Page 51 of Valley Girls
“Seriously, man. You could kill everyone in here.”
His cheeks flushed; but before she could decide if he was actually blushing, he stepped to the counter to order.
Trent lazily leaned on the counter. “How’s it hanging, Skidmore?” He asked while Walker signed the clipboard.
“Good.” Rilla muttered, avoiding eye contact. Trent was in his mid-forties and one of the long-time employees that seemed like he was there because his main passions in life included collecting dolls and being a serial killer, and this was how he funded his needs for tarp, rope, and mint condition dolls.
She ordered, signed the clipboard with Thea’s initials, and joined Walker at the table, where he leaned on folded arms, watching passersby.
Rilla pulled her leg up on the chair and leaned back. “How’s the rescue business?”
He smiled. “Good. Not too busy yet. How’s Ranger Miller?”
She groaned. “Oh no.”
“Oh yes. I thought that was you streaking past. I knew for sure when I saw him running after you.”
Rilla wanted to put her face in her hands and hide from embarrassment, but she just poked at the salt shaker. “Well, it’s an unorthodox exercise program for him, I must admit. But it seems to be working.”
Walker laughed, lacing his fingers over his stomach.
“Are you originally from Colorado?” That’s where he’d gotten on her bus. Her fingers had smelled like beef jerky and her hair a little bit like the joint she’d smoked outside a gas station in Salina, Kansas.
Then, he was just a boy. Who came down the center aisle with the slanted evening light casting long streams across his chest and face. His eyes had roved over the bus, looking for an empty seat—their true color distorted into an intense purple in the deep gold sunlight tipping over the edges of the still snow-covered Rockies.
He shook his head,no. Then said, “Yes.”
She gave him a confused look.
He stretched his fingers, still looking at people around them. “I’m from southern Ohio, but I’ve been living in Colorado since I left home at seventeen. With summers here.”
She tried to control the eagerness in her voice. “Did you move out at the same time as Caroline?”
He nodded. “She’s only a year older than me. We moved to Colorado together.” He paused a moment, then glanced at her. “You’re seventeen?”
She nodded, dropping her gaze. “I’ll be eighteen at the end of June.” It felt weird to say it so specifically. As if he knew she was thinking about them together. That thought only made her brain immediately conjure up a question about what he looked like naked, and then she was blushing. “What brought you to Yosemite?” she asked quickly to cover her embarrassment, even though it was an overly stiff and formal question.
He laughed. “Are you kidding? Other than the climbing, perfect weather, and great people?”
“Yeah.” She nodded, still trying to control her blush.
“I bet your friends back home are jealous,” he said.
She shrugged. “Sure.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You and Thea have the same mom, right?”
She nodded, hesitant at this new vein of conversation.
“You two are pretty different.”
She shrugged. “Thea’s dad is Mexican.”
“Oh. That’s not what I meant,” he said hastily. “Thea’s talked about your dads.”
“What do you like to draw?” she blurted out before she could think how to say it better.
It was his turn to flush, and he shrugged. “Copying route maps helps me remember them better. That’s all.”
