Chapter Fourteen
Last night had been wildly erotic, and maybe it wasn’t the best thing in the world that he had gone ahead and christened the brand-new tent in the most carnal way possible.
But hell, if you stayed in hotels, that was the risk you were taking.
It really seemed right that he got to help break the bed in, considering a lot of his money had gone into buying this stuff.
When he woke up, Ernestine was gone. And he put his jeans on and wandered out of the tent. Everyone was sitting around the fire—even Dakota, with eggs and bacon, coffee. He never overslept. He didn’t know what the hell that was about.
“Good morning,” Dakota said meaningfully. “You overslept.”
“I guess I did.”
“Somebody was working the night shift,” said Jax.
He looked at Ernestine, worried that she would be upset, and while her cheeks were pink, she was laughing behind her hand.
“Yeah. Well. I’m going to need some of that coffee.”
“Don’t worry,” Jessica said. “We brewed you a second round. Figure you would want a fresh cup.”
“I do, thank you.”
“I was actually filling them in on the significance of the discovery that I made.”
“Sounds good,” Rowdy said. “I mean, even I’m interested in it. Who doesn’t like dinosaurs?”
“Probably the lawyer in Jurassic Park,” Jax said. “I mean, not at this point.”
“Please,” Ernestine said, fixing him with a very teacher-like glare, and he couldn’t say he didn’t like it. In fact, he liked it quite a bit.
“She doesn’t like Jurassic Park,” he said.
“I imagine it’s not scientifically accurate,” Dakota said.
“Who cares?” Jax asked.
“Would you watch a movie with bad fighting?”
“Trick question. I have to do that all the time. Because a lot of movies have bad fighting in them. And I just have to deal with it.”
“Well, I don’t like it,” she said. “And I think that’s reasonable. It’s an entire franchise built around the idea that people would simply ignore the threat of dinosaurs in order to be able to see them.”
“Have you met people?” Jax asked. “That is perhaps the most realistic part of the movie. People make dumb decisions all the time either because they think it will make them rich, or because they want to feel something.”
“Ouch,” Rowdy said. “That’s quite a statement on humanity.”
“It’s true. My profession, and yours, kind of speaks to that.”
“Again, ouch,” Rowdy said.
“You’ll live,” Jax said, unrepentant.
“Also,” Ernestine said. “Mastodons aren’t dinosaurs. They’re mammals. Oregon didn’t really have dinosaurs.”
“That’s disappointing,” Rowdy said.
“Life is disappointing,” Dakota added.
“Well, I think Ernestine should stay around and run a gift shop,” Jessica said. “God knows I don’t like being the only woman around.”
Ernestine blinked, and looked at him with what appeared to be abject terror.
“Ernestine can’t stay and run a gift shop,” he said. “Because she is actually a very important scientist who works in a premier natural history museum. So, she has to go back.”
Jessica sighed. “I mean, I know that, because I have a sense for how brilliant she is, but I selfishly would like to keep her as a new friend.”
Ernestine looked awash in emotion at that statement. And he felt… He always wanted to pick her up and protect her. Wanted to make her feel safe and secure. Wanted.
He cleared his throat. “Just so you know, Ernestine, the gift shop option is available if the museum ever seems like it’s getting boring.”
“Thanks,” she choked.
There was a point where they had to get to ranch duties, and Ernestine decided to go write up a proposal about the employment idea for the museum, and also send some progress reports to her boss.
Though, later she confided in him that she didn’t tell the museum director about her discovery via email.
“I just don’t think it’s a good idea. Anyway, I need to be more sure about what I’ve got. Tomorrow, I’ll hopefully make some more progress, and gather more information.”
“I don’t blame you for not wanting to put it in writing. All things considered.”
“Yes. It’s dangerous to do that. I don’t know who’s looking at emails, and I still don’t know who told Haley about my research.”
“Not your boss, though.”
“Oh. No. There’s no way. That would only compromise the museum, and if she wanted to help Haley, then she would hire Haley at the museum. Also, she is a woman who is not interested in women.”
