Page 8 of From Air

With an exaggerated eye roll, Maren returns her attention to me. “Ted is my dad’s best friend and a professor of environmental physics. He travels all over the world to conferences. He’s brilliant. Sought after. And ...” Her nose wrinkles.

“Old?” I question before filling a glass with water from the filtered jug in the fridge.

“Eighty-two,” Maren confesses.

“Maren’s waiting for him to die,” Will says. “Fitz and I firmly believe he’s leaving her all his assets when he dies.”

“Why is that?” I take a sip of cold water.

Maren slides the folded bags under the sink next to the garbage. “Ted never married. No kids. No family other than a sister in Portugal who’s not doing well. And he’snotleaving his money to me.”

“Maren, you massage his anal glands.” Will tosses the game remote aside and grabs a handful of popcorn from the stainless steel bowl on the tree-trunk coffee table.

“Stop.” She snorts. “You’re such a dumbass, Will. It was his dog. And it was only once.”

I bite back my smile when she looks at me. “I’m, uh ...” I jab my thumb over my shoulder toward the back door. “I’m going to go call my friend before it gets any later.” My jaw stretches in a long yawn. “She’s on eastern time, and so is my body. Are you showering? I need to wash off the day’s drive before I pass out.”

“Nope. It’s all yours.”

“Maren never showers.” Will’s relentless.

She flips him the bird without taking her eyes off me. “I don’t wash my hair more than twice a week, hence the shower cap,William.”

This is more than I ever expected. I have a great place to stay and three new friends. Well, two new friends and Calvin Fitzgerald.

Back in my shed, I FaceTime Melissa.

She answers right away, wrapped in a fuzzy pink robe, hair piled in a bun on top of her head, and face covered in a gray clay mask. “Tell me it was a huge mistake, and you’re coming home immediately.”

An irresistible smile creeps along my face while I retrieve sweatpants from my dresser drawer for after my shower. There won’t be any scurrying off to my bedroom in nothing but a towel. “Don’t be mad, but I think I love it here.”

“What? No! You just got there. What can you possibly love already?”

“The snow. The mountains. My room. It’s a shed—a she shed. But look!” I turn my phone in a slow circle.

“That’s super cute.”

“It is.” I plop onto the bed. “The downside is I must trek through the yard and snow to use the bathroom.”

“That seems like an important piece of information to withhold when advertising a room for rent.” Melissa wrinkles her nose, causing the face mask to crack.

“Agreed. But I think I’m going to love my private space. And I have the nicest roommates.”

She clears her throat, giving me the stink eye.

“I’d like to retract that last statement.”

“You’d better.”

I blow her a kiss. “You know I love you the most.”

“You said ‘roommates.’ Is there more than just the guy?”

“Will owns the house. But he has two friends living with him. Another guy and a girl. They’re all firefighters and older. I’m definitely the youngest in the house. Will is an engine chief with the Missoula Fire Department. Maren is a tanker pilot. How badass is that? And Calvin, who they call Fitz, is a smoke jumper. Mel, he jumps out of planes to fight wildfires!”

Her eyes bug out. “That’s ...”

“Mind blowing.”

---