Page 36 of Ember Meadow
The fire in his eyes burns a little brighter when I look over to him. His scowl, a little harder than before. Words die in my throat.
I don’t know whether to be pissed off at him or turned on. Damn dream, messing with my head. As if I neededmoreconfusion between us.
Isabella changes the subject easily, going back and forth with Parker about her favorite places in the National Park. But even as dinner plates are rinsed and wine glasses are being refilled, I can still feel heat waves coming off of Miles. I’m not listening to anything being said at the table, he’s too distracting.
Right when I thought we were cool, the Grinch is back to hating me. I can’t keep up with the rollercoaster of emotions that is Miles Autry.
Good thing I only have to for a couple more months.
Miles leans up against a wood pillar in the living room, staring at a blood orange sunset framing the dark blue outline of the mountains. His jaw ticks and I can almost see the thoughts racing through his mind. He may be a man of few words, but I can tell his mind is never quiet.
What is he thinking about? How quickly he can leave and go back to his solitude without being impolite? If he can get away with offing me and hiding my body on the ranch? Who would win in a grump-off, him or Ebenezer Scrooge?
His eyes slide over to mine and I’m lost in a golden brown whirlpool. My body immediately reacts to his gaze, as if it’s communicating back to him. My chest rises and falls rapidly, pulse speeding up. My core turns molten, goosebumps covering my arms.
Muscle memory. That’s the only explanation for this. There’s no other reason I should be so affected by him, especially when I know he’s angry with me for even being here. He probably can’t stand that I’m in his home, much less staring at him like this.
My eyes fall to the bobbing of his throat, snapping back up when I remember he’s looking at me and can see where my gaze falls. I might be imagining it, but I swear for just a second his cheeks are slightly redder behind his dark beard.
When I met Miles, he didn’t have a beard. I really wish he didn’t have one now. I had no idea bearded men are my type until I set foot on this ranch.
I need to be more careful around him. I’m really not used to this. This wanting. Usually it’s the other way around, I meet a guy always when I’m never really looking, they pursue me, and I go with it until the heat dies down and things start to get mundane.
Then, I feel trapped going down a path I don’t want to be on. Right into my parents’ life. A marriage full of disappointment, kids who resent me, nothing ever being enough. So I run back to where I’m comfortable.
Alone.
When I’m around Miles, that pattern goes out the window.Iwant to chasehim.I want to convince him to want me back. I want to go on a hundred dates with him and never get bored or unsatisfied.
I don’t want to have to wake up in the middle of the night yearning for something I can’t have. I want the dream to never end.
But that’s not sustainable. One of us will inevitably end up hurting the other. And, I’m not willing for that to be the case for either of us. It’s best just to ignore the burning in my heart.
It takes more effort than I’ll admit to myself to pull away from his gaze and turn around. That’s probably why I sneak to the front door in the shadows like a spy retreating from a mission.
Chapter 13
For The Memories
The stone wall warmsthe palms of my hands as I lean against it. It’s the perfect day for a hike in Grand Teton National Park. I was instructed to meet Codie and her group of hiking friends at Jenny Lake, near the ferry dock. A tan stone wall borders the sidewalk overlooking the lake and the gray mountains jutting out of it at sharp angles.
The tops of the peaks are covered in a blanket of snow even in June. The contrast between the field I drove through to get here and the tall mountains is so jarring, it’s hard to believe a place like this even exists.
In Idaho, our mountains are more gradual. Crawling out of the ground slowly enough that people build homes on the benches. Green and filled with grass and trees.
Here, they’re so severe I can’t imagine what event occurred in Earth’s history to cause such an abrupt change. The gray rock shutting out any hope for grass and plants to grow on the steep cliff faces. These mountains are drastically newer, not yet shaped by millenia of weather rounding them out.
Jenny Lake doesn’t look big enough to have a ferry to cross it, but a water taxi heads towards the dock in front of me with a white wake trailing behind. It’s really just a big silver pontoon boat gliding across the water, with rows and rows of forest green faux leather chairs to transport hikers to the start of the trailhead.
It’s a crowded day in the park. When I got to the parking lot, it was already filling up even at seven in the morning. I’m glad we got an early start today. The water taxi is only about half full, and the line waiting to board to cross the lake isn’t very long.
“Katie!” Codie runs towards me, arms outstretched, pulling me into a hug. “I’m so glad you came!”
“Thanks for inviting me! It’s such a perfect day, I’m so excited,” I exclaim.
Codie introduces me to her three other friends hiking with us, Erin, Morgan and Nicole. They all live in the Jackson Hole area and are around our age or a little older. Codie tells them I’m here for the summer renovating the old barn on Lone Pine Ranch. All of them seem to know exactly what she’s talking about.
“We’ve all been to a few gatherings out on the ranch, especially back in the day. Those ranch hands know how to throw a good Branding Night. And don’t get me started on their Fourth of July fireworks,” Erin says, her blue eyes crinkling at the sides. “Plus, Morgan has a huge crush on one of the cowboys there.”
