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‘Here,’ I say, handing her a blanket. ‘You still look a little cold. Wrap that around your shoulders, sweetie.’
‘Thanks,’ she says, flashing me a smile with her straight, white teeth.
Sheesh, I really am one helluva husband. Somebody give me a Husband of the Year Prize, pronto.
‘So, what made you decide to live in the mountains then? You know, after you came back.’
‘It’s alright,’ I say. ‘You can tell it like it is. After I came back fromthe war in Afghanistan. Doesn’t make me burst into flames if you mention it.’
Fuck. That was a poor word choice. Now I’m thinking about things I don’t want to think about. Can’t think about.
The screams. The sound of a man burning to death. The sound of my best buddy burning to death.
She doesn’t say a word. I guess she doesn’t know what to say. So I continue.
‘I wanted to get up high,’ I say. ‘Somewhere with a good view. Somewhere I wouldn’t feel hemmed in. Somewhere I kinda felt in charge. In control.’
The look on his face as he reached out to me. But there was nothing I could do. Not by that point. It was too late.
‘You like to be in control?’ It’s an innocent question, but it feels strangely loaded.
‘I’m a bit of a control freak, I gotta admit.’
Eric must have finished his dinner. He hops up onto the couch. Normally, he sits on my lap, but he looks at Addison, gives her a nudge, and then opts for her lap instead. Sensible dog…
She giggles. She’s so strong and feisty one minute, and so girly the next. It really is the deadliest combo.
‘Have you had Eric since he was a puppy?’ She’s stroking my dog with such confidence, as though she’s known him for years.
I wonder if that’s how she’d stroke something else that belongs to me…
‘He’s a rescue dog,’ I tell her. ‘Belonged to a farmer up near Mount Deception.’
‘Mount Deception?’ She raises an eyebrow.
‘Yup. You think that’s a funny name, you should hear some of the others around here. Sheep Nose. Thunder Butte. Turtle Mountain —’
‘Stop, stop,’ she says, putting her hand over her mouth, giggling. Dammit, I love making her laugh. I only wish I wasn’t going to have to make her cry at some point soon.
‘Used to catch varmint up at the farm. Rodents and that sorta thing. But then the farmer died and no-one realized for a couple weeks. Damn dog was living off rats for fifteen days before they found him.’
‘You’re a clever boy,’ Addison tells Eric, giving his muzzle a stroke. ‘Very resourceful.’
‘Took him in not long after I started building the place. We used to share a tiny shed, just me and him, until I built this place. I actually think he kinda preferred the shed.’
‘Aww, no, don’t say that. You like it here, don’t you, pup?’
Eric licks Addison’s fingers, and then, like always, he licks his nose.
‘Tell me about your job,’ says Addison. ‘Watching for fire. That sounds exciting.’ Is this girl purposefully trying to pry into every aspect of my life, or what? I’m in no mood to talk about fire right now, and I’m not up for giving her the lowdown on my personal history either. I decide to change the subject as soon as I can.
‘Just is what it is. Looking out for smoke. Contacting the local fire department if I see any. That’s about as exciting as it gets. What about you? You ever wanted a pet?’ This is a stupid question, a real sissy kinda question, but I had to think of something. I was about to ask her about her job, but I remembered in the nick of time I’m not meant to bring that up. Not yet.
‘As it happens, I love dogs,’ she says. She’s doing this high-pitched, flirtatious voice whenever she talks to Eric, and it’s driving me wild. She stops stroking Eric, momentarily, and looks at me. Her green eyes are wide and a little moist. ‘I wish I had a job. I lost mine, back in New York. That’s why my sister sent me here. That’s why I have no place to stay.’
I know all this, of course. But if I let on that I know it, she’ll wonder why I’ve been so well-informed about her situation. She’ll start asking questions. So, I just say, ‘Your sister mentioned you lived in New York.’
‘Yeah. Lived is right. Past tense. I was running a… specialist online fashion business over there. Until some meanie ruined it for me.’
