Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“Ithink the physical therapist is trying to kill me.”
Sweaty and out of breath after fighting with a resistance band for half an hour, I sat back on Dad’s couch with my ankle propped up on an ice pack.
“It might be too soon to make that joke,” Charlie quipped, sitting in the chair across from me, a smile on his face. He didn’t look up from the book in his lap.
I chuckled. “Where’d Dad go?” I asked, looking over my shoulder into the kitchen.
“He went out back halfway through your grunting and cursing.”
Alright, so maybe I was a bit dramatic with the calf raises, but fuck, rebuilding my strength after being off my left ankle for two weeks sucked. Snagging the crutch propped on the arm of the sofa, I stood.
The pain in my ankle was mostly gone, and the stitches were removed, but I’d have a gnarly scar for the rest of my life.
Which was okay, because I had a life, and so did Charlie.
“Good,” I said, bending down to press a kiss against his neck. “Because I need to tell you how fantastic you look in that shirt.”
His eyes flicked up, sultry and heated. “You already have. Several times.”
He’d finally ordered some clothes of his own, and as much as I loved seeing him in mine, this particularly fitted shirt did things to me.
“Let me clarify.” I trailed my lips up behind his ear. “I need to tell you how fucking hot you look in that shirt. You’re packing it, right?”
He turned to capture my lips in a heated kiss, fingers tugging on my collar to yank me closer. “As long as you pack those hiking pants of yours.”
Sorting through laundry the other day, I found an old pair of pants I’d left at Dad’s after visiting with Josh a while back. They fit tighter in the ass and crotch than I was used to, and I hadn’t felt good in them.
The way Charlie stared, though, dragging his eyes over my body in a way that had me all sorts of hot and bothered when I tried them on, made me feel good.
Very good.
“Already in my bag,” I said, breaking the kiss before we got carried away.
Dad had taken off work to be there for me and help settle us both in after I was discharged from the hospital, which I was so, so grateful for. He’d embraced the weirdness of how Charlie and I met better than I could’ve hoped for.
The fact that he was thrown into the deep end with the whole ghost thing via Charlie magically knowing where to fly the helicopter to save me, helped.
Starting off on the right foot, and all that.
However, in the two weeks we’d stayed at Dad’s, we shared the pull-out sofa mattress in the living room while he slept in the open loft upstairs.
It had not been conducive to any activities that required privacy. Or for great sleep at all, really.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” I said, dropping a kiss into his hair and straightening up.
He snagged my hand and smiled. “Me too.”
I squeezed once and let go, making my way out the back door. I could limp around now without a crutch, but I wanted to give my ankle a rest after the strength exercises.
Daylight filtered through the trees, a stark contrast to the harsh floodlight illuminating my nightmares of that night. Despite the warm sun on my back, a chill ran down my spine as I made my way over to the open shed where Dad rummaged around.
“Hey,” I greeted, noting the tension in his back.
He dropped an armful of tools into a box and straightened to face me. “Hey there. How was PT?” he asked, wiping his sweaty brow.
“Hard. But fine,” I said, scuffing my foot through the dirt at the entrance. We both knew why I didn’t come inside.
Dad joined me in the daylight, skirting around the spot Leonard had trapped me.
“I, uh, I can’t stop picturing it,” he said gruffly.
“The police came and went while you were still in the hospital, and I’ve tried to go back inside ever since, but I just can’t.
I’m moving everything out now to tear it down. ”
“Can’t you rearrange instead? Maybe throw a rug down?” I asked, attempting a joke.
For as long as I could remember, Dad and I had danced around the subject of the bear traps. In the weeks since I was released, we’d danced around that night, too.
Maybe it was time we finally talked about it.
He chuckled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “No, a rug isn’t going to cut it. I can’t be in there, knowing what happened to you. What he did to you.”
I stared at my feet, unable to look at him.
“After Charlie remembered stepping on the bear trap… When I came back here and saw them in the shed…” I shook my head.
“I’m sorry.” The words had choked me for too long and needed out.
“Everything had gone to absolute shit that day, and I was so confused, and I thought—I wondered if you were the one who—”
I couldn’t finish, but it didn’t matter, because Dad was already hugging me. “Oh, Reece, no. It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m the one who’s sorry.”
