Chapter Nineteen #2
“So you still love photography. But you’re ambivalent about the work part of your job. Is that right?” Nora nodded. “I guess I feel the same. I still feel like my work is meaningful, but the minutia sometimes gets to me.”
“And having Ranger Dick for a boss?”
“And that.” Fallon agreed. They were quiet for a minute. “For a while, I was angry with you, and then it would turn into hurt, and after that, back to anger at myself. But mainly, I wouldn’t let myself think about how much I wanted to see you again. I’m glad I don’t have to miss you anymore.”
Nora looked down as if afraid of what her expression might give away. “Same,” she said.
* * *
“I can’t thank you enough for your hospitality,” Fallon said, standing before Nora’s parents and Anita.
Patricia Palmer smiled. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for us here. The house looks wonderful, and we’ll be enjoying those fall vegetables you planted in our garden. I hope your arm continues to heal successfully. Please come see us again anytime.”
“I will.”
Mr. Palmer’s color was better, and therapy, combined with their morning walk, had greatly improved his balance.
As they’d talked, Fallon had come to realize that what often came out sounding like aggravation or annoyance with his family was actually just worry.
She’d tried to make him understand that derogatory comments to Nora or Tyler or any of his children only created distance between them.
“I know some kids gripe about their parents, and some parents complain about their kids,” she’d told him. “But since I don’t have either, I really don’t like to hear it.” He’d studied her for a moment before nodding.
Now he reached out a much steadier hand, and she shook with him. “Nora needs to find a man as good as you.”
“If she’s so good, why don’t I just take her?” Nora asked from behind her as she came down the stairs. She dropped her bag and took Fallon’s hand.
“Nora,” her father began, but Nora cut him off.
“I’m serious. I hope this time we’ve spent together has shown you who I am, and this is who I want to be with.” She looked at Fallon. “I mean, we’re still working things out, but—”
Mr. Palmer looked to Fallon. “And you? Is this what you want?”
Fallon cleared her throat. Whatever doubts or worries she had about their future, she couldn’t leave Nora hanging in front of her family. “Well, sir, like your daughter said, we’re still working on things, but, yes, she is the person I want.” She squeezed Nora’s hand.
No one spoke for several seconds. “Then we’ll expect to see both of you back here when you can,” Patricia said, turning to her husband. “Won’t we, Jeffrey?”
“Suppose so, if that’s how it is,” he said, sounding no gruffer than usual.
Nora went and hugged him, murmuring something in his ear. He laughed and patted her arm.
“All right,” he said. “All right.” He appeared to be nearly blushing but kept a hand on her back until she stepped away to kiss her mother and hug Anita.
“You two behave yourselves,” Nora told them. “Or if you can’t be good, be careful.” Their smiles held genuine affection, and Fallon felt a prick of tears. She still missed her mother, but that loss had been softened by time.
Turning to Fallon, Nora said, “We’d better get going, or that canyon might get filled in before we get there.”
Everyone laughed, and Fallon felt a lightness that almost made her dizzy.
Seeing Nora choosing to forgive her father and offering her love to her mother meant there might actually be a chance for the two of them as well.
She added that moment to her mental list as something else for them to talk about… later.
Before they were even out of town, Nora’s phone buzzed.
At a traffic light, she looked at the screen.
“Hold on,” she said, pulling into a strip mall parking lot.
She texted furiously for a minute before throwing her phone onto the console and pulling back onto the road.
“My butthead boss,” she said by way of explanation.
They’d only been on the highway for about fifteen minutes when Fallon’s phone rang.
Sighing, she listened as Maris updated her on the crew, adding that the ranger position was still unresolved.
Fallon told her she was still recovering and would be taking another couple of weeks at least, adding that she’d be in touch when she was ready to come back.
She ended the call, and she and Nora looked at each other for a few seconds before breaking into laughter. “What if we both go incommunicado for the next few days?” Nora asked.
“That works for me,” Fallon said, switching her phone off and adding it to Nora’s on the console. “I’m actually happiest off-grid, out in the field.” She took Nora’s hand. “It’s the best way to focus on what’s really important.”
Nora squeezed her fingers before switching off her phone. “Perfect. I already told Mom to call Tyler if there’s a problem, and I sent him a copy of our itinerary. They’ll be able to find us if they genuinely need to, but otherwise…I’m yours.”
