Page 37 of The Orc That Got Away

“I still don’t know how you talked me into this,” Ragnar grumbles.

“It’s because you love me and you want me to be happy,” I answer.

“Oh, right,” he says. “Well, that doesn’t mean I understand it.”

“Neither do I, but that just makes it more exciting.”

“Alright, you two!” Glenda calls, walking up to us with her own shovel. “Watch this carefully, because you’re gonna be doing this a lot of times!”

The work turns out to be harder and more satisfying than I expected. It’s harder because the ground is a lot tougher to dig through than I expected. The river nearby makes everything wet and clayish. In movies, digging a whole grave is about an hour’s honest work. I just have to dig enough to get a tree bulb in and I’m completely tired out.

Another good reason not to murder anybody.

But on the other hand, whenever I’m completely worn out, it feels good to look back and see a whole row of small trees there. It’s nice to know that they’ll be doing something real. They’ll grow and protect the soil and provide homes for birds and that’ll all be, at least in part, because of me.

When you’re a model, it’s easy to get lost in glamor and putting on a show. It feels different to be doing something so simple but so real. My agent would say I look messy and plain, but I feel great.

Ragnar, on the other hand, is not having quite as good a time with it.

“Stupid smug piece of bark!” he screams at a tree as it slips through his hand and lands on his foot. “If I were a paper company, I’d turn you into pulp, press you into a sheet and then rip you up and let the wind take you!”

With that, he hurls the tree towards the river with a violence that genuinely startles me. I haven’t seen him that mad for a while.

“Get a hold of yourself!” Glenda suddenly seems to tower over him even though they are nearly the same height. “We’re trying to do something here! And look how you’re scaring Bradford!”

Ragnar stands there breathing for a few moments, then silently walks over to the tree and picks it up. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I’ll try to keep hold of myself.”

On the way back, both of us are aching and tired. But Ragnar lets me lean against his shoulder and he presses his own head against mine. We end up falling asleep like that, and Glenda leaves us in the truck until we wake up on our own.

20

RAGNAR

“Mmm, make that stop,” Bradford murmurs sleepily.

I sit up, blinking in the dim morning light. My phone is buzzing on the nightstand. I slam my hand down on it without checking to see who’s trying to reach me.

“Who was that?” Bradford asks as I wrap my arms around him.

I shake my head. “Nothing that can’t wait.”

“Well, whenever you talk to them, tell them that calling before eight a.m. is just bad manners,” he says.

“I will,” I say lightly, kissing him.

“Too early,” Bradford yawns.

“Wow, you really are not a morning person,” I tease.

“And I will never apologize for that,” he says, pulling a pillow over his head.

Since I know I won’t be able to go back to sleep, I decide to get up and shower. Then I check my phone.

It’s another call from work. This one is from the head of my Communications Department, but I also have missed calls from my Chief Financial Officer, Head of Human Relations, and the Head of Public Relations.

I frown and begin to listen to their voicemails, when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I lower the phone and turn around to see Bradford smiling at me.

“I thought this was still too early for you,” I say.

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