Chapter 11
Taylor
I noticed the bars spring back on my phone but didn’t plan on doing anything about it.
Not when things between Wyatt and me were showing the promise of something more.
She could play coy all she wanted; I was there in that living room with her.
My hand on her face, my lips heading for hers.
I saw the way she didn’t pull away. Felt her wanting it as much as I did.
I would’ve been happy to keep the locked in act going for a little longer. But my friends weren’t that restrained. The video call came through halfway into our morning session with the bookshelf.
Our session.
Because I’d officially been promoted to Head Tool Handler while Wyatt was perched on the ladder.
Michael Keaton pretended to be okay with his demotion, by taking his role as mood enhancer more seriously than usual. Every time I bent down to pick up something he’d come at me with slobbering kisses and a tail wag emphatic enough to fell a fully grown pine tree.
Alex had called, so she was front and center of the screen, but I could see the others hanging around in the background. All of them looking as relieved as Alex to see that I wasn’t, in fact, deader than disco.
“I don’t even care that I’ve just lost a hundred bucks,” Alex said, a huge grin on her face. “I’m so happy to see you’re in one piece.”
“You guys had a bet running?” I wasn’t sure whether I should be more insulted by that, or the fact that Alex had bet against me surviving.
“Not that you’re not capable of making it out there.” She quickly backpedaled. “But what about wolves, you know? There are very real threats to consider.”
“Eaten by wolves.” Reid’s head popped into frame. “She said you’d be eaten by wolves.”
“And I picked popsicle.” Cameron’s voice came from off camera. “So Alex isn’t the only loser here. But I’m fine with it too! You can take me out for dinner when you get back.”
I glanced at Wyatt, who was overly interested in marking off the dots where she was about to hammer. I knew she was listening, though, and wondered what conclusions she was jumping to about my friends.
“I’m the one who almost died in a snowstorm, and have been stuck up in the mountains for days, and I have to buy you dinner?”
Cameron mumbled something I couldn’t make out, but it made Alex and the others laugh. I was in no hurry to get home, but their laughter filling the quiet cabin sure felt good.
“You’re okay, though, right?” Alex asked once her laughter had died down. “You look like you’re okay.”
I nodded, smiling softly. “Aside from a few scrapes and bruises, I’m okay.”
Wyatt turned to look at me, and I shook my head slightly. There was no reason to tell them about the concussion or the wound in my thigh. What good was it to worry them when they were all the way back home? She gave me a look of understanding and went back to her work.
“No wolves, and the frostbite didn’t leave any permanent damage,” I went on. “It’s been quite the adventure, actually.”
I was strangely self-conscious about that admission and tucked my hair behind my ear. Alex’s eagle eyes spotted the hammer in my hand as it came up and her eyes widened.
“Is that what I think it is?” Another round of laughter sounded really close. “You’re not kidding about the adventure, are you?”
The others crowded in, their curiosity getting the better of them.
“Oh my God, Taylor, a hammer?” Hayden broke in, dragging the others along with her.
“I’ll have you know that I’m becoming quite handy with these things,” I quipped defensively. “Those who laugh last, laugh loudest.”
Reid shoved Hayden out of the way and nearly took up the whole screen as she schooled her features into a solemn expression. She snorted, holding back her own laughter.
“Don’t listen to them, Taylor. I think it’s great,” she said. “Will flannel be the next step? You’d rock the lumberjack look.”
I bit my lips, trying not to laugh, because just in front of me, on the top of her ladder, stood Wyatt… a green flannel shirt tied around her waist. She rolled her eyes, shaking her head with a small laugh as she carried on marking off the timber.
“I don’t need flannel to DIY circles around you guys,” I said with a little wave of my hammer. “Now, if you don’t mind, some of us have work to do.”
“Wait!” It was a collective yell from all of them.
Alex pushed back to the center of the group. “Don’t we at least get to meet the good Samaritan who’s had to put up with your bullshit this whole time?”
The audacity of that comment, and the smirk Wyatt wore when she heard it.
I tapped the screen to swap my camera and pointed the phone at Wyatt. “Ladies, meet Wyatt.”
My heart gave a little jump when I said her name out loud like that. To them.
She looked over, blushing a little, and gave a shy wave at the phone while my friends became an instant choir, with ‘Hi Wyatt’ being their first single.
“And this is Mr. Michael Keaton.” I aimed my phone at the golden Lab, who’d been diligently sitting by my side throughout the call.
The choir’s second hit single was a series of ‘awwwws’ and ‘good boys’, mixed in with unintelligible baby language.
“He’s the reason Alex is out by a hundred bucks, and I have to take Cameron to dinner, apparently. No wolves or popsicles, because of this brave boy.”
“Why, thank you, Mr. Michael Keaton.” Alex spoke directly to him. “You saved some of our most prized cargo over there.”
“Rescued by a mysterious mountain woman and her golden companion.” Reid sighed dreamily. “Sounds like something out of a movie.”
“Or a riveting chapter of your memoir,” Cameron chimed in from off screen again. “How I became lumberjack. It has bestseller written all over it.”
Wyatt snorted, then quickly hid the fact that she’d been actively listening to our conversation. When I looked up, she was utterly focused on her bookshelf.
“What are you smiling about?” Alex called me out, never one to miss anything.
I knew that she, along with the others, probably had some curiosity about Wyatt. But I didn’t want to spill anything just yet. It was all so fresh, and part of me wanted to keep this little world I’d stumbled into just for myself. For ourselves—Wyatt and me.
