Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
SOFIE
“Is Zach your boyfriend?” Linnie blurts on the way home from the birthday bash when I tell her about the Huttons and Zach joining the work party.
She’s getting too smart for her own good, but I guess that comes with the territory. “No.”
“Why not?”
“I barely know him.” I’m not sure this is true, though. Maybe I feel this way because there’s still so much I don’t know about him. Will that ever change?
“So?” Linnie arches her eyebrows. “He’s hot.”
“Linn,” I groan.
When did she get this bold? Part of me is alarmed, but the better part of me is thrilled. I don’t want her to be shy like I was.
At home, Dad’s loaded both horses into the trailer. From the looks of the gear, he’s heading into the high country. I think about the illegal salt lick Zach found. It’s not my story to tell, but what if it could help Dad find this poacher?
Linnie jumps out of the car and skips over to Dad. Fergie watches from the fence, her front paws propped on the edge and that longing in her gaze. She hates being left behind, but I know Dad feels better about going if she’s here to protect us.
I join Dad just as he’s releasing Linnie from a tight hug.
“Do you have your lucky tent stake?” Linnie asks.
Dad frowns. “I don’t think I do. Can you check? The tent’s in the gear bin.”
“On it,” Linnie replies, darting around the back of the trailer.
“Do you even have that stake anymore?” I ask Dad with a smile. It’s a running joke after a sudden windstorm ripped out all of his tent stakes but one.
“Wouldn’t leave home without it.”
“When will you be back?” The familiar pull of anxiety stirs deep in my gut.
“Monday.”
The angles of his clean-shaven face seem to sharpen in the low afternoon light. “Jesse came by and packed up some things.”
Like for his trip to L.A., or maybe he’s stealing again.
“Do you need me to stay?”
The weight of this question settles through the space between us. When Jesse goes off the rails, he’s unpredictable, but even at his worst, he would never hurt me or Linn. “I think he’s okay.”
Dad must notice the hitch in my tone because he sighs. “He’s going, is that it?”
“Yeah.”
“When?”
“Wednesday.”
Dad’s eyes slowly close, and he gathers me close and puts his arms around my shoulders. I fight the emotion pricking at my eyes and release a steadying breath.
“Maybe it’s time we let him go,” Dad says. “He knows we’re always here.”
A silent sob catches in my throat but I force it down.
My dad hugs me tighter. “It’s okay.”
“Found it!” Linnie cries from the other side of the trailer, giving me enough time to step away from Dad and blink away my tears.
“Linnie doesn’t know yet?” he asks in a low tone, frowning .
I shake my head just as Linnie comes around the trailer, waggling the white plastic stake stained the color of toffee by our mountain dirt.
“Thank goodness you checked.” Dad gives me a wink before hurrying over to hold his palm up high so Linnie has to jump to smack it.
That night, I lay in bed reviewing my conversation with Zach and what he shared about his little brother. Where is he? What is keeping the two of them apart?
My thoughts drift to Dad, out there alone, patrolling the high country. He’s out of cell or radio range. He’s always cautious, but I wish I knew he was okay.
I text Jesse
I told Dad about L.A. When are you going to tell Linnie?
But he doesn’t reply.
With a sleepy Linnie curled up in the seat next to me, we drive to the Forest Service access point. Pale dawn light spills over the mountains, bringing a soft glow to the foothills, and in my rearview mirror, the calm lake waters turn a glossy black.
“Is Jesse coming?” Linnie asks as I turn up the gravel road.
“I don’t think so.” I try to keep my voice neutral.
She gives me a sharp look. “Why not?”
I manage a shrug, and Linnie looks away, hurt. As of this morning, he still hasn’t replied. Am I going to have to tell her about Jessie leaving, or will he man up and tell her himself?
At the trailhead, other volunteers are gathered at the back of a rusty orange pickup truck, no doubt to snack on the donated spread of Glory Holes and coffee. Dustin is standing at the Forest Service gate smoking a cigarette and talking with a man in a green uniform, most likely about his favorite subject, fishing .
“Maryanne is here!” Linnie cries as her friend turns from the crowd to smile at my sister. Linnie jumps out of the truck and skips over.
I zip up my winter coat and grab my work gloves. Outside, the dry air stings with cold, and though it’s going to be a clear day, the forecast is calling for snow by the end of the week.
Ava and Hutch are in the queue for goodies, so I hurry over to join them. “You should be studying!” I say to Ava as we hug.
“She insisted we help today,” Hutch says, arching an eyebrow.
I dive into his arms, but he’s so solid it’s like hugging a brick wall. “It’ll be great to have you both. Thank you for being here.”
“It’s such a beautiful day,” Ava says, her cheeks bright pink. We each load up napkins with donut holes and pour a cup of coffee into paper cups.
Dustin saunters over. “You kids leave anything for the rest of us?”
We laugh as he snatches a donut hole from the pile and pops it into his mouth.
“Where is Zach?” Ava whispers to me.
I huff a nervous sigh, but as I bite into my first donut hole, the Huttons arrive and park on the far side of the lot. Zach steps down from the truck carrying a pair of work gloves. Our eyes lock, and my face gets hot.
Henry and Barb split off to talk with an older couple, and soon they’re laughing about something, their breaths sending little clouds into the air.
I skirt the crowd so I can meet Zach. “Morning,” I say, suppressing a shiver with a sip of coffee.
“Hey,” he says. “A lot of people here.”
“Good people,” I say.
“It’s the free donuts,” Ava says behind me.
I step to the side so I can introduce my friends. “Zach, this is Ava and Hutch.”