“Got it. Pretty much discounts her then.”
“For many reasons.”
“What will this mean for you professionally?” he asked, elbows resting on the counter as he looked across the bar at her. They had just finished dinner, and he had a feeling he was going to end up staying the night with her again. Because he wanted to. Because they wanted to be around each other.
“I don’t know, a lot. Possibly a promotion.
Job offers from museums around the world, which I would have to think very critically about, because I love my museum, and so much of my work is centered there.
I mean, the implications for this are pretty profound.
Because it isn’t only that I was using this equipment, it’s that my research brought me here.
Which means that the way I determine migration patterns is right.
It’s better than what a lot of other people have done.
I have all the data on how I arrived at the conclusion that I would find a high concentration of animals here.
And while some of that information is in what Haley got hold of, not all of it, because I reserved this place.
And that’s a huge missing element to the information that she has. ”
“Conniving.”
“You have to be. I’m not naturally that way.
Not even a little bit. But I had to be with all of this subterfuge going on.
But this is going to be a new method for finding fossils, believe me.
It’s going to change the way that people do their research, and decide where to dig.
And that really is going to be something. ”
She was quiet for a moment, and then looked up at him. “I keep thinking about what Jessica said. About the gift shop.”
“That was silly. Obviously she doesn’t know anything about what you do.”
Ernestine shook her head. “I’m not offended. Believe me, people take me very seriously. I’m not offended. Only…what if there was a museum?”
“What?”
“I’m not suggesting it would be a museum that I would work at. Obviously it’s not…”
“You’re not talking about anything on the caliber that you work for.”
“No. Of course not. But I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea.
A museum that centers on the history of this area, and on the prehistoric migrations, we can even do migrations of people.
We can partner with local indigenous groups and tribes and make sure we get human history represented as well.
But…think about it. It’s another thing you can use your land for. ”
“But there’s very little out here. And already putting a resort out here is kind of improbable. I feel like adding a museum… Can we even support the foot traffic of it all?”
“I don’t know. But I think having everything as close to the actual site as possible would be amazing.
And then we could do tours out to the footprints, and I just think there’s something to this.
Because of the significance of what I found.
I don’t know if I’m right. Maybe it’s something we need to talk more to different local people about.
But I just think… I think there’s a possibility here. And I’d really like to explore it.”
“And how are you going to float this to…? Who do you even float an idea like this with?”
“The museum. I would propose it as an offshoot, funded by our museum. Small, honestly, and maybe we would rotate displays, and share what we have with the Oregon Museum of Natural History and Science. But there are some great museums in small, out-of-the-way areas. If you’ve never been to the aviation museum near Corvallis, you really should go sometime.
You would be amazed at how much of a hidden gem it is, and people go to it.
I know it’s not your world, but it is mine.
And I think there’s a real possibility of something happening with all this. ”
“I think if you think that…that would be great.”
And it would be another place for people in their job program to work.
Their job program. He didn’t really know what he was thinking.
He was probably getting too tangled up. Ernestine wasn’t staying.
She wasn’t going to work at a museum out in the middle of nowhere.
It didn’t make any sense. It would never make sense.
But then, what she was suggesting was potentially a great idea for the property.
It would give people a reason to come for the day, and it might even be something fun for people who live here.
“I would have to talk to Rowdy and Dakota, obviously, but I can say with certainty that they’re going to be on board with it. Anything we can do to add value to the location.”
He was trying to get a read on whether she was excited about it. If it was something that she wanted. It would link them, in a way. But there was no chance that they wouldn’t be linked. He would always be her first.
It made his chest tighten. Because being her first made it seem like it was inevitable there would be more.
There would have to be. Ernestine was too wonderful to spend her life alone.
She deserved everything. Always. And maybe she had just needed a little bit of a confidence booster to claim that for herself.
He was happy to provide it, sort of. There was a little bit of jealousy at the thought of the men who would have her after.