Page 73 of Drifter’s Heart

Winnie shoots me an amused look. “Would I be out here with you if that thing scared me?”

“Only if you expect me to wrestle it.”

“Could be fun. Front-row seat and all.” She grows serious. “But it’s not a figment of their combined imaginations? It’s real?”

I nod. “It’s real. No bullshit, beautiful. Respect this land, and it’ll respect you back.”

She’s quiet after that. Real quiet.

The trees thin out as we climb past a cluster of granite boulders that look like steps cut out into the mountainside. The truck rocks sideways once, until we summit the small crest.

Then the place I picked is in view. I put the truck in park and press a hand to Winnie’s knee. “This is what I had in mind. What do you⁠—”

“Wow,” whispers Winnie. She stares out of the truck and turns to me, then back to the front. “West. Wow.”

I grip her knee. “Too much?”

“Uh?” She’s still as I unbuckle her seat belt, staring at the snowcapped mountains. They have always been visible from the falls Coyote is named for, but here, suddenly they’re brought up close. “How did you…”

“I found this place a few months back, right before I left. I was surveying a new parcel of land.” I unclip her in full. “You want to have a look around?”

Winnie breaks out of her reverie, craning forward over the dash. One hand grips my forearm. “Can I? Without, you know, death?”

I grin. There’s a reason I parked where I have. The angle makes the mountains look closer, but it also makes it look as though the cliff face ends right on the edge of the bull bar.

“Can I show you?” I disentangle our hands and give her knuckles a quick, rough kiss when she lets me. Her breaths come quick and shallow, but she nods and that’s all the permission I need.

I walk around the back of the truck, unwilling to ruin the illusion just yet, and open her door. Winnie slides into my arms without a word, her fingers still digging hard into my shoulders.

A thought slams into me that I possibly should have been better prepared for. “Do you have a thing with heights?”

She sends me a sharp stare. “I’m a paramedic, not a firefighter, West. Doesn’t everyone?”

I swing her about to face the vista spread out before her and lock my arms around her waist, hauling her back into me when she squeaks prettily for me. “Nope.”

I stopped counting the mountains after I hit twenty last time, but double figures are the least of the view. White caps are displayed to their best in serious detail. The white puffs of cloud that are visible from the falls are often absent from this angle, showing stark surfaces and harsh beauty in the last of the day’s sunlight before the colors fail.

Pale golds and faint peaches merge into a purple haze that soon descends over everything, the last flicker of gold reflecting off the farthest peaks.

“West,” Winnie whispers, staring at the sight like it’s the prettiest thing she’s ever seen. “You can’t top this.”

I grin and rest my chin on the top of her head. “I never intend to.”

She sighs and leans back into me, tension leaving her. “You’re too perfect.”

“Not yet.” I turn her around and point to the ground. “Pick a spot.”

“For?”

“Your picnic.”

Winnie dithers as I grab what I need from the back of my truck, turning to stare back at the mountains, which become the merest shadows beckoning in the darkness. The foothills below us are feathered in a valley of pines we can’t see anymore, but their sharp scent fills the evening air as I create a fire and unbox tonight’s gourmet offerings that Levi has spoiled us with.

“Wraps, olives, breadsticks, fruit salad, cheese platter… what did you bribe Levi with? Did you pay him?” Winnie demands, her hands on her hips.

I hold out my hand, flicking a blanket tower and a stack of pillows to one side. She takes my hand reluctantly and sits next to me, letting me pile olive tapenade onto a thin breadstick piece and feed it to her. “Is it enough to say that you’re loved by more than me, and others want to spoil you too?” I say quietly.

Winnie chews her food and says nothing, but then grabs a water bottle, taking a large sip. She emerges with watering eyes. “That’s wine,” she coughs. “And it’s strong.”