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It probably would have worked out better for Mark to put himself with Chip and her with Stan, but she appreciated the fact that she got to work with him.
Maybe he did it so he could look out for her. She wanted to believe that, and it would be in character for Mark. He was always trying to do considerate things that would make her life easier. That was just the kind of guy he was.
By the end of the day, she wasn’t thinking anything but about how hungry she was, which was overshadowed only by her thinking about how sore her back was, not to mention her hands, her hips, and pretty much every body part she had.
Chip and Stan finished and left before they did, and Mark walked over to inspect their work. It wasn’t terrible, and he nodded in satisfaction before he turned around and walked back to his pickup. Slowly, limping a little.
“How do you feel about supper at the diner?” he asked.
“I feel real good about that. But I think I’d like to go home and take a shower first.”
“Yeah, and at least change clothes. It was a lot wetter here than what I thought it was going to be, and I feel like I have mud caked everywhere.”
“This time of year, everything’s muddy.” Although living along the beach, and that close to Lake Michigan, there was a lot of sand in their soil, and it didn’t cake the way soil had. That made sense since they were currently higher, more on a cliff above the lake, and wooded to the very edge of the cliff.
It was a beautiful spot, wild and with a great view of the lake, but at this point, she was ready to sit down for a while. She didn’t care whether she had a cushion or not, as long as she didn’t have to hold a shovel.
Chapter 10
“All right. I’ve got my quota of planting trees in for the next decade,” Pam said with a weary sigh.
“I think in another decade, I’m definitely done planting trees.” Mark grinned.
“Seriously? After today, you’re still thinking you got another ten years of this in you?” Even though he was several years deeper into his fifties than what she was, she had been thinking that she never wanted to do it again.
“Sure. I guess... I guess I’m just too stubborn to admit that maybe I should leave this for the young kids and go get myself a desk job.”
She shook her head. She’d known that Mark always enjoyed being outside. And she had to admire the way he loved his job, and his love of the great outdoors, and his need for the feeling of freedom. Because, with all the pain she had experienced today, and the way she felt so exhausted, she would happily give up being outside in order to not feel this terrible again.
No matter how many times she told herself that suffering made her stronger, she just couldn’t imagine voluntarily putting herself through this, except she had. For Mark.
She wasn’t sure what that said about her.
They were just ten minutes away from Strawberry Sands when her phone buzzed.
“It’s a text from my mom,” she said as she lifted it up to look at it.
