14. Doreen
DOREEN
After a hearty dinner cooked on the stove, they made love again (slow, sweet, and soft) and slept in Wick’s bed—big enough for two, sized for a shifter. By morning, as predicted, the storm had blown itself out completely. The snow was lower on the mountains, and the wind had made a mess, with knocked-down branches and anything loose in the logging yard tumbled into new locations.
Doreen walked around with Wick, her clothes slightly stiff from drying in front of the stove, and helped him pick things up and make some repairs to the roof of a woodshed.
It was such a gorgeous, stunning fall day that it made last night’s storm seem a distant memory, with only the puddles and downed branches as evidence the maelstrom of wind and rain had happened at all. The world was drenched in sunshine, sweetly warm as the chill of night faded away.
“I hate to get on the road, but I’m supposed to check out of the lodge this morning,” Doreen said regretfully after a leisurely late breakfast punctuated by kisses. Struck by a thought, she asked, “Do you think we can even get up to the lodge after last night’s storm?”
“Sure, old Red out there can handle it. Technically there’s a long way around, but it’s a lot longer, and you’re gonna be way past checkout by the time you get there. You feel like risking the shortcut after last night?”
“I’m not afraid,” she said, and found it was entirely true. This was not just badgerly bravado, although that helped. It was the conviction that nothing bad could happen to her as long as Wick was looking out for them both.
Wick flashed that bright smile. “Then let’s go. But I’ll make sure I have the chainsaw with me. The road might be blocked after a big blow like last night’s.”
He wasn’t wrong; they had to stop twice to cut trees out of the way. Shortcut or not, by the time they got back to the lodge, it was past noon.
“Sorry to kiss and run,” Doreen said, after indulging thoroughly in the kissing part. “I don’t want my stuff to end up in a pile outside my room. Not that Hester and Mauro would do any such thing, but I wouldn’t want to inconvenience them.”
Wick ran his hands through her hair, lingering behind her ear. “When can I expect to see you again?”
“Soon,” Doreen said. Her decision was starting to firm up at the back of her mind; it was just a matter of putting it into action. “Very soon.”
“You made a decision?” She could tell he was trying to keep the hope out of his voice, but it bled in anyway.
“Wick, my decision was made last night. I’m coming back, and I’m coming for good.”
Watching the joy spread across his face banished any lingering shreds of doubt. It was true: this was where she belonged, where she was meant to be.
“How long?” Wick asked.
“Long enough to wrap things up for good in the city. You don’t have a phone, do you?”
“No. But you can leave messages for me at the lodge. I’ll get them.”
From the sound of his voice, he would be checking every day.
“Let’s say next weekend for sure,” Doreen promised. “If not sooner. See you in a few days.”
After one last kiss, she hopped down from the truck and waved goodbye as Wick pulled out of the yard.
“Was that Wick?” Mauro asked, coming out of a shed wiping his hands on a shop towel. “Oh good, you’re just the person I wanted to see.”
“I’m sorry, I know I’m late checking out?—”
“Don’t worry about that.” Mauro waved it off. “Actually, I was wondering if you could take a look at our emergency generator. We had a power blip last night, always a good time to check if the generator is in good working order, since we can have long outages in the winter. It didn’t kick on, and I can’t figure out why. Do you mind giving us an opinion on it?”
Doreen was able to diagnose it quickly as a bad solenoid. The replacement would need to be ordered, but Hester and Mauro were delighted.
“I’m so glad you hadn’t left yet,” Hester said. “Otherwise we’d have had to get a repair person to come up here, and it would have cost a lot. Are you sure we can’t pay you?”
Doreen shook her head, smiling. “I couldn’t possibly take your money. It hardly took me ten minutes.”
“We’ve never had a mechanic on staff,” Mauro said. “I’m the general handyman and I have been for years, since long before Hester and I started managing the place. I can do all the basic maintenance, build things, you name it. But anything specialized means that we have to get someone who’s willing to come all the way out here, and things often go a long time without being repaired.” He hesitated. “This is a crazy thought, but I don’t suppose you need a job, do you?”
“You’re—offering?” Doreen asked hesitantly.
“I know you’re hardly going to jump on the opportunity to move to the middle of nowhere,” Hester said. “But even if you could come up a few times a year to do repairs for us, it would be more than we’ve had in the past.”
