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“Oh, I like that. I’ve always wanted to get a tattoo,” she says.
“You have?” Taeli asks her.
She nods. “I think there is something beautiful about memorializing a moment or a memory on your skin. I’d love to get a windmill on my ankle to commemorate your father.”
“You should get one,” I tell her.
“Oh, please. I’m too old now.”
“You’re never too old to live your dreams. Even the little secret ones,” I whisper to her.
“She’s right, Leona. We should get one!” Sara-Beth announces.
“Are you serious?” Leona asks her.
“I am. We can go together.”
“Count me in, then.”
We spend the rest of the daylight floating on inner tubes and soaking up the late day sun. Once dusk breaks, we pack up and head back into the valley with a promise that next time, we’ll plan to camp out for the night.
“This is a great place you have here, Maxi. It’s beautiful, private, and there’s a lot you can do on this land. It’s too bad you are giving it up,” Ansley says as we make our way to our loaded vehicles.
I look back over my shoulder to see the orange-and-pink sky settling over the old place. It looks like a postcard with the river flowing in the background.
She’s right. It has so much potential that I didn’t see before. No wonder my momma loved this little slice of heaven on earth.
Corbin
This past shift seemed to drag on. I’m usually in my happy place when I’m at the fire station, but I was impatient to make it to my days off this time around.
Maxi.
If I’m honest with myself, I can’t wait to spend time with her again.
She has to work tonight, so I’m going fishing with my father, Langford, Graham, and the boys. Then, I plan to swing by and see her before heading home.
We set up on the bank, and Langford and Graham help Tucker and Caleb get their hooks loaded. The four of them wade off into the stream, and I take a seat next to my dad.
“I had to ask a couple of our renters to put out fires today. They claimed not to know that it wasn’t allowed, but the girls are handing your flyers out with every set of keys,” he tells me.
“There are always a stubborn few,” I muse.
“Yep. I saw that a storm is headed down from the north next week. Hopefully, it’ll dump a bunch of rain on us, and you guys won’t have to worry too much,” he says.
“Hopefully.”
“Your mother spent yesterday afternoon with that new love interest of yours,” he says.
I chuckle. “I don’t know about love, Pop. I haven’t had much luck when it comes to that. Besides, I’m pretty sure Maxi isn’t interested in anything serious.”
“Yet,” he says.
“She’s made it pretty clear.”
“Your mother filled me in on her story. Men mess women up sometimes, son. The first man to do it, sadly, can be her father. The one man she is supposed to be able to count on, no matter what. If he doesn’t love her in a way that makes her feel secure, then she either shuts down her heart or another man will come along one day, claiming love when he doesn’t, and she’ll believe the lie.”
“I think Maxi is the former,” I mutter.
