Page 36 of The Orc That Got Away

He pauses. He only does that when he’s about to admit I’m wrong. Ragnar sees me smile and gives me a thumbs up.

“Well…” he begins finally. “If you can guarantee Glenda’s charity will cooperate with it, I might be able to get you some hanging out in nature jobs. Could even be an okay bit of your brand. Loves hiking and forest shit.”

“Alright, fine,” he decides, finally. “But this is temporary. And when you come back to work, you’re gonna pay for it. I’m gonna book you a ‘Back to Civilization’ tour that’ll leave you exhausted.”

“Of course you are,” I say. “Call me back when you get a nibble.”

I hang up the phone and lie back on the bed, stretching my arms above me.

“You did that perfectly!” says Ragnar. “I mean, I might have called him an asshole, but your way was great too!”

“He was being kind of an asshole, wasn’t he?” I agree.

Ragnar lies next to me and I roll onto his chest. I love just lying here and feeling his breath bobbing me up and down, up and down…

“You know, I respect your ability to see people being jerks and not tell them about it. That’s a skill I could use a little more of myself.”

“Sometimes it is, unfortunately, the right thing to do,” I say. “But never let yourself forget they are jerks. Even if you can’t tell them about it.”

“Trust me,” Ragnar reassures me. “I don’t.”

Meanwhile, I’m starting to get used to Green Haven as well as Ragnar. If Green Haven had really been as boring as I thought it was when I first arrived, I might be starting to regret committing myself to staying here. I couldn’t regret staying with Ragnar, but both of us need our time alone, and I need something else to do with myself.

There aren’t a lot of things or places to go to, but the people are every bit as kind and interesting as anyone I’ve met in the city, and they more than make up for it. One by one, I’ve been getting to know the people around Ragnar and around the town, and all of them have something unique that it’s fun to explore.

There’s a circle of people who are always around Emily’s diner with her. Once they get used to you, they’ll start inviting you into their little chats to share stories or jokes over a piece of pie. I can’t tell how many of the stories are true, but I know that they’re good to listen to. I’ve even tried sharing one or two of my own about fashion shows gone wrong, and sometimes I’ve gotten a pretty good laugh.

The first time I got asked to watch Amelia, I thought it was going to be a chore, but she’s a pretty fun kid in her weird, little way. She has a weird sense of humor and she likes making up her own pretend games. She says I’m good at playing them.

I also didn’t fully get how big an honor it was that they decided to trust me with her, even for an afternoon. It wasn’t until Amelia called me Uncle Bradford that I realized they were letting me be part of the family.

Every once and a while, I have tea with Millie. Besides a lifetime of stories about all the weird guests at her inn, she’s also very good at just listening. She’ll offer advice sometimes, but often, she’ll just listen to how I’m feeling, and that’ll be good enough.

She also calls me her “handsomest guest”, which always makes me smile.

But the one that’s really been big was Glenda. She’s funny, and the two of us get along well, but that’s not the most special thing about her. What really gets me about Glenda is the charity group she’s built up.

It’s not until the third time the two of us are hanging out that she brings up the idea of me helping with it. She’s a little apologetic about it at first. Clearly, she asks everyone to help with this thing, but at the same time, that’s because it’s so important to her. I cautiously say I might be interested, and suddenly she half explodes talking about all the projects she’s doing.

I already knew how good she was at organizing things; I worked with her to make the photo shoots I’ve been doing happen. But I simply had no idea the size or the scope of the projects she’s made. She’s working with pretty much every farmer around to maintain soil quality, to help them sell organic food and on top of all that, to care for and expand any of the land that isn’t used for farming.

“I’ve got some trees that need planting,” she tells me. “The root systems will be important to protecting the soil there from being eroded by the river. Do you think you could help with that?”

I think about it. “It sounds like the kind of job that you’d want to be pretty strong for.”

She reaches across the desk to poke at my arm muscles. “Is that not what these babies are for?”

“Those are for show,” I tell her. “You can park those in the driveway, but don’t take them out for a spin.”

“I don’t believe you,” she says.

“I’ll tell you what,” I reply. “I’ll come out and help. But I’m getting Ragnar to help. He’s the one who’s got what you’re really looking for.”

She laughs. “If you can persuade him. I’ve hounded him the entire trip.”

I flash a smile and flex for her. “Oh, I can get him to agree. That’s what these are really for.”

The next day, Ragnar and I are standing with a truckful of young trees and some shovels on the patch of land between the river and the nearest fence.

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