Page 62 of Mountains Divide Us

SAMANTHA

“Thanks for coming, Vern. I’ve tried everything, but I can’t get this window to shut.”

Leading him up the stairs to the library’s second floor, I gestured to the room straight ahead of us at the top.

The windows in the old brick two-story house were original, and they took a lot of muscle and a good push to get them open in the summer or closed in the winter, but this window just wouldn’t budge no matter how hard I tried.

I’d slept in Frank’s arms again last night, fully clothed but well sated. We’d made out for hours like a couple of randy teenagers. He came like a teenager when I slipped my hand inside his jeans and gripped his cock before he even knew what I was up to. The look of lust on his face when I’d licked my hand and then pumped harder and the way his every muscle had hardened told me he liked it, but he still wouldn’t budge from his “no sex till you tell me everything” rule. But I was starting to understand that maybe he was just as scared as I was. For different reasons, but maybe that meant he’d understand if I told him why I’d been holding back.

That wasn’t the hard part though. The hard part was what I wasn’t telling him. When he found out I couldn’t ever get pregnant, it would change how he saw me. It had changed how Tyler saw me. “This is really messing up my plans for the future, Sam.”

It changed how I saw myself.

But we talked about other things. I told him about Ireland, one of my favorite places I’d traveled with my parents, and he told me about basic training and his first tour with the Army. He was just a kid back then. I couldn’t imagine going off to some war zone at eighteen, but it was who Frank was. He had a need inside him to protect people, to make them feel safe. He made me feel that way.

“No problem,” Vern said, and the memories from last night evaporated, dissolving before my eyes like a scene in a movie.

“All the heat’s leaking out,” I said, “and it’s making the furnace run for its life. When I got here a few minutes ago, it was almost as cold inside as it is outside. I really appreciate you getting here so quickly.”

“I’ll take a look. Probably just stuck.” Vern wasn’t wearing his black cowboy hat this time, but he removed his winter beanie and tucked it in his coat pocket. “It was nice to see you and Deputy Sims at the restaurant. The food was good, huh?”

“Really good. Did you and Millie have a nice time?”

“Uh, well, I did. Not sure ’bout Millie. She didn’t eat much.”

“Oh, um—”

“It’s alright, ma’am. I know I ain’t the most eligible bachelor in Wisper, but she said yes when I asked. Guess I’m still hopin’ I can wear her down and maybe she’ll go out with me again.”

My heart was breaking for him. “I bet she will, Vern. I think you’re a great guy. It’s this window here.” Vern blushed, and I pointed to the stuck glass pane, thinking I was kind of glad I hadn’t known him before his transformation. People had told me he used to be a menace, but since I’d met him, he was the nicest guy, always making himself available to help someone in need. I didn’t know what they had going on between them, but I thought Millie could do worse.

He approached the window, inspecting the frame and the lock. With more strength in one arm than I had in both of mine, he lifted it all the way open, then leaned forward and stuck his head through. “Uh, I think I see your problem.”

“Really? That fast?”

“Yep. Somebody stuck a pocketknife right here.” He yanked, and his hand appeared through the window, holding a small flip knife with a tortoiseshell laminate decoration on the side. “Looks like it was jammed in the frame so the window couldn’t close. There’s also a piece of tape coverin’ the lock.”

“Tape?”

“Yeah,” he said, ducking back through. “Like duct tape?” He scraped his fingernail under the lock and then pulled off a gray piece of tape. “Here.”

I frowned, confused, taking the knife and tape from his fingers. “Why would anybody do that?”

“Maybe it’s been here a while.”

“But the window was closed and locked last week when I washed it.”

He shrugged. “Maybe just some kids messin’ ’round?”

“Hm. Maybe.” But I was pretty good at keeping track of the teenagers who came into the library, on the extremely rare occasions they did. I didn’t want anyone taking a quick drag of a cigarette or a joint in the library and then burning the place down. All those poor books!

“If that’s all you need, ma’am, I’ll be headin’ back to the center. We got a big delivery comin’ in. Everybody’s gearin’ up for the big storm headed our way.”

“Another storm?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Thursday, I think. Heard it’s gonna be a record breaker.”

“Jeez. Well, there goes my dream of having a Georgian tea party here. I was planning to pull out all my Jane Austens for book club.”

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