Page 113 of Shared By the Mountain Men

Mom nodded. “My daughter has a way of doing that.”

“We have a hotel in the city where you can shower and change and everything,” Dad announced. “But then we’re takingeveryoneout to dinner to celebrate. Some place nice.”

*

We took some more photos at the trail sign, then piled into our cars: Jack and Ash got in the white Jeep, while Noah chauffeured me and my parents in his 4Runner. The multiple cars explained how my three mountain men had been able to switch off who was hiking with me for the past four days.

“He was so nice to pick us up from the airport,” Mom said. “Did you know he’s adoctor?”She elbowed me suggestively.

Laughing, I said, “Noah is the one who examined my ankle.”

“It was my pleasure!” Noah said. “Picking you up from the airport,andfixing your daughter’s ankle. I’m just glad she was able to finish the hike.”

Mom leaned in and whispered, “He’s adoctor, sweetie.”

I rolled my eyes. Five minutes with my mom and she was trying to set me up with someone I had already slept with, though of course she didn’t know that.

Noah dropped us off at the hotel, which was next to a shopping center. I didn’t have any clothes suitable for the nice restaurant Dad wanted to take us, so Mom and I went shopping for a dress. I settled on a sage green V-neck cutout dress that was a lot more revealing than I would normally wear.

But hey: new me, new dress.

Dad picked an upscale steakhouse for dinner. Noah wore dress pants and a button-down, but Jack and Ash wore jeans and polo shirts.

“Where I went to school in Texas, we called that western formal,” Dad said while we were seated at a round table in the corner.

“I, uh, don’t get a lot of chances to dress up,” Jack said.

“What is it that you do?” Mom asked. “I know Noah is a doctor, but you two haven’t told me anything about yourselves.”

“I do contract work for the Colorado Parks Department,” Jack explained. “Trail maintenance, mostly. And anytime there’s a storm, I get sent out to clear away debris.”

“Jack is being modest,” I said. “He’s a small business owner. He runs his own campsite in Crested Butte.”

“Oh, you’re the owner?” Mom said, surprised. “I just assumed you worked in the office or whatever.”

Jack cleared his throat. “Actually, I don’t own the campsite anymore.”

I almost spit out my water. “What!”

“I sold it to Theresa, the woman at the clinic. She and her husband wanted to start their own place anyway, so this made sense.”

I gawked at him. “I guess a lot has changed since I resumed my hike.”

“He didn’t sellallof it,” Noah chimed in. “He still owns thirty percent.”

“Enough of a stake to care about it,” Jack agreed. “I’ll take care of all the little tasks around the camp. Maintenance and stuff.”

“The things you actuallyenjoydoing,” I said with a smile.

He smiled back. “I won’t have to be customer facing anymore.”

“That’s a really big step,” I said, looking at Jack like he was a new man.

“I should’ve done it a long time ago. Better late than never.”

“Cheers to that!” Dad said.

“And what about you?” Mom asked Ash. “What do you do?”

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