Page 13 of Mountain Man Crush
“Sorry, I just… I’m not used to having guests,” I say as I rush past him to my bedroom. I enter quickly and almost slam it shut. Inside, I let out a long breath. I’m never going to stop embarrassing myself. This is why I live on the top of a mountain.
I dress in a pair of black yoga pants and I pull on an oversized sweatshirt. I pull my thick wool socks up over my leggings and slide my feet into a pair of Ugg boots for warmth. This time when I walk out, his eyes don’t widen in shock. He barely even looks up from his book as I walk around him, back to the bathroom where I spend a good twenty minutes drying my hair and pulling it into a messy bun.
Finally ready for the day, I step out into the living room. “How about some breakfast?”
“Sure,” he agrees, closing his book and standing up. He’s now wearing a black T-shirt and as good as it looks on him, I wish he was still shirtless. It should be a crime to cover a body that looks the way his does.
We go into the kitchen and I pull out a skillet.
“How do you make your coffee?”
“Oh, I don’t drink coffee, but here’s the kettle to warm some water for tea.”
Again his eyes widen. “You don’t drink coffee?”
“No, I’ve never liked the stuff.”
He lets out a deep chuckle. “I hope the power comes on soon.”
Shrugging it off, I start cooking some sausage and then move onto the eggs. I chop up green peppers and onions and add them to the egg mixture to scramble. I warm up two tortillas and then fix both breakfast burritos and a cup of tea. I hand him a plate and go to sit at his side.
“Tacos for breakfast?” he asks, confused.
I laugh. “It’s a breakfast burrito. Super good. Try it.”
He shrugs and takes a bite. I watch him as he chews and nods. “It is pretty good.”
“Once I open the tortillas, I like to incorporate them into as much stuff as I can before they go bad.”
“That’s good. I do the same, but I don’t ever have these. I just bake some bread and use it as a side or a sandwich.”
“I love fresh baked bread with melting butter. Mmm,” I say, chewing the bite I just took.
He points at me. “I don’t eat much butter. That’s something that has to be bought. Unless I want to start worrying about buying cows and raising them.”
I laugh. “I’m surprised you haven’t already.”
“I thought about it but never decided,” he says, taking a bite.
“Where did you grow up?” I ask, wanting to know more about him.
“Just a few towns over.”
“So, you were already a country boy?”
He nods. “Yeah, I guess so. My favorite thing to do as a kid was camp, so it makes sense that I decided to move on top of a mountain, roughing it.”
“And your wife, was she like your high school sweetheart or something?”
Half his mouth turns up into a grin. “Yeah, we’d been together since we were kids. When we were teenagers, we couldn’t keep our hands to ourselves. When we graduated high school, we got married right away. Her grandfather was on his deathbed and he left his cabin to us. He passed soon after we got married and we moved in, determined to prove our parents wrong. They said we were too young, that we’d never make it, that neither of us had known a hard day in our whole lives. So, we moved to the top of this mountain determined to make our own way, to live life our way.”
I smile. “That’s sweet. How did she… you know?” I train my eyes on my food, not wanting to look up and find him upset that I asked that question.
“It was cancer. We didn’t know anything about it until it was too late.”
“I’m sorry. That’s tough.”
Jack nods and shoves the rest of his burrito into his mouth. “I’m going to jump back into my book. It’s just getting good.” He stands, still chewing. “Do you want help cleaning up?”
