“What are you doing?” Lana’s voice is laced with shock and I turn to find her eyes wide.
She’s completely transformed with a white top that shows just the right amount of cleavage and jeans that hug her curves. Her long hair cascades down her back and for a moment I can’t think straight.
Lana continues, “You can’t write on that.” Her mouth falls open.
"Just did. Landlord doesn’t like it, he can take it up with me. But now you have my number. Memorize it, you know, in case your phone's dead. Or broken. Or somebody took it. Use it anytime you need me and I’ll be here, no questions asked.”
She hesitates for a moment. Then Lana gives me a slight nod, but doesn't say anything and I notice the way her eyes go glassy.
“Jordan, thank you.”
CHAPTER 6
JORDAN
We makeit down the narrow winding road and up Bearclaw Mountain Pass. Lana looks good sitting in my passenger seat. Her thighs press into the fabric of her denim and it’s all I can do to stay focused on the road in front of me.
She puts her arm on the center console and when our arms brush, electric tingles whip through my body. We talk about everything and nothing all at once. I ask about her favorite things like some kind of lovesick teenager.
Lana answers all my questions and still leaves me wanting more. Then she asks me about growing up in Whispering Pines and I tell her all the reasons I’d never choose to live anywhere else.
We wind up the narrow road and Lana winces when she sees the steep drop-offs on either side. I promise her the drive will be worth it. Then because it feels right, I put my hand on hers. She relaxes with my reassurance and that feels good. I want to be her calm in her storm.
The drive ends too quickly for my liking. There isn’t anywhere else I’d rather be than here with Lana. But we pull into the overlook anyway and I turn the truck off.
“We’re here? It’s beautiful, but where is everyone?”
“This place just opened for the season. The State Forest Authority takes their closures real seriously, it looks like the word isn’t out yet. We’ve got the whole place to ourselves.” Lana grins at me and I get out. We drop the tailgate and hoist the cooler into the bed. I unfold the wool blanket that lives in my cab and climb inside. Then I help her up beside me.
“I can see why you love this place. It’s stunning.” Lana looks out at the valley open below us.
The view does not disappoint. Majestic trees stretch out as far as the eye can see. The town sits in the bottom of it like something held in two hands. I’ve seen this view hundreds of times, but with Lana by my side it all looks new.
I hand her a sandwich. “You can see what’s left of the school over there. Then between those trees is the firehouse. You can see the roof of my house too, just to the right of it.”
“Do you come up here often?”
“Have to, it’s practically a requirement of living in Whispering Pines. I come up here to think or get away from it all. I can see my whole damn life from up here.”
“It’s a beautiful life you have out here.” She looks at me from behind her glasses with that pouty smile that makes my heart race.
"It hasn’t always been. But it’s looking better these days.”
She looks out at the valley. “No, I don’t buy that for a second. You don’t have any messy parts. You're just trying to make me feel better since I told you about the mess I’m in with my ex.”
"You’ve got that wrong, sweetheart. My brother Thoran is two years older than me. He’s a firefighter too, but he left for school in the city and never really came back. Teachers used to ask me if I was going to follow him. Relatives, too. I never had a good answer at fifteen. But somewhere in there I figured out what I actually wanted. I didn't want to be impressive. I wantedtomatter. To, like, four hundred specific people. By name." I let out a chuckle.
She watches me. “Mission accomplished then?”
The wind moves through the pines below. “Almost.”
“Not messy at all, just as I suspected.” The right side of her smile curls and she raises an eyebrow at me.
I continue, “I got engaged when I was twenty-two and thought I had life all figured out. We were two months from the wedding and I had already put a down payment on a house we'd picked out.”
“I hate to tell you, but there’s still no mess there. Were you married? Because a divorce is standard practice in America. I have a psycho stalking me, come on. It’s a nice try though.” She giggles.
“I wasn’t married and I’m not done. I threw her a surprise birthday party and she decided that was the right moment to tell me that my small-town dreams were small-town small. That's the phrase she used.Small-town small.So I stood there in front of everyone we knew with a golden party hat and her tiny dog dressed in a tux. I was crying like a baby. How’s that for messy?”