“It’s nothing,” I replied, playing it down as best I could. “I’ve just missed you guys, that’s all.”
“So come home!” This time, Hayden was yelling off camera.
“Sure,” I piped up with forced brightness in my voice. “Let me just get my boots. Be right there.”
Alex shook her head with a laugh, but it turned out that Hayden was serious. At least, I learned that when the phone was swiped and Alex disappeared.
Hayden was all business when she came on screen. “I mean it, Taylor. The weather report says visibility will be good in a couple of days for rescue choppers to go out.”
“I’m not a rescue case, Hayden. But thank you.”
She quirked her eyebrow, her lips pulled tight. She wasn’t having it. “Not a rescue case? You have no idea what it’s like having to sit through brunch with these degenerates and not have you there to balance it out.”
“Wait, you guys were still doing brunch even though you didn’t know whether I was alive or dead out here?” Part of it was feigned offense, but mostly it was real.
Hayden shrugged. “Would it help if I said they were sad and worried brunches?”
This time I laughed out loud, and it felt good to see Wyatt stifling laughter, too. I liked that she liked my friends. That part felt the best.
“But seriously, though.” Hayden was still going. “I have a chopper. We actually all have at least one in our fleet. I can have my guy out there the second the sky opens up. I don’t want you turning into a mountain goat or something. I don’t want that on my conscience.”
My heart dropped, and I hoped she didn’t notice it and that I was fast enough to grab back my feelings before they showed up, bright and blazing all over my face.
I didn’t want to be rescued. Not just yet.
Not when the wall of ice surrounding Wyatt was finally beginning to thaw out.
“If the sky’s clearing in a couple of days, then that means I can find my own way out of here soon,” I replied. “No need to send in the cavalry. I’m fine.”
“You’re fine…” Hayden frowned, narrowing her eyes at me. “You’re fine…?”
I nodded briskly, even managing a smile. “I’m somewhere safe and warm, and well-fed. I don’t mind waiting out the worst of it before heading back.”
There was a slight tremor in my voice, and I didn’t miss the way Wyatt’s head whipped around to stare at me. I kept my own eyes glued to the screen, though. There was no way I could hide feelings from my friends as well as Wyatt. Different feelings, different meanings, all at the same time.
“Fine, meaning you’ve already grown a woolly coat to stay warm up there?” Cameron again. Off screen, again.
There was a loud burst of laughter: Reid. She added, “Or she’s sprouted hooves to navigate those treacherous slopes.”
“Calm down,” I said, chuckling a little myself. “I’m in no danger whatsoever. Of dying or, believe it or not, turning into a mountain goat.”
Thankfully, Hayden didn’t push any further. She simply shrugged and said, “Okay, have it your way.”
After a few more affectionate jabs at my handyman skills they finally let me go, leaving the cabin weirdly quiet. In fact, there was something uncomfortable about the silence that hung in the air, thick with unspoken words. It was clear Wyatt had questions, but I wasn’t sure how to address them.
“So, why didn’t you take them up on the offer to go home?”
I sighed, tossing my phone onto the couch before going to stand at the foot of the ladder. I looked up at her, but she remained steadfast in her focus on the bookshelf.
“It’s exactly what I said,” I started, trying to read the part of her face I could see. “I’ve been making good progress under your care, and anyway… it’s not like I have anything to rush back to.”
I watched her closely, but she didn’t give me much. There was a subtle relaxation in her posture and a softening of her jaw and the area around her eyes. But she quickly masked it with a casual shrug.
“I guess that makes sense,” she murmured.
Michael Keaton padded over, nuzzling my hand with what I thought was his way of being supportive. I smiled at him, ruffling his fur gratefully. At least there was one living creature I had no trouble reading.
“Hey, is there anyone you’d like to call now that the lines are back? Someone who needs to know that you’re okay?” I pressed gently, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable. Like I was prying.
I was totally prying, but I wanted to seem considerate about it.
Wyatt paused, her hands hovering over the wooden planks she’d been working on. Her gaze seemed distant, lost in thought. But then, abruptly, she stuck her carpenter’s pencil behind her ear and descended the ladder. Averting her eyes from me the whole time.
“I, uh… I think I need to take a shower,” she mumbled, her voice betraying a touch of awkwardness.
I watched her go into the bathroom, a knot of uncertainty forming in my stomach. I’d pressed gently, but apparently it was still too much. Michael Keaton sensed the shift in the air and let out a low whine, padding after Wyatt.
Things were weird between us for the rest of the day.
I tried my best to make conversation and Wyatt was gracious about it, but not engaging.
That was how I got into bed, with no clue about how I was going to fix it.
My first thought was to use the fact that we were finally sharing to break back through the wall that had sprung up.
But when Wyatt got into bed she was clear about keeping to her side, maintaining a noticeable distance.
It was like she’d placed down an invisible force field that was meant to keep us separate, one she was not going to breach at all costs.
Her actions spoke volumes, revealing her underlying uncertainty about whatever it was that lingered between us.
I turned to face her, inadvertently breathing in her scent and letting it settle deep into my lungs. I wanted to draw her out, but I didn’t want to put my foot in it another time.
“At least it’s a stretch better than the couch, right?” I smiled at her back.
Her response was a tentative nod, and that was all.
And though the storm outside raged on, it felt like an entirely different kind of tempest was brewing within the walls of the cabin that night.