Fallon warmed inside. “Likewise.”
They drove as far as Cortez, having agreed on a “quirky” retro hotel near Mesa Verde.
She’d been unable to convince Nora that she could ride for five hours and still have the stamina to explore the amazing 800-year-old structures inside the national park.
Stretching while Nora went to check them in, she caught scents of fall in the steady wind of early October.
If she’d been at Firecamp, she’d have been checking over the equipment and writing reports, waiting for the last of the crews to finish up. This was much better.
“I forgot to mention, the only room we could get has two double beds,” Nora told her when she returned. “Is that okay?”
“It’s fine. And you were right to do it this way. I’m looking forward to a shorter drive to the park tomorrow and more energy to explore it.”
Determined to carry her own bag, she lifted it with her good arm. She could admit to herself that she wasn’t a hundred percent, but each day brought less pain and more strength. She did her exercises while Nora showered, taking her turn to clean up afterward.
They went to a bistro that specialized in dishes made from local farm ingredients. Anita was a fine cook, but this food was next level. Even full as they were, they agreed to split a dessert.
“Do you cook for yourself in Tucson?” Fallon asked.
Nora grinned. “Does driving through count? No, rarely. Though if I could cook like this, I might.” After taking a sip of wine, she added, “And if I had someone to cook for.”
“I’m pretty happy when camp starts in the spring and I don’t have to eat my own cooking anymore,” Fallon admitted. “It would be nice to at least take turns.”
Nora nodded. “It would. As long as you accounted for each other’s schedules and didn’t make it required, like, ‘if it’s Tuesday, it’s your time,’ no matter what.”
Fallon realized they could be approaching some important negotiation, hypothetically at least. “Oh, sure. That would make sense.”
Nora seemed satisfied, but before she could comment, the check came. Nora reached for it, but Fallon put her hand on top. “Let me. Please. You’ve done all the driving up to this point, so I think I should treat you to dinner.”
“I guess we should talk about how to deal with our expenses on this journey.”
“Agreed. But let’s go back to the hotel. I need to get comfortable if we’re going to talk money.”
A few days after first using the aromatic CBD salve on her shoulder and hip, Fallon had asked permission to cut the sleeve off an oversized T-shirt she’d found in Art’s dresser, and that—along with a pair of her own boxers—had become her pajamas.
Nora slept in a T-shirt as well, but it was shorter, tighter, and generally quite distracting.
And along with the bikini panties that she wore, very sexy.
Once they’d both changed and Nora perched on the edge of the bed after pulling a small notebook out of her purse, Fallon found that money was the last thing on her mind.
Instead, she wanted to ask Nora about her dreams, her plans for the rest of her career, and how their possible future could fit in.
“Obviously, we’ll split the cost of gas.” Nora wrote something down.
“I remember you feeding me ice chips in the hospital.”
Nora looked up, her pen poised in the air. “I didn’t want to leave, you know. But this thing with my father—”
“Sure, yeah, I understood. Having Tyler there was great.”
“Speaking of which…” Nora wrote something on another page. “I should call him and let him know we’ll be there sometime next week.”
“Will it take us that long?” she asked.
“It might if we decide to take some side trips or stay longer somewhere. I didn’t think we were in any particular rush.”
Nora was smiling, and Fallon sensed she was talking about more than their travels. She remembered the thrill she’d felt when Nora had started flirting with her at the first Firecamp and how things had gone when she’d flirted back.
“No rush,” she agreed, looking into Nora’s eyes. “But I am hoping for steady progress.”
Nora blinked, closing her small notebook. “Maybe we should talk about this tomorrow. When we can concentrate better.”
“Maybe so.”
Once the lights were off, she realized that sleeping in the same room with Nora at a motel did not feel the same as sleeping with her in a tent or at the Palmers’ house.
Not that they were at the point to have hot sex either of those times—or quite yet, for that matter—but at Firecamp, they’d been exhausted after a long day, and being at Nora’s parents definitely carried a disinclination to do anything physical, not that her injury would have allowed it.
Motels seemed to offer an intimate seclusion, a setting with no expectations or limitations.
After a moment of quiet when they’d both settled in their beds, Nora whispered Fallon’s name into the darkness.
Fallon was pretty certain she knew what was coming.
“Do you feel like you could tolerate some company?”