Zach and Hutch shake hands.
“Great to meet you,” Hutch says with a nod.
“Likewise,” Zach says, then nods at Ava. “You work with Sofie, right?”
“That’s right,” she replies.
A volunteer named Frances climbs into the back of the donut buffet truck and waves us over. Everyone gathers around.
I offer Zach my pile of donut holes. “Hungry?”
His eyes light up, and he plucks a donut hole from my napkin. He bites into it, his eyes fluttering closed for an instant while he chews. “Are there more of these?”
I laugh. “I think so, but you better move fast. We’re about to start.”
He slips between two clusters of volunteers and returns to my side with four donut holes on a napkin. He pops one into his mouth and moans.
Thankfully, Frances has just said something that makes the crowd laugh, so I’m the only one who hears it.
This simple expression of pleasure should not make my thighs clench together. I shift my feet in the gravel to break the rising tide of desire pooling in my belly.
“They’re out of coffee, though,” Zach whispers.
“Happy to share.” I offer mine.
Our hands brush as he takes the cup, making that tingle stir in my belly.
Frances lays out the plan to collect the coils of barbed wire that were set aside during a series of recent work parties.
After, in the melee, Linnie races over. “Can I go with Maryanne? They have jellybeans.”
I lift my gaze to Maryanne’s dad. As if reading my mind, he gives me a kind smile. “Okay.”
“Yes!” Linnie eyes Zach, then gifts me a secret smirk before dashing off. She and Maryanne climb in the back of her dad’s big pickup.
Trucks rumble to life around us. Dustin and Frances in the rusty orange work truck cruise through the Forest Service gate, leading the pack.
“Hey, Zach,” Henry calls from the side. “We’re going with Frank and Hillary. You and Sofie want the truck?”
Zach snatches the keys out of thin air, then turns to me. “Looks like you need a partner.”
I watch his playful blue eyes for an instant before replying, “I guess I do. ”
Zach escorts me to the passenger side of Henry’s truck and opens my door, making the butterflies tickle up my windpipe. I give Zach a look, but he’s wearing a playful grin. Inside, I buckle up and slip my coffee into the cup holder. Zach eases in and starts the engine.
We join the convoy of half a dozen vehicles behind Hutch and Ava. “Is Hutch in the Air Force?” Zach asks, nodding at the sticker in Hutch’s back window.
“Yeah, he’s on leave but we never know for how long.”
“Special Forces?” Zach asks, his eyebrows arched.
I shrug. “I think he jumps out of planes, but he never talks about it.”
“That must be hard on your friend.”
I gaze out the window. “It’s hard on all of us.”
“Have they been together a long time?”
“Ava and Hutch?” I catch his eye. “They’re just friends.”
Zach nods, but I can tell he’s confused. He’s not alone.
We bump over a rocky section, and Zach grabs the coffee to keep it from spilling. “What’s going to happen to this project when winter comes?”
I’m grateful for the change of subject because I don’t like to think about Hutch leaving. “Everything is paused until summer.”
“Do people still hunt in the snow?”
“The season ends December thirty-first, but only die-hard hunters stay out that long.”
He sips from the coffee then hands it to me, our hands brushing again. That charged heat zips over my skin.
I can’t help but smile as I savor the last sip. We’ve gone from sharing moments of vulnerability to a simple cup of coffee. I think about Linnie’s is he your boyfriend? while my tummy flutters kick into high gear.
“Does your dad hunt?”
“He used to, but he’s too busy during hunting season nowadays. Jesse and I went a few times with him when we were younger. I like the camping and tracking part, but when it comes to killing an animal… I did it once, and I don’t ever want to do it again. Linnie flat-out refuses to go. She doesn’t even eat me at anymore.”
Our convoy tops a steep rise and turns right at a Y, heading for a copse of aspen and pine.
“How does your dad feel about that?” Zach asks.
“He understands,” I reply. “Hunting isn’t for everyone.”
“Yet that’s his job, right? To protect hunting.”
I give him a look. “What gave you that idea? Dad’s job is to protect wildlife.”
We reach another fork, with one road paralleling the lower edge of the grove and a steep one heading to the top. The orange work truck has parked at the Y and Dustin is directing the vehicles ahead of us to continue on the low road. In the aspens, the coils of rusty wire stand out against the white bark.
“There’s a section up at the top,” I tell Zach with a nod up the steep grade. I lean out the window. “Okay if we go up?”
Dustin gives a flick of his wrist. “Go ahead,” he calls out in his gravelly voice.
Zach puts the truck in Low 4. When we lurch upward, throwing me back in the seat, I reach out to steady myself. My hand lands on Zach’s knee.
His cheeks flush, and he eyes me. “You okay over there?”
“Fine,” I reply in a thin voice.
He covers my hand with his and gently accelerates. At the top of the grove, we’re still holding hands, with the warmth from his touch sending happy prickles over my skin. Zach turns off the truck and we sit there in the pale morning glow of the sunrise, the distant trill of birds in the trees filling the silence.
Zach caresses my fingers with his thumb. “Kitchen Radio is playing at The Limelight tonight. Are you going?”
“Dad’s in the field, so I’ll be home with Linn.”
He strokes my hand again, slowly, like he’s trying to memorize the feeling.
“You want to come over?” I ask. “We could make dinner, and we’ve got a bonfire pit out back.”
He slips his palm beneath mine and cradles my hand on his thigh. A smile creeps across his face. “That sounds ten times better than the show.”
Whoosh goes my stomach. “It does to me, too.”