Page 32 of Mountain Men’s Nanny

There was no need to call Lexi down for dinner. She just smelled the food and knew when it was ready, bounding out of her room shouting for Gideon and Gunner to come down for dinner.

“I really worked up an appetite,” Lexi said, holding her hands up for Brie to inspect.

She had taken a bath and scrubbed her hands clean without anyone telling her to. I had Brie to thank for that. We stood in the kitchen watching as Lexi set the table, humming a tune I had heard Brie hum over the pots a few times before. It was a life. Just not the one I thought I wanted.

Gunner bounded down the stairs, skipping a few with a jump that shook the floor.

“I’m famished!” he said, stretching his arms over his head with a smirk.

Gideon followed with a lot less joy. He was still sulking, still felt betrayed by both Gunner and Brie, and refused to look fully at either of them.

The awkward silences around the table were filled with Lexi’s chattering. She told everyone she had heard on the radio that it would snow sooner this year.

“And then we can build a snowman with a carrot nose and a scarf,” she said, clapping her hands together. Maybe it will keep the creatures away, Brie, and you can relax.”

Brie smiled at Lexi. “We’ll have to negotiate the carrot part with your dad,” she said, winking at me.

Lexi giggled. She really was happy. Much happier than she had been in a long time. Even though she wasn’t exactly sad, she had fallen into our routine: chopping wood, selling wood, fixing things, sitting around the fire. It was no life for a little girl. After Brie arrived, she had her own routine and had grown into her own person somehow. Lexi had opinions that were not mine, she made jokes that Gunner hadn’t told her first, and she knew Gideon wasn’t the only person who could protect her. She said ‘excuse me’ when she burped. She chose her clothes with more consideration, and started talking about a life she could have all grown up outside of our little cabin.

Brie had been good for her. She had been good for all of us. Before, we worked like a well-oiled, well-serviced machine, constantly pushing each other to do more. Something changed, and we became more human, each of us still pulling our weight, but all of us a little more than we were before.

I weighed the conversation I’d had with Brie earlier, eating the soup without tasting it, letting it warm me from the inside without appreciating any of the care Brie had tossed into the pot.

As soon as the last bit of soup was scraped out of Lexi’s bowl, Gideon stood up and quietly stacked our dirty bowls, then headed to the sink to wash the dishes. Gunner stretched again and developed an interest in one of the books on the bookshelf. He had never sat down to read before, but the tension at the table was enough to drive him to literature.

“I’ll help Gideon in the kitchen. Thank you, Brie. That was delicious,” Lexi smiled, hugging Brie on her way to the kitchen.

Brie and I were left alone at the table, and it became like a game of chicken that I didn’t know how to win.

“Well, I’m turning in for the night,” Brie spoke first.

I stood up with her and followed her. She stopped right outside her door and turned to me expectantly for a moment. I stared back, taking her in.

“Do you want me to go?” she asked. Her voice was laced with sadness. She didn’t want to go, but she would if I enforced my conditions on her stay here.

I didn’t have an answer for her. What I did have was a jumble of feelings I needed time to process and compartmentalize. She looked up at me, her brown eyes sparkling in the dark.

I reached for her chin and held her face in my hands, then kissed her. A soft, gentle kiss as the first snowflakes fell into her dark hair.

16

A Family Of Sorts

~

Brie

I woke up under a heap of heavy blankets. I peeked out from under them, waiting for the howl of the wind. But it wasn’t there. Just silence. I dragged myself out of bed and went to the window. I was greeted with clear skies and even a little sunshine.

It was just what I needed. With better weather, I could finally escape the ‘hunker down’ madness. If only for a few minutes, I could reach back into my old life and talk to Holly.

I got dressed quickly, rushing into the common area of the cabin to grab the satellite phone and make my call before her afternoon shift started. If she still had the same hours. I had changed, my life was different, my routine had become something I could never have imagined a few months ago, not even in my wildest fantasies. I had no doubt that life had gone on without me back home too; I just wanted to know how much.

The cabin was still sleepily quiet. No one stirred. I picked up the phone and almost screamed at all the service bars on the screen without me so much as stepping out onto the porch.

I dialed Holly’s number as fast as I could, frantically pacing through the first three rings, willing the weather to hold.

“Hello?” Holly answered sleepily.