Page 1 of Aim High Mountain Man
Chapter 1
***** Johanna *****
Istared at the picture of my son in his fighter pilot gear, a smile on his face, his arm around another young man. Chance, my son had called him. Or, well, Trouble, as that was his callsign.They were always together, always causing havoc on the ground or in the air.
“God, do I miss you, baby,” I muttered, running my nail over his face.
“Ma’am, are you sure it’s up here?”
I stared up at the rocky road the uber driver was looking at. It didn’t look like a car had made it up this way in ages.
Although, the view of the woods, and the changing of the leaves, was utterly gorgeous.
“This is what he gave me. Do you think your car would have a problem making it up?”
“No, I think it would stall out.”
I tried to hide my annoyance at this man. When I landed and gave my address for this cabin, I put in my notes that it was in the mountains, which, to me, meant it would be a climb. But I knew jack about cars or ones that were four-wheel drives.
“That’s fine. I’ll get out here and climb out. I don’t have anything more than this little bag away. Thank you.”
I climbed out of the car, really not thinking I would be here long.
And why would I?
When I got the letter from Chance, saying he had a couple of things of Johnnie’s and he didn’t feel comfortable sending it, I didn’t think twice of hopping on a plane and making my way here.
I get it, Johnnie has been gone now for a year and a half. I still had things to go through that I couldn’t. And if they were valuable to Johnnie or Chance, I wouldn’t want to ship them either, not with the way people handled packages or what could happen to break within the package.
With a huff, I started trekking my way up the mountain, glad I at least had the foresight to wear jeans and hiking boots.
Fifteen minutes later, I let out a huff of breath, giving myself a moment to rest. That was some climb, and my legs were screaming at me. Not that I worked out a lot, but dang, I didn’t think I was that horribly out of shape.
Maybe I needed to look into a membership at the gym when I returned home.
I took one more deep breath, looking around the area, and nearly fell in love. Chance was a lucky man if he got to wake up to this every morning. It was serene and peaceful, a place I’d love to have of my own. Far away from the city and the noise.
But then again, a place like this, a place of solitude, could let the silent voices creep in and I had enough of that.
With one more sweeping look, I finally turned around and knocked on the door, waiting for the young man to answer it. I waited for almost a full minute with no response then knocked again.
I mean, I had told Chance I’d be out today. Or that I was flying in today.
Maybe he thought I’d rest before I’d come to his place?
It wasn’t an unlikely thought.
I frowned, turning to look down the path I had just come up. I really didn’t want to go down, only to find another way up.
And I don’t think he’d be too fond of my sitting on his porch, just waiting for him. And that’s even if he came home tonight. What if he didn’t?
This high up, with all the trees, I could feel the difference in temperature and would imagine that at night, it was a lot colder. I sure didn’t want to sleep out here and freeze to death or something.
“Damn it,” I muttered, looking around again. I wasn’t a nosy woman by nature, so I didn’t want to snoop around to try and find him.
“Can I help you?”
I heard the snap of metal hitting metal and turned around to find a shot gun pointed at me. I raised my hands slowly, not sure what the hell to make of this.
