Page 103 of Boston
He’d met them earlier this morning, and they hadn’t looked terribly awake at the time. They’d come to life with coffee and the oatmeal raisin cookies, which he always packed to get people going in for the early-morning hikes.
He forced himself to slow down and stop in the shade. He took a long drink of water, glad when three of the four women did the same. His water was disgusting, though, as it had gotten too warm at least an hour ago. Still, water didn’t have to be cold to hydrate, and Boston didn’t want to deal with cramps when he finally made it back to his desk to go over that day’s follow up emails.
When he’d first seen his schedule for July, he thought he might try to be over in the administration building by five and take care of the desk work he normally did on his non-adventure days before he had to leave the lodge for the excursions. Thathad proven to be difficult, as he often had to gather supplies and food, and prepare animals for the groups he took out into the wilderness of Wyoming.
“It’s only about another mile and a half,” he told the women, and they grinned at him like they were on a bachelorette party escapade.
He put a smile on his face, though he was so over this group and their giggles and squealing whenever they saw so much as a chipmunk. He tried to remind himself that not everyone came from the country the way he did, and Boston could see the big differences in the people he encountered in the course of his work.
“Ready?”
“Yes, I am,” a woman named Shawna said. “I mean, I’ll go anywhere you’re going, cowboy.”
“Oh, my word,” one of her friends said. “What do you have in that flask?”
Boston wondered the same thing, but he just hitched his smile in place and tightened the straps on his backpack. Shawna had to be at least fifteen years older than him, and Momma had told him that his shorter hair and clean cut beard made him look older.
“Don’t mind her,” the other woman said, and Boston smiled at Rebecca and then nodded down the path.
“Do you want me to keep leading and calling back out where to step? Or do you think you can do it? We’ve been on this trail before.”
“I think you should lead us,” Margo said, and out of the four of them, she had definitely been the quietest, the most reserved, the most respectful.
Boston nodded and stepped out of the shade and into the afternoon sun. He’d chatted with the ladies on the first half oftheir five-mile hike. He’d had morning snacks and lunch, but their food was gone now, and they simply needed to get back.
“Do you guys have reservations at one of our restaurants tonight?” he asked. “I can coordinate that for you, if you don’t.”
Shawna started to say something, but Rebecca cut her off. “Don’t you dare,” she said. “Yes, we already have reservations, Boston. Thank you.”
He nodded, though they probably couldn’t see him. “How long will you ladies be here with us at Silver Sage?”
“Our summit starts tomorrow,” Margo said. “And ends on Thursday. I’m flying home Friday because I have to go all the way down to Key West, and the airport out of Jackson doesn’t have a lot of flights.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Boston said. “We often see guests stay for days before and after their business meetings here at the resort.” He glanced over his shoulder at them. “Did y’all download the app?”
“Yeah,we-alldid,” the fourth woman said. Boston couldn’t remember her name at the moment, and it didn’t matter anyway. He’d never had someone mock him so openly, and he didn’t think his cowboy drawl was all that bad.
He closed his mouth, determined not to say anything else. He’d been talking to them forhours, giving them the history of the mountains and pointing out the berries and the trees, the shrubs, the animals, all of the things that people from cities wanted to know about when they came to the country. He didn’t have to continue to speak with them by this point in the hiking expedition, and he certainly didn’t have to set himself up to be made fun of.
Something pinched behind his lungs, though Boston didn’t know why. He’d never see these women again, and he honestly didn’t care if they liked him or not. At the same time, wasn’t it a universal human desire to be liked and feel like you belonged?
He pushed aside the woman’s hurtful mocking, and kept walking. He focused instead on how soft the bed at Cash’s house was, how good he slept there, how he loved going home after a long day of work and hanging out with his cousin. Boston could go out with Cora or eat dinner with her and show up at Cash’s around ten, and he’d still be awake.
Cash had been completely disinterested in being a guide at the resort, and now, in the third week of July, Cora and Ernie still had not hired someone. They both claimed to have fewer classes in August and that he wouldn’t have to work as much then as he was now. Boston reminded himself that the extra money would be nice, and while Cash had not said anything more about buying a place, Boston couldn’t seem to get it off his mind.
He thought of having something cold to drink and eating one of the salted caramel brownies that surely Julie had gotten for him at the conclusion of this week’s outdoor staff meeting. She had three weddings she was working, and Boston didn’t envy her for that. She did get to work in the air-conditioned buildings, though, and Boston recited to himself once again, that he liked being outside.He liked hiking. He liked talking to people. Desk work was not for him.
The ground flattened and leveled as they came out of the mountains and onto the property. A few horses grazed in the pasture closer to the stable, and when Boston neared, Dolphin nickered at him and came closer.
“Hey, buddy,” he said, forgetting that he was still on assignment.
“Oh, look at him,” Shawna said. “He’ssocute.”
Boston slowed and held out one hand as one of the women started to move past him. “He’s not super friendly,” he said.
“He likesyou,” Rebecca said.
“Yeah, because I take care of him, and I’ve known him for a long time.”
