Page 48 of Boston
He knocked several minutes later, and the door creaked open.
“You can come in,” she said, trying to make her voice as normal as possible. This didn’t have to be awkward, but it so was.
He carried his pack and went straight into the bathroom, where he closed the door and didn’t come out for another several minutes. Cora had taken the side of the bed closest to the door, which left Boston to pad between the bed and the window to get to his side. He sat down and the mattress barely moved.
Cora lay on her right side, facing him, but without much light in the room, she could barely see his silhouette. He stood and peeled the comforter back, and then climbed into bed, also facing her. She reached out, the distance between them as vast as the ocean and as tiny as a grain of sand in the same moment.
“You’re really far away,” she whispered.
“Maybe you’re the one who’s really far away,” he said.
Cora grinned at the easy banter between them. She scooted closer, and he did the same until she could trace her fingertips down the side of his face and along the softness in his beard.
“I didn’t set an alarm,” she whispered.
“I did,” Boston said. “Four-forty-five.”
“Yikes,” Cora said, following it with a slight giggle.
“My stepsister and I used to put up a tent in the backyard,” Boston said. “And we’d whisper secrets until one of us fell asleep.”
Cora smiled, the memories of her own childhood with her twin sister streaming through her mind. “Kat and I fought a lot,” she said. “But the next day, we’d make up the most amazing roller skating choreography to the top pop songs at the time.” She laughed softly, the sound a little bit too loud for the quiet bedroom. “What kind of secrets did you and your stepsister have?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Boston said, his voice quiet, almost drowsy. “Stuff about our parents, grades we didn’t want them to know about, this boy that liked Beth that she refused to tell momma about. That kind of stuff.”
“Tell me one of your secrets,” Cora said.
“I will, if you’ll share one of yours with me,” Boston said.
Cora nodded and whispered, “Okay.”
Boston didn’t spill his secret immediately, and Cora thought he may have fallen asleep. She waited a little longer, and then said, “Boston?”
He didn’t stir or speak and Cora carefully lifted herself up on one elbow to look at him. Sure enough, the gentle cowboy had fallen asleep already.
“My secret,” she whispered. “It’s really a fatal flaw, and it’s that I fall in love too fast.”
A storm raged through Cora’s chest, the words she’d spoken whipping up like wind and rain lashing against her ribs and stomach. She laid back down, her eyes wide open as she stared up at the ceiling. 4:45 was going to come awfully fast, but Cora wasn’t tired at all.
“Come on, Cora-Cat,”Boston urged gently in that sexy tenor voice he possessed. “It’s five after five, and you’re gonna miss the eagles.”
Cora woke fully, her eyes blinking open. Boston held an electric lantern powered by batteries, and it threw light around the room. “I’m leaving in ten minutes, sweetheart, whether you’re with me or not.”
“Okay,” she said, scrambling out of bed and over to her pack.
She pulled out her clothes for the day, threw him a harried look, and headed into the bathroom.
Ten minutes later, he led the way outside, this time with a flashlight instead of the lantern. She carried her deflated pillow and both of their three-legged stools.
Once outside, he reached back and took her hand. “Stay right with me. Okay?”
“Yes, sir,” she said, not irritated in the slightest today that he wanted to direct her where to go.
He led her around the back of the cabin, through the towering trees, which blocked so much sunlight that no foliage grew on the ground. They reached a fence, and he turned left and started to walk along it.
Finally, he came to a stop. “I think this is a great place.” He took one stool from her and set it up while she did the other. She then inflated her pillow with a few breaths, set it on the stool and sat next to him.
He grinned at her. “I gotta get me one of those.”
