Page 13 of Striking Out In The Mountains

I never know what to wear on dates. I don’t really look good in dresses. My frame is too broad and blocky. I always feel so uncomfortable in them. They make my shoulders and arms look massive. My aunt says I should stop lifting such heavy weights, but when your job (and your life) can depend on it, it’s hard not to. Plus, I love lifting heavy.

“Are you even listening?” Henry says, stopping his story.

“Yeah,” I say, nodding enthusiastically.

“What did I just say?”

“You were talking about the pool.”

“What about the pool?”

I stare at him with my eyebrows up. I got nothing.

“I’m watching my cat videos again,” he says, looking annoyed as he turns on his phone.

“No,” I say, unable to take it anymore. It’s been three hours of cat videos. A woman can only take so much. “Sorry, I’m just a little distracted.”

“About what?”

I take a deep breath. “Nothing really.”

“Yeah, right,” he says with a chuckle. “Is it about Chief West?”

I whip my head around and look at him in shock. “How did you know?”

“The whole town knows,” he says with a laugh. “You guys were practically making out on the pitcher’s mound.”

“We were not!” I say as my cheeks start burning.

“What’s going on between you two?”

“Nothing,” I say, way too fast.

Henry frowns at me. “Come on, Cara.”

“What?”

“We’ve been sitting here for eight hours a night for three weeks talking about our favorite Golden Girls episodes and arguing about the best kind of potato chip and now you finally got something good to say and you’re holding out on me? No way. Give me the tea.”

“The tea?”

“The tea.”

I take a deep breath and exhale long and hard. “Fine. We’re going out tomorrow.”

“On a date?”

“Yeah. Do you know him?”

“Everyone knows Graham,” he says with a shrug. “He’s never been married, but lots of women have tried. We all kind of wondered what his type was.”

“You never found out?”

He looks me up and down in my uniform and smiles. “I guess we found out today.”

The radio crackles on and the dispatcher’s voice fills the car.

“Hey, Henry, I got Marv on the line. He’s got a few bikers acting up at The Cracked Barrel. I’ll patch him in.”

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