Doreen’s heart beat faster at the sense of possibilities opening up in front of her. “I have some business to take care of in the city,” she told them. “I’m weighing a few options, and I can’t give you a definite answer quite yet. But ... I think I’ll have one for you soon.”
The drive back was a blur, and a night in her old apartment simply reminded her of how little here she was really attached to. Moving to the woods wasn’t something she would ever have normally considered; she needed machines to work on in order to be happy. But the idea of maintaining and improving Wick’s logging and electrical generation setup looked like a project that could keep her busy for years, not to mention keeping everything at the lodge running smoothly.
She wondered if the little community around the lodge could use a full-time mechanic. It sounded like they could.
The next morning, Tuesday, she arrived bright and early when Mike’s Garage opened. The guys were delighted to see her, clapping her on the back and shaking her hand, and she realized she was really going to miss them.
But there was no doubt in her mind that leaving was the right option.
Mike Jr. was in the office with a new-looking computer on the desk. He grimaced when she walked in and stood up to shake her hand without saying a word of greeting. Offering no apologies, he muttered, “The bays are full, and we just got a walk-in needing repairs on an RV. Get to work, Delano.”
“In a minute,” Doreen said. Funny, she no longer cared in the slightest what this petty little man thought of her. He had no power over her. He couldn’t even make her mad anymore. She smiled politely at him. “I’m here to turn in my notice.”
The look on his face reminded her of a flounder as he gaped for a minute before getting his mouth under control. “We just hired you back, over my objections, I might add, and now you’re walking out again?”
“I’ll wrap up my in-progress jobs before I go. But yes,” Doreen said. “I got a better offer.”
Mike Jr.’s disbelief turned to scoffing. “Oh, really? What are they paying? Because we’re a highly competitive workplace.”
“I know you are.” She had genuinely enjoyed working here, apart from a small percentage of the employees. Mike Sr. took good care of his workers, and she was going to miss the benefits package. “It’s not about the money. You wouldn’t understand. Let me know if I need to sign anything, and then I’ll go talk to the guys.”
She was sorry to leave them after they had gone to bat for her, but when she explained what she was moving on to (a sole proprietorship in a small town in the mountains) she got nothing but congratulations, even though she could tell some of them thought she was nuts to move that far out to the middle of nowhere.
“Always knew you were going to have your own shop someday, Missy D,” Tim remarked. “We’ll have to throw you a going-away party.”
And they did. She was delighted with the cake in the shape of a Camaro, and Mike Sr. showed up to shake her hand and wish her well.
“I really appreciate you getting me my job back, sir,” Doreen told him. “It’s just that I’d already lined up something else after being fired, and I can’t disappoint them. I—I think my future is there, not here.”
“Don’t apologize, Delano, or even think it,” Mike Sr. said gruffly. “The place won’t be the same without you, but wherever you go and whatever you do, I know you’re gonna do good.”
Doreen’s lease still had a couple of months, so she decided to keep the apartment for the duration so that she could move her stuff up to Wick’s place in a few trips. The move was going to involve getting rid of a lot of her belongings, since there wasn’t much room in the cabin, and she would rather deal with it later.
She didn’t want to wait another minute longer to see him again.
The clear weather had held, just as Wick had predicted. Doreen drove up into the mountains, the Camaro stuffed with all her favorite things, through a brilliantly sunny autumn day with barely a cloud in the sky. The snow-covered peaks were sharp and bright in front of her, like a beacon guiding her home.
She might have to sell the Camaro, she thought. There was no way it was going to make it down the steep, narrow logging road to the valley. But there were other options. She might park it at the lodge for summer driving fun and share the truck with Wick. Or they might get another project vehicle and she could fix it up.
There were lots of options.
All the possibilities in the world.
She had sent word ahead to the lodge, but she still felt a visceral jolt in her chest at the welcome sight of the red truck parked in front of the steps. Wick and Mauro sat on the edge of the flatbed, chatting.
As she pulled in beside the truck, Wick jumped down, his face lighting up. Doreen flung herself out of the driver’s seat and into his arms for a crushing embrace and a long, long kiss.
“Hi, honey,” Wick told her, beaming. “Welcome home.”