Page 33 of Rescued By the Mountain Man Cowboy
"Anything. I've been talking at you for three days. You owe me content."
I look over at her. Sun on her cheekbones. That piece of hair still stuck. She catches me looking and doesn't look away.
"I had an older lab named Bear. Died last fall."
"Oh, Luke."
"Old age. Good death. He's buried up here, actually. On this trail."
"Will you show me?"
I turn Buttercup off the main trail. Anna and Tuck follow.
A quarter mile off the path, there's a clearing I made myself. Mountain view between two big firs. A flat stone I hauled up here on a pack horse one Sunday when I couldn't bear to be in the cabin. I cut his name into it with a Dremel.
BEAR. GOOD BOY.
Anna swings down off Tuck without a word. Walks to the stone. Crouches. Puts her hand on it.
"Hi, Bear."
I dismount slowly.
"How long did you have him?"
"Eight years. Found him on the side of the road outside of Bend. No tag, no chip, nothing. Vet said he was about three then. He rode shotgun with me ten thousand miles before I landed here."
"He was loved."
"He was."
She stands. Doesn't ask anything else. Just dusts her hands on her jeans and looks at me like she’s reading my soul. I have to clear my throat.
"There's a spot up the ridge. Want to see it."
"Yes."
We mount back up.
The spot is a rock outcrop a half mile higher up, open to the south. The whole valley is laid out below it. The river cutting silver. Wild Peak's pastures and timber spread out like a map. On a clear day you can see all the way to the next county. Today is not a clear day.
I've been clocking the sky since we left the cabin. Front coming in fast off the coast. Spring storms here move quicker than people give them credit for. By the time we crest the ridge, the south is dark gray and the wind's shifted cold.
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"Is that coming this way?"
"In about ten minutes. We're heading back."
We turn the horses. Get maybe a quarter mile down before the first hard splat hits my hat. Then the second. Then the bottom drops out of the sky.
"Shit." Anna's already pushing wet hair out of her face. "Luke, this is not a sprinkle."
"No, ma'am."
"Anna."