Shame colored his words, emotion swelling as he spoke. “If I’d listened to my gut, if I’d been a better man and reported what I knew all those years ago, what I found…”
“It’s not your fault,” I said, stepping back, but he shook his head and interjected.
“It is, though. At least some of it.” His eyes were far away, as if remembering things he’d avoided for many years.
“I wondered, back then. Before the lookout—before Charlie—went missing. I found a few traps on the trails Leonard and I hiked together. I knew they were his favorite spots to go when he wanted to be alone.”
His voice grew angry. “I confronted him about it. Our job was to protect nature and the wildlife in it. How could he do such a thing? Especially with something so cruel?”
“What did he say?”
“He denied they were his. He was having a hard time with Joan. They weren’t married yet, but they were fighting. She wanted him to commit, he said he wasn’t ready. He told me he’d been outside more because he needed to let off steam, that’s all. He said he’d never seen them before in his life.”
“Why did you keep them?” I asked. “Why not turn them in?”
Dad sighed heavily. “Those crimes are reported to the Forest Service. I’d have turned him in to him.
Plus, what if I was wrong? He’d lose his job if he were cited for something like that, and the fines aren’t cheap.
Then Charlie went missing. They didn’t tell us much, but they stopped requesting the use of the helicopter.
The searches ended. The hikers weren’t labeled as missing persons anymore; they were officially declared deceased.
Clearly, they believed they knew who’d murdered them, and it wasn’t Leonard.
The killings stopped, Reece,” he repeated, as if pleading for me to understand.
“And I never knew the traps were related to the murders. At worst, I thought he was selling hides he poached on the black market. If I had known…”
He shook his head. “So I held on to them. I think a part of me always wondered, even if I didn’t want to believe they were his.”
I thought about my absolute refusal to accept that Bobby was a murderer. “I understand,” I said.
It wasn’t for me to forgive him; those were his wounds to mend, his actions to reflect upon. But I didn’t hold it against him. It wasn’t natural to assume the absolute worst of the people we cared about.
We stood in the quiet, listening to the forest all around.
“I’m happy for you,” Dad said after a while. “That you found Charlie. I don’t understand how it’s possible he’s here, or what happened that night, but I know he saved you. I know he loves you.”
I smiled. “I don’t understand any of it, either. He was there, at the lookout, when I arrived. Scared the shit out of me. But we got to know each other, and,” I shrugged. “I’ve never felt more at peace than when I’m with him.”
Dad chuckled. “Only you would find someone all alone up in a fire lookout tower. Are you packed and ready to go back?”
“Yeah, we both are. We’ll hit the grocery store this afternoon and drop everything off at the ranger station. Looks like Angie is taking over for Leonard, at least for now.”
Leonard had been her direct supervisor, and she’d called me a few days ago to ask if I was open to resuming my lookout duties once I healed. She’d apologized for even asking, but was having a difficult time filling posts after everything that’d happened.
I’d asked Charlie, and he was happy to go. Excited, even, now that the danger was over. It would be good for us to have some time before we decided what to do next.
Plus, all my shit was still out there.
“You’re not hiking out on your leg, are you?” Dad asked.
“No,” I said, relieved. “There will be room in the helicopter for us both.”
“Good. Angie already did half of Leonard’s job for him, anyway, I’m sure she’ll shine. And I know things are better, now, but if you need anything—”
“You’re only a phone call away,” I finished.
He gave me another one of those familiar hugs. “Always will be.”
Returning to the lookout felt like a dream.
When the tower first came into view, I nearly told the pilot to turn around and fly us back to Ponderosa. I was afraid of discovering we really were living in that gray place all along, and I’d only imagined the colorful life we’d fought for.
Upon landing, though, we were greeted by a beautiful, sunny sky, birdsong, and the rustling trees.
And of course, Charlie stood right next to me, happily chatting away with the helicopter pilot—who had no idea who he was—while we unloaded our supplies.
A few people had stared a little too long while we grocery shopped, but I wasn’t sure if they were focused on me or him.
Word had spread I was almost one of Leonard’s victims, and it was funny how so many flocked to form search parties and hold candlelit vigils for the tragically murdered, but skirted around those left alive like they were cursed.
Charlie received a few double-takes, but who would actually believe he was the Charles Randolph, and not someone who shared an unfortunate resemblance?
The divers never found any of the others.