Chapter 10 Jude #2
“All you have are pros, Em. You’re a geology rockstar who loves earthquakes.
The only thing better than that would be if you were an astronaut, but that would mean you wouldn’t be here and the mountain wouldn’t have brought us together.
” She grins. “You’re also the middle child in a family of mountain men and yet somehow you control almost all of them with an iron fist whether you’re there or not.
You love Deadliest Catch and shark documentaries—just like me—and you’re so gorgeous that on our weddin’ day, I took one look at you and forgot how to breathe.
” I lean in and drop my voice to a rough whisper.
“Then tonight, when you opened the door and I saw you again, it happened again.”
Em opens her mouth to say something then closes it again, her eyes watching me closely the entire time.
She looks down her body before lifting her gaze to my face again, looking unconvinced. “I’m wearin’ my home clothes, Jude.”
“I said what I said. I’m not lyin’ either.” I don’t look away from her, which means I get to see the pink rising up her cheeks.
“We barely know each other,” she whispers.
“I’m here hopin’ you’ll give me a chance to change that.”
She rests her head against the couch, her eyes never leaving mine. “How would we do that?”
“Since we’ve done things a bit backward so far, I figure the best place to start would be for me to take my wife out on a date next Friday night if you don’t have any other plans?
” When she nods, I press on. “Then, next time, maybe you can show me around town or introduce me to your friends—” She goes still.
“Whatever you’re comfortable with. I just want the chance to work toward buildin’ somethin’. ”
She cocks her head. “You said next visit. You’re goin’ to come back?”
My lips twitch up on the side. “Well, yeah. As long as I don’t screw up our first date.” She rolls her eyes. “I wish I could stay here for as long as it takes but I don’t want to rush this. I want to go at our own pace—the right pace.”
“How will we know what that is?” she asks earnestly.
I shrug, determined to be honest from the get-go.
“I guess we’ll just know.” That’s what I’m hoping for, anyway.
“For now, my plan is to visit you every weekend for as long as you keep invitin’ me back.
I want you to know I’m serious about this—about us—and I’m prepared to do whatever it takes for however long it takes to prove that. ”
“How are you even real?” she says, her voice full of wonder. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who just says what they want, when they want, and do it so honestly.”
My hand finds its way to the back of my neck and I look down to my lap, my cheeks burning hot. “Sorry, it’s a bad habit. I ramble sometimes and—”
“Hey. I didn’t say it was a bad thing,” she says, arching a brow. “It’s amazin’. Refreshin’ even. It’s just you, Jude, and I like it.” I like you, I want to say back. Too soon, Jude.
“You might not think that when I really get my ramble on. I can talk for hours about anythin’ and everythin’ if I get really fixated on somethin’.”
“I can’t wait,” she replies confidently.
Just those three words are so moving that I consider pinching myself to make sure this is real.
“If you’d asked me a month ago, I can’t say my answer would’ve been the same as it is now because I was consumed by Dad’s loss—as expected and as inevitable as it was.
On top of that—and now here’s my truth bomb of the evenin’—I was scared of the way I was feelin’ about you and didn’t know what to do about it. ”
“Really?”
“Really,” she repeats, giving my hand a squeeze. “You bein’ here tonight has me feelin’ better than I have for weeks. So, thank you.”
I cock my head. “Better?”
“I already told you I’ve been feelin’ a bit off.
Almost like I’m the right person in the wrong place.
Or like my soul knows I should be back home but my heart needs to be here to heal.
” She worries her bottom lip between her teeth before lifting her eyes to mine.
“I can’t think of any other way to describe it.
I’ve never felt like that before though, it was a little disconcertin’. ”
“And that’s changed with me bein’ here?” I say quietly.
Em nods. “As soon as you came inside tonight, all of those bad feelin’s disappeared.
” She falls quiet for a moment, then she proceeds to rock my world, “That feelin’ on our weddin’ day?
I felt it too.” She drops her voice to a whisper as her eyes fixate on our still-joined hands.
“Part of me even wished it could be real.”
My heart jumps at her confession.
The more I think about me sensing her leaving town, and how I’ve been just trudging through life since then, I realize that it was all because of the Call. “It really is true…”
“What do you mean?”
“They say the Call can cause physical pain and discomfort if you’re away from your One,” I explain. “It’s the spirit’s way of speedin’ things along if she thinks people are takin’ too long.”
