PAIGE
Chapter Two
Wow.
Callan Connor.
And why should he?
As I trudge down the path to the cabin, kicking up the leaves that have fallen in multi-colored clusters of red, yellow and orange, I wish I could step back in time.
All those years ago when I sent that text I was hurting.
And young. And stupid. Then, at prom, even though Paul and I ended up having fun I trash talked Callan to everyone I knew.
Then, of course, a week later, I found out what happened.
His Mom had been killed in a car wreck and his Dad was seriously injured.
I sent him a sympathy card and unblocked him, picking up my cell a thousand times to text him and say sorry, then putting it down again.
I could never find the right words. And I thought he’d come back to school and then we could talk.
Except he never came back. I heard he and his brother were running the family farm, so it was like he’d put his teenage life behind him and was now onto adult stuff. I got busy with college and moved to the city, concentrating on my studies and trying to make a name for myself writing articles.
But I still dreamt about him. And, to be completely honest, no other guy ever measured up to the image of the Viking god from my hometown, so I never got serious with anyone.
Dates, a few kisses, but I never wanted to go further than that.
It’s like the disappointment of prom night carried over into my dating life and I closed myself down.
If I couldn’t have the perfect guy, I didn’t want anyone else.
Seeing Callan made my stomach lurch. You know that roller coaster feeling when you take a bump in the road too fast or miss a step when you’re walking downstairs? That’s what it was like to run into him again.
My cell starts vibrating. I’ve set it to silent mode since I didn’t want to be disturbed when I was soaking up the atmosphere of the woods for my article.
There’s a tiny part of me that hopes it will be Callan, but that’s madness, since he wouldn’t want to contact me and probably doesn’t have my number stored anyway.
And does a man who spends all his time striding up mountains and dragging trees around even own a cell phone?
It’s my cousin Taylor. “Hey cuz. I’m surprised you have a signal up there.”
“I am too. There’s no signal in the house, just in random spots outside. Are you at work?” I can hear chopping sounds.
“I certainly am. Paul says hi. He wants to know what the cabin is like.” Taylor and Paul run a catering business, along with Paul’s husband Noel. It’s doing so well that they’ve branched out to towns all over the state and are supplying coffee places in the city with their homemade muffins.
“It’s okay. Pretty rough and ready. I think maybe there’s something nesting in the roof but it seems watertight.
Kind of eerie at night with the owls and the bats, but also very peaceful.
I’ve already got lots of good stuff for my article.
” I pause. I’m not sure whether I should mention what just happened.
“Tay, you remember Callan Connor from school?”
“Oh yeah...of course I remember Callan. He left school early when his Mom died, that was so sad. I see him in town sometimes, he’s usually covered in pine needles.
He doesn’t talk much. And you remember Neva’s husband Elden’s brother?
Tannen? He gets some of his Christmas trees for his business from the Connor brothers.
” I can hear the smile in Taylor’s voice.
She loves how interconnected everyone’s lives are in Snowflake.
I’m more of a solitary type and although I appreciate my family and cousins, I don’t know if I’d want to live right in the middle of a complicated social whirl like they do.
“Well I ran into him in the woods. Tell Paul.” I reach the doorway of the cabin and the signal starts to cut out, so I walk back up the path. Darkness is falling fast and the golden-red fire of the sunset is consumed by purplish-black clouds as night falls.
I hear Taylor talking to Paul and then he comes on the line. “You’re kidding, Paige! The Viking? What happened?”
“Not very much. I had my hands stuck in a tube and he rescued me.” I start laughing and Paul joins in.
“That’s certainly one way of meeting someone.” He snorts and I can hear Taylor in the background asking what we’re cracking up about.
“He’s still beautiful and wild and he’s like… still my perfect guy, Paul. And now he’s right next door.” I wrestle the key out of my backpack with one hand and fit it in the lock.
“Carpe Diem, Paige. He’s right there. It’s fate!” There’s a clattering of saucepans in the background. Taylor is a brilliant cook but she’s also pretty clumsy.
“Or Uncle Patrick randomly leaving me this cabin.” My uncle left me, my sister Natalie and all five of my Bells cousins a property each, sprinkled around Snowflake Falls like confetti.
They are all in various states of disrepair, but most of my cousins have already started fixing them up.
I’m the last to arrive to check out mine and I was so preoccupied with work that I’d forgotten I’d be near Callan’s family’s land.
“Hey, I’ll leave you and Taylor to it, must be nearly service time? ”
Paul’s chopping something. “That’s right. You keep safe up there and let's talk tomorrow, okay?”
The inside of the cabin is cold and I light a fire in the stone fireplace.
Once it’s started crackling I heat up a can of soup on the stove and butter a slice of bread.
There’s something very peaceful about being here on my own, cozy inside in front of the fire, but seeing Callan has thrown my mind into a spin.
He’s so close by. Within walking distance.
Far away there’s a deep rumble of thunder and a flash of lightning. I’d forgotten to watch the weather report, but it’s the time of year when storms whip up out of nowhere.
My peaceful mountain retreat doesn’t seem so peaceful anymore.
Who knows if I’ll get any sleep tonight? I’ve got one thing on my mind.
Him.