Chapter 8 Sutton #2
She turns and rests her head on her bent knees, looking my way.
“When I left home, I knew I wanted to make a difference in the world. I thought I could do that–that I would do that–through medicine. The thing is, the day I drove into Timber Falls, I went to the lookout and saw just how different life was here compared to the city. And that was before I’d even met anyone or seen the place up close.
Still, I started to hope that this would be my chance to find my passion for it again.
Somewhere away from the pressure and the big wigs wanting you to write more research papers to get more grants. You know, big city hospital life.”
I stare at her in wonder. Here’s a woman who barely knows me and who has taken not just the mountain town life in her stride, but also my confession about our past, and she feels safe enough to be open and raw with me. That’s a gift I won’t–and will never–take for granted.
“Sounds like George’s invitation came at the right time for you.”
“Two weeks in and I’m already sure of it,” she replies soft and light.
I nudge her legs with mine, not missing her eyes widening the moment our skin touches. “Imagine what could happen after six months.”
That’s when she floors me and locks eyes with mine. “If today’s anything to go by, then I think I might like whatever comes my way.”
We stare at each other as something pivotal—and to me, life changing—courses between us.
The feeling is so strong that I force myself to look away before I ruin everything by telling her everything–about the mountain spirit, the Call, and how she might’ve been brought to the ranch for me.
To distract myself, I decide to throw caution to the wind, remembering a moment from my childhood when Gramps wanted Case and I to jump into the water and since my twin was too scared to do it by himself, we did it at the same time. “So…”
“So?” she repeats.
"Speakin’ of fresh outlooks and new experiences, how do you feel about takin’ a swim?”
Her eyes jump wide, switching between me, the water, and the snow-covered mountain overlooking the water. “Here?”
“Mmm hmm. What do you say?” Her wary gaze gives me pause.
“I didn’t bring my swimsuit,” she replies, her expression unreadable.
For the first time today, I second guess myself. Then I figure…Go big or go home, right?
I shrug. “Neither did I. I figure I’ll just wear my shorts.”
She bites her lip and makes me wait. When a warm grin slowly appears, I know she’s more than up for the suggestion.
Before I can say another word, she jumps to her feet and quickly removes her boots before stripping down until she’s left in a black sports bra and bright blue underwear just like her pink ones.
“Last one in is a rotten egg,” she teases, shooting me a wink before she rushes to the water’s edge and dives in.
I sit there frozen, my eyes glued to her gorgeous, freckled skin before it disappears under the surface. Moments later, she pops back up out of the water. “C’mon, Dr. Cooper. What are you waiting for?
Ain’t that the question of the day.
What am I waiting for? I’m starting to think it’s been Blair all along.
After spending a good twenty minutes in the water, we get out and get started on the packed lunch I brought consisting of egg salad sandwiches and fruit salad.
Once we’ve finished, we lay out on the blanket and let the sun do what our lack of towels can’t.
“You sure you didn’t plan on swimming?” she says from beside me. I turn my head to find her arm slung over her eyes.
“Nope. Why do you ask?”
She arches a brow. “It would be a great ruse, don’t you think? ‘Let’s go on a hike. Oh, it’s so hot. We should go for a swim. Don’t worry about a swimsuit. I promise I won’t look,” she says with a laugh.
I snort. “Maybe if I was a creep or a serial killer.”
Her lips twitch up, drawing my attention to them. “Just so we’re clear, you’re not either, right?”
“Maybe I should add that to our accommodation bookin’ info. ‘We solemnly swear we are not serial killers or creeps’.”
“That’ll get you all the bookings.” She smiles and for a moment I lose my train of thought, my mind drifting back to how I’d see the same expression on her face across the quad. Yet right now, instead of causing me anxiety, I’m relaxed and focused on staying in the moment. This moment, with her.
Comfortable silence falls between us, the sounds of nature and the gentle lapping of water against the shore filling the air.
“Can I ask you something?” Blair asks after a while.
“I think at this point—havin’ already seen each other in our underwear—we’re past any awkwardness,” I quip.
A devilish grin tugs at the corner of her mouth. She turns on her side to face me, propping her head up with her hand. “Maybe we should’ve just streaked across the quad in college, then we could’ve had our first date back then.”
I can’t help the laugh that bursts out of me at that thought—and the image. “You know, you might be right.”
She smirks. “I usually am.”
“Oh really?” I chuckle. “I’ll have to remember that.”
“You really should. I tell everyone it just makes life easier.” She sighs melodramatically until she joins me and laughs.
“I definitely didn’t look the same back then.”
She doesn’t hide the fact she drags her gaze down my body and back up again and damn if that doesn’t make me shiver. “I can honestly say that if you did, I definitely would’ve noticed you.”
“Good to know,” I say, unable to hide how much I like hearing that. Then I remember what started this conversation. “Anyway, back to your question…”
“It’s going to sound crazy now.”
“How ‘bout you let me decide that?”
She bites her lips before speaking again. “I’ll preface this by saying that I’m in no way trying to get free therapy.”
I can’t help but snort. “Sorry, but that’s the last thing I’d consider. You, Blair Littlefoot, are one of the most level-headed, calm, and open-minded people I’ve ever met.”
“OK. Good. I’ve fooled you then. That’s great,” she jokes before pushing herself up and spinning around so she’s sitting cross-legged in front of me.
I follow her move, wanting her to feel comfortable.
“You seem to know that here—the town, the ranch, the mountain—is where you belong. I’m just wondering how?
” I think about the question and how to answer her without her thinking I’m the crazy one.
“Sorry, is that too deep for a first date?”
“I like talkin’ with you, Blair.”
“I do too. I feel like I could say anything and never have to worry about being judged for it.”