Her eyes flash. “I remember readin’ about that in one of Aster’s books. I haven’t read them all, but they have shirtless men on the cover so they might’ve caught my eye…”
“Oh really,” I muse.
Her lips slowly curve up. “Never thought about it bein’ the Call, though.
My brothers and I didn’t know if we’d hear it after everythin’ that went down all those years ago.
Dad was adamant we would if the mountain was whole again.
” She shrugs. “I figured me feelin’ out of place was goin’ to be my new normal for a while. ”
I make a show of drawing my shoulders back and puffing my chest out. “And now you know it’s all because of me.”
She laughs. “Now his true colors are shinin’ through.”
I arch a brow her way. “Changin’ your mind about gettin’ to know me?”
Em locks eyes with mine, all amusement gone. “Not a chance, hubby. You’re stuck with me now.”
We stare at each other for a lot longer than expected, and despite what my body, heart, and soul are aching for me to do right now, I know that’s about five steps ahead of where we’re at.
“I’ve got one more thing then I’ll go to my bed & breakfast for the night. Due to the short notice, I’m headin’ back to Timber Falls tomorrow.”
“But you’ll come back?” she asks automatically.
A slow-growing smile appears. “I said I’d keep comin’ back till you tell me not to and I meant it. That’s a promise,” I say before reaching into my front pocket and pulling out an envelope from the box Gramps left me. Her eyes drift to my hand as I hold it out to her. “Until then…”
She tilts her head to the side. “Homework?”
I chuckle as I slide the note against her palm, my fingertips grazing ever so softly over her silky soft skin, leaving a buzzing warmth as I do,
“Do you remember when I said I wanted to show you Henley and Marion’s letters?” She nods. “This is the first one that Marion wrote.”
Her lips part, her eyes flashing with surprise before they lift to mine. “Did you want to read it with me?”
Shaking my head, I push up to my feet. “Not tonight.” I bend down and brace my arm next to her head before dipping my face so it’s closer to hers, loving the way she doesn’t try to hide how affected she is right now.
Makes two of us. “This one’s all for you.
” I lower my lips to her ear. “I’m really lookin’ forward to our date, Em.
More than anythin’ else in a long time.”
I press my lips to her cheek, breathing in the sweet smell of coconut and vanilla that surrounds her before mustering every ounce of my self control and stepping back. “I can see myself out and lock up behind me.”
“OK,” she whispers, doing it with a gentle smile that feels like a hammer to my chest. The good kind.
“Sleep well, wifey.”
“You too, hubby.”
And wouldn’t you know it, when I walk out to my car, I do it feeling like I’m on top of the world.
Diary entry - Marion Wilson
Mama was always telling us stories when we were young.
I loved them and used to beg her to tell us all about the mountain spirit who looked after land and the people who lived on it.
Mama shared the legend that the spirit calls soulmates to the mountain for these families as a reward.
A gift.
The one person put on earth for them and vice versa.
And today, aged 19 years and 138 days old, I realized the boy I’ve been crushing on from afar since I was 14, is the one I want to be my soulmate.
At 14, he gave me some of the Haskap berries he’d picked on the way to school.
At 15, he put tree sap on a mean girl’s chair so she couldn’t sit down for the rest of the day.
At 16, he won the school’s tree chopping contest and pointed to me when he was announced the champion.
Today, at age 19 years and 138 days old, that same boy who is so definitely a man now, slipped me a note in the grocery store. In it he asked me to meet him at the bottom of the Wilson mountain road tomorrow afternoon.
Of course, he’s from the other side of the mountain and if my Papa was to find out I was meeting a boy—a Cooper no less—I’d likely be sent to a convent in Anchorage.
But this man—my one and only crush—asked to meet ME!!
I have butterflies in my tummy just thinking about it. It feels like I’m standing on the edge of the mountain top, my toes curling over the edge, my arms stretched out wide all while my heart is reaching for something that feels so close I can almost touch it.
Maybe tomorrow when I meet Henley, I’ll know if he’s ready to catch me if I jump.
Because if Mama’s story about the mountain legend is true, there’s nobody else in Timber Falls or the whole world that I would want to be my destined one but him. Only Henley Cooper.
I just know he’s meant to be mine, and tomorrow I might tell him. Or maybe I’ll wait for him to tell me.
That sounds romantic.
Marion.