Page 19 of Working for the Mountain Man

"It was a mistake," I say.

She sets the file down. "Funny," she says. "It didn't feel like one."

I sigh. "That's the problem."

She looks at me for a long moment. I hold her gaze and I watch her nod. "Okay," she says finally. "Fine." She picks the file back up and I go back to the weather report. Neither of us says anything else. But the air in the room is different, more tense, more charged and I have no idea what to do about it.

My cell rings, and Darnell’s name flashes across the screen.

I answer before the second ring. “What’ve you got?”

“I’m on upper ridge,” he says. “Access route’s still open, but it’s getting slick.”

“How’s the bridge?”

“That’s the problem, the drainage channel’s running hard from last night’s runoff. There’s debris near the repair.”

That’s not good. “Near it or against it?”

I hear his deep sigh. “Can’t tell without getting closer.”

“Then don’t.”

“I wasn’t planning to.” Wind cuts through the line. “The bank’s too slick, but the state file’s flagged for that repair, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then it needs eyes before the storm hits properly.”

I’m already reaching for my jacket. “I’m coming up.”

“I can wait for Corey,” he tells me.

“No. Stay where you are, keep eyes on the runoff, but don’t go past the marker.”

“Copy.”

“If that shoulder starts moving, get back in the truck.”

“Already in it.”

I am pulling my jacket on when Elsie says, "I'm coming."

"No."

"Hugo."

"The upper ridge road is icy, the site is remote, and visibility is going to drop this afternoon. There is no reason to put you on a mountain in this."

She stands up, the file checklist in her hand, the one she built herself, every site coded and cross-referenced. "I have thedocumentation checklist," she says. "I know what photos need date stamps and what angles the state team wants and what the supplementary weather note needs to say. You know the site, and I know the file. You need both."

"I can handle the documentation."

She raises a brow. "You said that about the filing system too."

I sigh, she’s right, but I don’t want her on the mountain in this weather.

"You keep saying you're protecting me," she says, quieter now. "But sometimes it feels a lot like you're keeping me where you don't have to deal with me."