Page 10 of Shared By the Mountain Men

“Do you have your tent set up for the night?” Dad asked. “I bet you’re sitting around a campfire right now, enjoying the wild.”

“Actually…” I quickly caught them up on the day’s events.

“I told you so!” Mom immediately blurted out.

“Linda,” Dad warned.

“I did. I told her this would happen. Didn’t I? I said she would hurt herself, and be stranded in the middle of nowhere, and get eaten by grizzly bears.”

“None of that happened, Mom,” I argued. “I rolled my ankle and am taking a few days off to rest.”

“But that will put you behind schedule,” Dad said. “Do you have enough PTO for work? Or are you going to try to pick up the pace to make up for it once you’re moving again?”

I hadn’t told my parents about quitting my job. It would just make them worry. Well, it would makeMomworry. Dad would take it in stride, like everything else in life.

Ironically enough, I had intended to tell them the truth during the hike, to give them time to accept the big reckless thing I had done. My plan was to drop the news when I had a blip of cell signal, then hike into a deadzone so Mom couldn’t bombard me with questions and comments and suggestions and criticism.

But I sure as hell wasn’t going to do that now that I was stuck in a town with plenty of signal.

“I don’t know what I’ll do,” I told my dad.

“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Mom demanded. “You can’t just float through life like this, Mel. You need toplan ahead.”

“I’ll call my boss and work it out with him. Right now, I just want to get to my hotel and sleep.”

“I don’t blame you, sweetie,” Dad tried to say, but Mom’s voice overpowered his.

“What hotel is it? Have you checked the reviews? Nancy’s daughter was in Idaho last week and got bedbugs from a motel. It was a local place. This is why I always stay in chains. Holiday Inn or bust.”

“I’m staying in a nice hotel, Mom.”

“And Idaho is close to Colorado, so they might have a problem with bed bugs, too. If I were you, I would dial zero to talk to the local operator and ask for whattheyrecommend, because…”

“Gotta go, Mom!” I said as Theresa walked out of the clinic. “I’ll text you if I need anything. Love you both!”

Theresa drove me a mile up the road, then turned down a dirt path with a faded sign that said:Luxury Cabins. That brightened my mood, although I wasn’t sure what the mountain equivalent of luxury would be. Anything was better than sleeping on the ground in a tent, I decided.

It was laid out like a normal campground, nestled in the bend of the Gunnison River with a little camp store and check-in building in the middle. Except instead of campsites, there were six or seven tiny-home cabins spread along the river. They were all different colors, each with a little porch and two rocking chairs. Four of them appeared occupied.

“Oh, this place is so cute!” I said.

“It’s a hidden treasure,” Theresa said while we walked up to the camp store. “I sure hope he’s here, because otherwise… Ahh, there’s his Jeep! You’re in luck.”

I glanced where she was pointing, and stopped dead. It was a white Jeep, with streaks of dried mud behind the tires. It was the same Jeep that had brought me across Colorado to this little town.

“No…” I whispered. “Is your friend—”

The door to the store opened, and Jack rumbled with laughter. “Well, well, well. So much for not needing my help, huh?”

6

Melissa

I groaned the moment I saw him. “I can’t get away.”

“Oh!” Theresa said. “You two already know each other?”

“Unfortunately,” we both replied at the same time. I glared at him, but he was already glaring back at me.

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