Page 39 of Trapped with the Mountain Man

I nod stiffly. Everyone knows me as the hermit ranger, even if I have been showing up in the office more often lately. I wonder if they are as uncomfortable as I am with the idea of me being anything else but the hermit ranger. Namely, being their boss.

Ryan smiles widely. A real smile, not that damn smirk.

“Right on, man. I hope you get it,” he says.

“Thanks, me too.”

“If you get the job, do you think you’ll move into town?” he asks.

“Suppose I’ll have to. I doubt they’ll let me work out of the cabin. There’s no internet out there, and the phone service is unreliable half the time. It’d be a mess. But who knows if I’ll even get it. I hear there’s a lot of competition.”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind that cabin coming up for grabs.”

“I hate to think of the sex palace you’d turn that place into.”

Ryan laughs and shrugs. He could never stand the isolation of that place. He’s as social as they come.

“Sounds like you and Abby already took care of that.”

My heart thumps against my chest. There are still some things that Ryan and I never talk about, and Abby is right at the top of that list. When he does mention her in passing, he never uses her name – it’s always ‘the teacher’ or some other vague reference intended to sidestep my feelings.

The room goes still. I pretend to look at something on my computer screen, but it’s just a jumble of text to my unfocused eyes.

“Sorry, man,” he finally says.

My response comes out as a weird grunt as I click through emails, opening and closing them with no attention at all to their content.

Ryan clears his throat and shifts in his chair.

“Have you talked to her since she left?”

I shake my head without looking at him. We may be better friends these days, but I will never be the type to enjoy talking about emotional shit.

“Maybe you should try to give her a call,” Ryan shrugs.

“I don’t have her number.”

“You know her last name and city though; I’m sure you could track her info down. All that shit’s online these days.”

“Her number is unlisted,” I say. I’ve already looked.

Ryan chews this over for a minute while playing with a pocket knife that he grabbed off my desk when I wasn’t paying attention.

“Look, I’m a fan of the new and improved Hunter Shaw and all that. It’s good to see you coming into the office more often, going out for drinks with the guys after work, and even throwing your name in the hat for a promotion. But I can’t help but think that all of that is just a distraction from the one thing you really want,” Ryan says.

I shrug. I’m going for nonchalant, but I’m pretty sure I just look defeated right now.

Ryan sits forward in his chair and sets the pocket knife back on my desk. “You’re not over her. And if she can do this much damage in a few days, imagine how much good she could do in the long run.”

I’m a man of few words, but even those few can’t seem to fight their way up to the surface right now. Ryan’s right – and I am so fucked.

“Beers tonight at O’Kelly’s? We’re celebrating Emmett’s new job,” Ryan says from the doorway.

“Yeah, I’ll be there. Can’t believe they hired him on as a permanent employee though.”

“Me neither,” Ryan laughs, “but hopefully you’ll be the one making those decisions soon.”

Not only is Abby’s phone number unlisted, but she’s virtually untraceable. I guess I have the media to thank for that. Clearly, she doesn’t want to be found by them. Maybe not by me either, but it hasn’t stopped me from trying.

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