Page 130 of True North

“Is that so? What about when we first met?”

“Back in senior year?”

“Yoursenior year...”

“Yes, and yes.”

“Really?” I can’t help the smile stretching my face. It warms my heart to hear.

“Really, but right now, we should get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be tough, little lady.”

I stand and take another sip of the whiskey.

“What if I’m not tired?”

He chuckles. “You should be.”

“Are you turning me down, Harry Rawlins?”

He looks up, pushing the brim of his hat up with one finger. “Woman, the day I say no to you is the day I stop breathin’.”

I screw the flask cap back on tight and drop it to the log. Without taking my gaze from his, I straddle his lap. “Well then, in that case. I ain’t askin’.”

I knock his hat from his head as I push my fingers into his hair. Rough hands cup my face, dragging it down to his.

The fire crackles at my back. I roll my hips and find him hard.

I break from the kiss and tilt my face to the sky. Lightning tracks across it, quicker than my thundering heartbeat.

I don’t think for as long as I live, I will ever forget this night.

* * *

Mara stumbles, her flank damp with sweat, her mouth and neck frothy with exertion. My back aches. My butt has been numb for hours now, and still, we trek across the unforgiving mountain in search of the rest of our half of the herd. Harry rides point, as usual, sometimes slowing the cattle, sometimes picking our path through the timber forest.

Snow covers everything now, and as pretty as it is, it is chafing my skin like there’s no tomorrow.Last night on the mountain,I keep reminding myself every ten minutes. It’s the only thing that keeps me moving forward.

“Hup, huh,” I call with a dry, sore throat, flapping an arm up and down as I go, one hand still tight on the reins. The older cattle tire easily, and the little ones hang back. It’s a constant job to push them up, trying to keep the herd together. Two more days of this.

Two more.

It’s long, hard, boring, and tedious all rolled into one.

Nothing like the fast paced, high-octane thrill of a busy restaurant kitchen. Yet somehow, being here, in this magnificent place surrounded by Mother Nature, I long for nothing. There is nowhere else I’d rather be.

That makes me smile.

Getting a glimpse of the worn cream hat constantly bobbing and moving side to side with the gait of the gelding, my smile stretches further. And it hits me how far we have come.

With nothing else to occupy my mind, memories spring forward, mesmerizing me with their reminiscence. We were so young and free. Harry, always so gruff, stoic, and sweet when it was just the two of us. The only things we worried about were friends, grades, and each other.

God, we were on fire. It took him six months to ask me out, and another few weeks for me to say yes. It was hard to make plans when you could be up and movin’ any time. With Dad’s work, we seemed to be always moving around.

Mara’s hoof hits a log and her head dips with a jerk. I lean back and brace for the rough ground I’m sending her over. It’s only when I hear a bellow from behind that I realize I left somebody behind.

“Dammit.”

I turn Mara back and pick our way through the trees toward the sound.

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