Page 115 of The Lost Book of First Loves

“No. We’re going into the park. This is June’s first time visiting the Tetons. I want to take her somewhere she can see them up close and really take in their majesty.”

They returned to the entryway, where his table held pride of place. “I hope that’s where you wanted it. That’s where we talked about, anyway.”

“It’s perfect,” Heather assured him. She moved to the table and ran a hand across the gleaming surface. “You’ve been paid for everything, right? Mary told me she paid the invoice yesterday.”

“Yes. I got it. Thanks.”

“I’ll be in touch about the Samuels’ new build once we work out a few more details.”

“Sounds good,” he said, then he and June walked back to the pickup truck.

“Let’s go grab our lunch. I’m starving suddenly,” he said as he opened the door for her.

“If you would rather find a restaurant in town somewhere, we really don’t need to have a picnic in the Tetons.”

“Which would you prefer?”

She hesitated. “The park,” she admitted with a rueful smile. “I really would like to see it.”

“Good choice. That’s my preference, too.”

The trickiest part of the whole trip was finding a place near his favorite deli in town where he could park the truck and trailer. By some miracle, he was lucky enough to nab a pull-through spot in the grocery store parking lot next door, where he grabbed a bag of baby carrots and a couple of apples to go with their deli sandwiches.

Soon, they were on the road, driving past the town square with its entwined elk antler arches toward the entrance to the national park.

“So many people,” June said as they waited for pedestrians to cross in front of them.

“Jackson is always busy with tourists, but summer weekends are the worst. It just calls for patience. But we’ll be out of town shortly. I know a really lovely place where we can enjoy lunch away from the crowds.”

She seemed enraptured by the passing scenery as they drove.

“Yellowstone isn’t far from here, is it?”

“If we keep going on this road past Jackson Lake and Colter Bay, we will eventually hit the south entrance to Yellowstone. It’s great to see and you definitely should, but everything in Yellowstone is so far apart, you really can’t experience it in a day trip. You have to stay over at one of the lodges there.”

“Maybe I’ll try to do that before I go back to Seattle.”

He drove to a favorite out-of-the-way picnic area above Jackson Lake, at the site of a charming old church, where they were lucky enough to find an empty table.

“It’s not very fancy,” he said. “You might have been better off at one of the nice restaurants in town.”

“This is perfect,” she assured him as she sat across from him.

They chatted about her work and her life in Seattle while they enjoyed their delicious deli sandwiches, hers veggie on wheat and his turkey.

A family with two young boys set up at the table near them, and before long they were kicking a soccer ball around. When a missed kick ended up with the ball coming toward their table, June rose, caught it with her foot and kicked it back to the boys, to their great delight.

One of the boys kicked it toward her again and they passed it back and forth a few times before the boys’ mother called them to eat and June sat back down.

“You’re good with kids,” he observed.

She gave him a startled look. “Not really. I haven’t had a lot of practice as an only child, though I did occasionally babysit for some of my mom’s friends.”

“Were there no other kids when you were in foster care?”

“The woman who fostered me was raising two nieces, but they were around my age. She took in several other kids, but they were all older. I think Stella tried to focus on teenagers, who can often be harder to place.”

“That’s great.” He thought of his own childhood, where he had constantly been surrounded by loving parents, grandparents and his siblings.

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