Page 25 of His One True Wish

“It wasn’t supposed to snow, and I figured I’d get up here, no problem.”

“It was a good plan until it snowed.”

“Yes,” I said, straightening up on the couch. “It was a good plan until it snowed, thank you.” I thought about Mom and my friends back home, remembering my other mistake of the day. I had no phone charger. “Do you have an iPhone charger?”

I glanced at the clock in the kitchen. It was close to midnight. I wasn’t going to call mom this late, but I thought if I could get a tiny charge, I could text or at least catch up on messages from my friends.

He shook his head. “Hard no. I’m a flip-phone man.”

“You are kidding me,” I said.

He responded with a blank stare.

“How do you do email?”

“I use my laptop when I go into town,” he said, shrugging.

“Don’t you read the news online?”

“No,” he said.

My mouth dropped open. “Don’t you like to know what is happening in the world?”

“Not really,” he said. “I call people I want to call. I text, and that’s it. I’m done.”

“All right then.” I sighed. “I guess Mom will just have to wait to hear from me. It’s fine. It’s all fine.”

Axl cleared his throat. “So,” he said, “what do you do for work that has you always on your phone?”

“I manage a property in Seattle, an apartment building called the Holiday.”

He nodded.

“So, you see I’m pretty familiar with leases.” I felt guilty bringing that up, but he was being so quiet, and I felt all jumpy. It was hard not to notice how the fire danced across his strong jaw and sparkled in his eyes.

“How long have you had the job?” he asked. His tone seemed awkward, as if he were unfamiliar with small talk.

“A few years,” I said. “I moved to Seattle after college, before … ” My voice trailed off.

“Before I rented the place?”

“Yes,” I said, wanting to change the subject. “What do you do when you aren’t hiding out here in the winter.”

“I had a business in Florida for a while. It did all right, so that gave me options,” he said. “I got tired of the heat and the grind, so I do my own thing now. I may do some fly-fishing tours in the spring.”

“You are a guide?”

“No. I don’t mind that type of work, but I like to fly people in and fly people out. It’s an uncomplicated transaction.”

“Where’s your plane now?” I said, swallowing. I didn’t mind talking about planes. I just didn’t want to get in one.

“She’s parked at the Smoke River Airfield and probably buried under a foot of snow by now if Mason didn’t bring her in the hangar.”

“You want to call him?”

“No signal,” he said. “I’ll check on her in the morning after you’re on the road.”

I nodded.

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