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Ryan carefully cut a thin strip of brown batik. It was taking some effort to match the correct color of Kelly’s hair. It contained many hues of browns and golds, and it shifted with the mood of the sky. He’d started the project after their first dinner, hoping to give it to her when she finally decided to call Montana home.
He’d been so sure she would.
He’d been so very wrong.
However, he wasn’t a man to give up on things. He’d finish it and send it to her for Christmas.
“Hey, Ryan?” Larry called out from the kitchen.
“Down here.”
Ryan put the fabric down and slid a sheet of draft paper over the mess.
“What’s up?” he asked as Larry came down the stairs.
“Have you heard from Kelly? She called me a few days ago asking if I’d give her a hand packing, but she never called back to set a time.”
“Nope. Did you try ringing her back?”
“Yeah, but it goes straight to voicemail. I even stopped by her house, but no one was there.”
Odd.
“I don’t know what to tell you.”
“Okay. I was hoping for the work, but Mike asked me to help out a few days a week at the tavern. Seems those firefighters are a thirsty lot when they get some time off.”
Ryan chuckled. The fire was pretty much done. There were just a few hundred acres burning way up in the mountains. The fire service was letting it burn out, part of the efforts to mimic the more natural pattern forest fires had before the strong suppression efforts began near the start of the twentieth century.
The only question left hanging was what had happened to Betsy’s son. He still hadn’t been located, although firefighters had stumbled on his totally destroyed cabin.
So much wreckage.
“That’s good,” Ryan said to Larry.
“Yeah. People are really being nice. It’s a good place to live when the worst happens,” Larry said, his loss of all he owned echoing in his voice. “Thanks for giving me a place to stay.”
“No problem.” It was the least Ryan could do. He’d been spared thanks to the efforts of many people. No one could really do it alone, at least not in the far places of Montana.
But what was up with Kelly? It wasn’t like her to not return calls like that.
“I’m going to head down to the store,” he told Larry. “Need anything?”
“I’m good,” Larry said. “I got my meeting with the insurance adjuster later. They finally got ahold of the landowner in California.”
“A step in the right direction,” Ryan said.
“Hope so.”
# # #
THIS END OF AUGUST day was crisp and clear, the lingering smoke blowing off to the east. Hints of fall yellowed the tips of aspen leaves scattered in among the deep green pines. A marmot scurried across the dirt road, cheeks stuffed fat with forage.
Soon it would be hunting season, and the rifle shots would pepper the morning. Being a cop had made him leave guns behind, except for the handgun he kept locked away, hoping a time would never come for him to insert the key to open the box. But friends were more than happy to share their deer or elk meat. He returned the favor when the caddis hatched in the spring and he spent lazy afternoons outmaneuvering the trout.
Maggie was behind the counter when he strode into the store.
“Hey, Ryan,” she called. “Charlene just brought in some of those sweet rolls you like so much.”
“Thanks.” He changed direction and went to the rack to grab a bag before walking back to the counter. Charlene Bird’s sweet rolls made a day worth living.
“Have you heard from Kelly?” he asked Maggie, trying to make it sound casual.
“I didn’t think you suddenly got an urge to come down here to see if Charlene was baking,” Maggie replied.
“Got me. Well, have you?”
“Not really.”
“What does that mean?” Ryan asked, tension setting his jaw.
She turned her head slightly as if to view him in a new light. “I’m not sure that it’s any of your business. Rumor has it the two of you are no longer an item.”
“Just tell me, Maggie,” he pleaded.
“She saw Alex a few days ago. Alex didn’t tell me what they talked about, and I haven’t seen Kelly, but Alex thinks she’s having a hard time leaving. Kelly says she is ready to go, even has her plane tickets, but Rose reported she is going on and off the point at all hours of the day and night.”
“And Rose knows,” he said, trying to make it light.
“Yep,” Maggie said.
“Thanks.” He stood awkwardly for a moment, trying to think of a topic that didn’t involve Kelly. “Have you heard anything about who or what started that fire?”
“Not personally, but Amanda was talking to the fire chief—she’s very worried about Betsy’s son, Henry—and he told her they were looking for him, too. The fire was definitely human-caused, and it looks like it wasn’t accidental.”
“Why would someone do such a thing?” he asked.
“No idea.”
Ryan shook his head. The world was hard enough without some fool making it worse. He stepped away.
“You know...” she began.
“What?” He turned back.
“If she’s that on the fence, it might take only a little push to get her to stay.”
“You think so?” The possibility gave him hope.
“I do. And I think I know just the person to do it.”
“Uh-huh.” If they ever had a mayor of Promise Cove, Maggie would be perfect for the job.
“Thanks,” he said. “See ya.”
As he walked toward the door, she called out, “Good luck with Kelly.”
Without turning around, he waved his hand in the air and headed out the door.
# # #
A GOOD LONG HIKE WAS the only answer to the angst he felt inside. On his way home, he’d driven by Henrietta’s place. The RAV4 was there, but he didn’t stop. He had no idea what he could do or say to make her stay. Was that even fair to try to manipulate her? Shouldn’t she make her own decision?
He headed back to the cabin, where he filled up his water bottle, picked up his daypack, and headed north, hoping to get as far away from humanity as possible. He needed inspiration not conversation. He parked at the Swift Creek Trailhead, slung on his backpack, and headed out.
The creek trickled well within its boundaries, typical of the late summer season. Come spring, it would roar and jump, clearing everything away in its rush to get to the lake. Like the stream, he was no longer in the spring of his life. He tended to go more slowly, especially where matters of the heart were concerned.
In fact, his heart hadn’t had a good workout in more than twenty years. After Lorelei had left, he’d had a few relationships, none of them serious. At some level he’d always been waiting for Kelly to return, although he’d never realized it. And he’d been standoffish at first. When he finally asked her out, he’d kept her at arm’s length.
He’d been a coward.
He should have told her the depth of his feeling. He should have let her know he’d protect her, help her adapt, give her all the love he had to give. He should have rushed over all the obstacles to get to her heart.
But he hadn’t.
Did he have a second chance at a second chance with her? Would she even listen to him?
He plodded up the trail, the altitude thinning the air and the effort to climb pulling at the air in his chest.
He should get a dog. Dogs loved you no matter what you did, no matter how you may have messed up the relationship. If you were scared, they didn’t run away. They stuck their head on your knee and comforted you.
They also shed and needed care and companionship. The fur would play havoc with his quilts.
But how could he reach Kelly? How could he let her know that what he felt for her was real? He’d spent a lot of time not being open with her. As a boy, he’d been too shy to ask her out; as a man, he’d been too afraid to share his feelings. She’d already spent half a lifetime with a husband who’d divided his feelings between her and another woman. Ryan had to show her he was all in.
But how? Her husband had given her things but not all of himself.
John hadn’t really known Kelly. He hadn’t heard what Ryan had heard, the sweet passion of a young woman for the music she played.
When they were kids, Ryan used to sneak onto the property when she was practicing. He’d listen, carried away by the heart and soul of her ability. It was from her that he’d learned to love classical music, a love that had kept him sane when the rest of his world was falling apart. He’d lose himself in the rising and falling of the notes, drifting in the spaces between them.
Kelly had been so good. In fact ...
A smile lit his face. He knew how to get her attention.
