to ease them. He often did that for me as a little boy when I was stressed.

“He’d run up to me, cling to my leg, and never let go, so that I would be forced to walk around with this growth on my leg. Finally, I just laughed, and so would he.”

She grinned at the memory, and I could feel something in my heart melt just a little.

In the last year and a half, there hadn’t been a time when I was able to think of Johnnie and smile. Every memory was clouded with sadness.

And here was his mother, who was able to look at a picture of her son smiling, and then bring up something so sweet, something that sounded just like Johnnie, and laugh about it.

“Did he get into a lot of trouble?” I found myself asking, surprised by it. I never fully engaged people in conversation, but hearing her talk about him was something I didn’t want to lose yet.

“Not for being a bully, but for disrupting class. In fact, it’s how he ended up going to the air force academy.

His junior English teacher had called a parent meeting with the principal and me, saying she was concerned about his childish antics in class and that he could either be expelled or could enter the military. That’s how far it had gotten.

“Sadly, the joke was on her because he had plans of joining the air force long before she made the comment. The day he left though, she took it as an open threat, not something to be serious about, so she was a little shocked.

“I’m going to assume, though, that his ways did change. At least a little bit.”

I felt my lips lift as she looked at me, shaking my head. “Not really,” I informed her.