Page 83 of The Outpost (Jamison Valley 4)
“Hey, Dad.”
“Hi, there,” he said, holding out his hand as the Monday Night Football pregame show blared in the background.
I took a seat in the recliner opposite his after we shook.
“Beau?” Mom called from the kitchen, shouting so she could be heard over the blaring TV. “Do you want a beer?”
“Me too!” Dad yelled before I could answer.
“I’ll go get them.” I stood and made my way to the beer fridge in the garage. Mom lived to wait on us, it was one of many things she did to show just how much she cared, but I tried to serve myself when I was here. Mom had enough to do in the kitchen on nights like this. Making a meal to feed her husband’s oversized belly and her two enormous sons was no small task.
“Here you go,” I said, handing Dad his Budweiser before opening my Bud Light.
“Michael called,” Mom said, coming into the living room. “He’s going to be late.” She bent down to kiss Dad’s cheek, then went back to the kitchen.
“What’s new?” Dad asked me, muting the commercials on the television.
“Nothing new. Just more of the same. Busy.” I’d been working as hard as I could during the week so I could take off as soon as possible Friday afternoons. For the first time in my life, I was living for my weekends. I was living for my time with Sabrina. Because of her, I was starting to live my own life.
“You sure have been spending a lot of time in the mountains this year.” Dad chuckled. “Reminds me of your grandpa. When I was a kid, he’d drag us all out camping as soon as the snow started to melt and keep taking us up until the first snow stuck.”
I smiled. “That was Grandpa.” Though, I was sure he hadn’t been disappearing into the mountains to meet up with the woman he’d stashed there.
“Well, now that the weather’s changing, it will be nice to have you around more on the weekends.”
“Yeah,” I muttered as he turned the volume back up.
The weather had been on my mind a lot this week. Seasons were changing and having Sabrina at the outpost alone during the winter just wasn’t an option. The snow in those mountain valleys came early and stayed deep. Since there was no way in hell I’d let her go into witness protection, I really only had one choice.
It was time to bring her into my home.
And once she was settled there, I was going to ask her to stay. For good.
Sabrina
August passed and with it the hot weather.
It was the middle of September and the mountain hills had already gotten a light snow. My new weekday routine now included pulling on thick socks and lighting a fire before starting my coffee. On the weekends, Beau was in charge of making the outpost toasty warm. Even though the little building had electric baseboard heat, it just couldn’t stand up to a nice fire.
“What do you want to do today?” I asked, burrowed into our sleeping bag while Beau was at the wood stove.
“Let’s go for a hike.”
I smiled. “Sounds perfect.”
The leaves of the deciduous trees had started to turn. Their neon yellow and warm amber leaves shone brightly against the deep green of the fir trees, and the hills surrounding my outpost valley were as beautiful as they’d ever been.
Beau and I didn’t rush outside. We spent the first part of the morning inside, waiting for the chill to burn off before setting out through the meadow and up a familiar trail. The hike was easy but long, and after an hour, we’d risen high enough in the mountains that small clumps of snow dotted the forest floor around us.
“We need to talk.” Beau stopped in a small clearing and sat down on a dry rock, patting the space at his side for me to join him.
I gave him a sideways glance. “Are you breaking up with me? Is it the sex? I’m too much for you to keep up with, aren’t I?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Sit down.”
I frowned but sat. Our seat was small so Beau threw an arm around my back to pin me to his side.
“In case you didn’t know, when a man starts a conversation with ‘we need to talk,’ a woman automatically assumes the worst.”
