Page 22 of Boston
She cleared her throat. “You’re right. Let’s talk about Silver Sage now, so we can enjoy some cheesy goodness later.”
“I can’t believethere’s so much going on at Silver Sage,” Cora said.
Boston had only been there for four months, but he’d known about the luxury lodge and resort for a lot longer than that. “Yeah, my parents used to take us as kids,” he said. “I grew up in a place out on the southwest highway, and anything that took longer than fifteen minutes in the car felt like a vacation.”
He smiled over to her. “We’d go to Jackson sometimes, and then up to Silver Sage. We loved to play in the pool and hike and ride horses.”
“Your family doesn’t own horses?” Cora asked. “I find that surprising.”
“I mean, I got cousins who have horses,” he said. “And uncles who do, but we didn’t have any on our property, no.”
He’d pulled into the parking lot at Cheese Whiz fifteen minutes ago, but neither one of them had made a move to get out of the truck. He wanted this meeting and talk of work to be completed before they went inside, though Cora had definitely asked him personal questions in the last several minutes.
She looked down at her lap, where she had a notebook she’d been scrawling notes in with neat, slanted handwriting. Boston didn’t mind the questions, and he’d gladly meet with her again concerning anything to do with Silver Sage.
“One last thing,” she said, and he worked to tamp down his hunger and irritation. “You mentioned something about going out next week to a bird-watching place?”
Pure joy and excitement filled him. “Yeah,” he said. “It’s actually one of my favorite things at Silver Sage.”
“I don’t see anything like this on the schedule.” She frowned at her phone and swiped.
“That’s because I’m still trying to develop it,” Boston said. “There’s an eagle habitat that I’ve gone to for a few years now. Up on Ramsfire Ridge? Anyway, it’s mostly on public land, and they close it during nesting season. But when I started at Silver Sage, I found out that there was a little cabin on the very northern edge of the property, and it’s right on the edge of the eagle habitat.”
“You’re kidding,” Cora said.
Boston shook his head, his smile filling his whole face. “I have to tell the Wyoming Wildlife Division when I’m going to be there,” he said. “It’s still protected because bald eagles are endangered, and they’re fine because I stay on Silver Sage property. They just want to know.”
“And you’re going next week?” she said.
“Yeah. It’ll only be the fourth time,” he said. “Because of the snow conditions and wind, I’ve only been a few times. But I’ve made sketches of the cabin and some rough notes of what we can do with groups, how big they can be, where they can sleep—all that kind of stuff.”
Bostonlovedbird-watching, but he didn’t say so out loud. It didn’t seem like a very cowboy thing to do, but he’d taken to it asa way to get out of the house, away from the family chaos, and tap into who he was.
He’d learned a lot about himself while alone in the wilderness sketching birds, making notes, and then looking them up later.
“I love eagles,” he said. “Bald eagles are my favorite, but I like all kinds of raptors. There’s something just so….” He trailed off, trying to find the right word. “Majesticabout them.”
Cora watched him closely, but he didn’t see any judgment in her face. “You’ve never taken a group up there?”
“No,” he said. “Like I said, I’m still trying to sketch it all out. And then of course Jeremy would have to approve it. We’d need to figure out a pricing structure, and I’d have to get everything checked off with the Wildlife Department too.”
In fact, they still had a long way to go before Boston could truly take anyone on the eagle excursion. Part of him didn’t want to at all, and he thought maybe he could keep the cabin on the edge of the woods a private sanctuary for himself.
But he couldn’t take three or four days off every couple of weeks to retreat into the wilderness and refill his well with eagle-watching. But if he took a group and it was a work assignment, he could….
“It looks like you’re going on Wednesday next week,” she said. “Is that right?” She tilted her phone toward him. “It just says ‘Boston out of office.’”
“Yeah,” he said. “Wednesday to Saturday. It’s a full-day hike up there, and that alone would limit who can actually go on the excursion.”
“Rough terrain?” she asked.
“I wouldn’t really say rough,” Boston said. “But it’s rugged. There’re a few steep places, and it is wide enough for horses. But I’ve told Jeremy that this should be an adults-only excursion.”
She gave a small nod and a quick smile. “Right. Because what children care about eagles?”
“Oh, I’m sure there’s some,” Boston said easily. “But it’s definitely more of an adult activity. With the hiking, the sitting quietly, the learning about less exciting wildlife than buffalo and wolves and bears.”
“How many does the cabin hold?”
