Page 7 of Mountain Man's Summer Drift
“For what?”
Ross picked up his sweet tea, took a long pull, and set it down again. “For me.”
I gaped at him.
He didn’t look away.
I picked up my water and drank it slowly to give my face something to do, because if I didn’t I was going to say something I couldn’t take back. He watched me drink. He didn’t pretend not to.
The waitress came back with our burgers and set them down with a flourish. I looked at mine and realized I wasn’t hungry. I picked up a fry anyway.
“How do you know Kyron?” I asked, because I had to say something.
“We’re partners. A group of us owns the outfitter.”
“All of you live here?”
“Now we do.”
“What does that mean?”
He picked up his burger and set it down again without taking a bite. “I haven’t lived anywhere long in my life. Military family growing up. Then I moved around for work. I came through Wildwood Valley a couple of years ago for a construction job that didn’t work out, and Bishop—that’s another partner—offered me a position as a guide. I took it. Partnership came after that.”
“How long have you been a partner?”
“A year.”
“Do you like it?”
He thought about that longer than I expected him to. “Yes,” he finally said.
“You sure?”
“I’m sure today.”
It was the most honest thing anyone had said to me in a long time. I didn’t know him at all, and I couldn’t figure out why hewas being honest with me. I couldn’t figure out why I wanted to be honest back.
“I haven’t done anything I wanted to do in two years,” I said.
He went still.
“I went to college because my mother wanted me to,” I said. “I took on every client that came my way the first year because I didn’t know how to say no. I told my landlord last month I’d renew my lease because he asked. I came on this trip because Suri asked me to. I don’t actually know what I want.”
“You wanted to walk this morning,” he said.
“I wanted to get off the couch.”
“That’s wanting something.”
I stared at him.
He picked up his burger again and took a bite. He chewed. He swallowed.
“What time are you supposed to be back at the cabin?” he asked.
“There’s no ‘supposed to.’ Suri’s on the river.”
“All afternoon?”
