Page 21 of Merry & Wild

“You’re safe with me. Nothing will happen to you up here. Look, the snow has let up, and the view is just fine.”

I take a deep breath, working up my courage, and then turn my gaze to the windshield, and feel myself gasp. “Holy Toledo,” I mutter. “John, this isgorgeous.You can see all the way into Bitterroot Valley from here.”

“We’re technically part of the Bitterroot Valley,” he says. “It’s funny because they named the town the same as the valley.”

“That’s the ski mountain,” I exclaim, pointing. “Wow, this is an incredible view.”

“Are you glad you opened your eyes?”

“Definitely.” I smile over at him and then look out around us once more. “Do you get a lot of wildlife out here?”

“Of course. Deer, moose, bear, lions, badgers, you name it.”

“Bear?”

“Grizzlies and black bears. This is Montana, honey.”

“I know,” I reply with a chuckle. “I just don’t like running into bears.”

“Have you before?”

“Yeah.” I nod but don’t take my eyes off the view. “I went hiking once with a friend, and we were talking and laughing, being kind of loud, the way you’re supposed to when you’re hiking in the woods. But we turned a corner, and there was a mama grizzly with two cubs.”

“Oh, shit,” he mutters.

“Yeah, that’s whatwesaid. We didn’t panic, although I kind of did on the inside, and we just slowly started backing up, never turning our backs on her. She watched us, and the cubs started walking toward us, and we definitely didn’t want that.”

“No,” he replies and reaches for my hand. “You didn’t want that.”

“So, I started talking, like I am right now. Saying things like,‘We’re not going to hurt you, but you can’t come any closer, or your mom will be mad, and we don’t want to make her mad.’They kind of stopped and watched us, then ran back to their mom. And we kept walking away.”

“You were lucky.”

“Oh, I know it. So, I won’t be walking anywhere on this ranch alone.”

“Excellent idea. But we usually carry a firearm.”

I gasp and turn to him in horror. “Youkillthem?”

“No.” He shakes his head and smiles. “No, we fire a warning shot in the air, and that usually scares them off.”

“Oh, that makes sense.”

We’re quiet for a long moment, and I glance at the radio. “Does that work?”

“Sure. What would you like to listen to?”

I reach down and turn it on, then grin when I hear that it’s tuned to the local rock station. “You Give Love a Bad Name” by Bon Jovi comes through the speakers, and John and I both start singing along.

“IloveBon Jovi,” I say when the song is over, listening for the next. And when it’s Journey, I sigh in happiness. “Love this one, too.”

“Come here,” John says and flips the sound up super high, rolls down his window, and steps out of the truck, motioning for me to join him.

“It’s cold as hell out here,” I say with a laugh as I walk right into his arms.

“I’ll keep you warm,” he assures me and opens his jacket and wraps it around me so I’m cocooned in him, and then he starts to sway, dancing with me to “Faithfully” on the top of this hill, with our home spread out around us.

I don’t know if I’ve ever felt more at peace than I do on this ranch. Maybe it’s the land, maybe it’s this man—I’m not sure—but Idoknow that I’ve never felt more at home anywhere else inmy life. It’s as though what I was searching for all along was right here.

---