My entire body reacts to that truth bomb, my mind racing at exactly what that could mean.
Feeling bold, I reach over and place my hand on her knee. “In the name of honesty, I’m livin’ my twenty-three-year-old-self’s dream, so you could ask me anythin’ and I’d still think you were the coolest, hottest woman in Timber Falls right now.”
That earns me a blush and a lip quirk “Just Timber Falls?”
I wave my other hand in the air. “Alaska. The world. You know what I mean.”
“I do,” she says, her gorgeous green eyes dancing with amusement. “Doesn’t mean a girl doesn’t like hearing her date say it.”
My lips twitch as I nod. “I’ll remember that. But to answer your question, I can’t really explain it. I just haven’t ever felt settled anywhere else. It’s always been on the mountain—on our family land.”
She tilts her head and I find myself distracted by the sun shining off the golden tones of her hair. “You said you weren’t from here. But you visited often?”
“We’d visit every summer once we were old enough. Will first, then Case and I, and then Jude.”
“Not your sister?”
“Oh yeah, she’d come too, but she got sick of bein’ the only girl and havin’ to do ‘boys’ stuff’.”
Blair giggles. “Sounds like a girl after my own heart.”
“Yeah. Well, our grandfather was very much a guy’s guy. He was also a bit eccentric and very much into life off the grid. He was a bit of a prepper too.”
“Really?” she says, leaning forward. “Like with a bunker full of provisions and stuff? Tin hat stuff?”
I nod and shake my head. “A lot of the first, not so much the last. Though he would flip his lid knowin’ that Case put up a satellite dish.” I chuckle. “We do have a bunker though. I can show you it one day if you’d like.”
“Is it still full of stuff? Like the world could end and we’d all be OK at the Ranch for a few years?”
I can’t help but laugh at just how intrigued she is. “Yeah, and then some.”
“Wow. I definitely need a tour now.”
I arch a brow. “Second date sorted then. That was easy.”
“Deal! Sorry to hijack your story though. Carry on.” She covers my hand on her knee with hers and flexes her fingers against mine, reminding me it’s there but also setting my body alive like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
“I just–the ranch has always felt like home. Gramps was always there, and I knew that whatever happened, however bad or sad or lost I felt, I always had the mountain. I always had—”
“Home,” she finishes.
“Yeah.”
“I’m not sure I have a place like that,” Blair says, her eyes a little glassy now. “Don’t get me wrong, I have people—my family and then Alex and Cate. But seeing you with your brothers and Wy and the soon-to-be Cooper ladies, I wonder if I’m ever going to find it.”
My heart clenches because I know what she’s saying. She’s lost like I was before moving here. She’s spent so much time making her stamp on the world, and now she’s searching for a place where she truly feels home.
“I think that’s why I was so willing to consider the psychic reading and take it seriously.”
I clear my throat and do something twenty-three-year-old me would never have dared to do, turning my hand over to lace my fingers with hers. I wait until her eyes lift to mine before speaking. “Do you believe in fate?”
She bites her lip and I watch with avid fascination as she thinks about it for a moment. I don’t rush her though. That’s something I’d never do, not with something—someone—as important as this.
“I know logically that fate shouldn’t be possible. You can’t dictate someone’s thoughts and actions and somehow know that it will turn out the exact same way.”
“That’s more like the law of averages,” I quip.
She rolls her eyes. Her gaze drifts down to our hands and the growing heat between them. It feels right, real, and like we’re exactly where we were always meant to be.
But how do I explain that to her without freaking her out and scaring her off.
Then it comes to me. I show her while she’s here. Then maybe she won’t want to leave.
“I studied mythology for one of my electives. It was the one paper I chose that was purely for my interest and nothing else,” she says.
“OK…”
“And I remember the belief back then that each person’s destiny was like a thread that had been spun, measured and cut by the three Fates,” she explains. “What I didn’t know before talking to the psychic was whether I’d already determined my fate by putting my career before everything else.”
“You listened to her words and decided to throw caution to the wind and see what could be found in a small Alaskan mountain town?”
“Yeah… and hoped that while I was here, I'd get a sign from something or someone as to what comes next. At the very least, maybe I’ll remember why I chose this path in my life so far.” Her eyes jump wide and her whole body jolts, forcing her to release my hand and shift to her knees in front of me.
“Shoot. I totally just went all deep and meaningful with you on our first date! I’m so sorry! ”
“Hey,” I say, lifting up so I’m kneeling just like she is. “Is there anythin’ in this supposed first date rule book about goin’ with the flow and not worryin’ about whether you’ve said too much?” Or not enough, in my case.
She slowly shakes her head, her eyes looking at me with wonder and surprise. Then I see something click in her brain just before a giggle escapes her.
“What?”
“You said not to worry, but I always figured it would be you doing that, not me. Look at how the roles have reversed now,” she says, laughing again.
“I realized before that I haven’t once second-guessed anythin’ with you since we left the cabin. Past me would be high fivin’ present me right now.”
She cocks her head. “Not at all?” she asks curiously.
“Nope.”
“Why do you think that is?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know, but I’m definitely not goin’ to question it.”
“Why’s that?”
“Why tempt fate? Get it,” I say, trying and failing to keep a straight face.
She playfully hits my shoulder. “Dork.”
“Yep. And guess what? This dork is already lookin’ forward to our next date.”
Then she smiles at me and it’s so real, so genuine, that there’s no controlling the grin I give back to her. “I am too.”
“Good,” I say, sitting back down. “Did you want to head back soon? I don’t want to keep you if you’ve got things to do before work tomorrow.”
“Can we stay a little longer? It feels like we’re in our own little world here. I like sharing that with you.”
I like sharing that with you. Definitely high fiving myself right now.
“Whatever you want, gorgeous. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”