MacKenzie Fire(40)

“Just you wait and see,” he says, shifting the truck into drive.

I had expected him to go reverse out of the driveway, but instead, he leaves off the back of the property. He’s using a tiny shifter instead of the larger, regular one.

“What’s that one for?” I ask, pointing to the smaller thing.

“Four-wheel drive. We’re going off-road.”

“Is that safe?” A whisper of fear runs through my body.

He glances and me and wiggles his eyebrows. “Probably not.”

Warmth rushes into my heart. I don’t doubt for a second that I’m perfectly okay with Ian. I stare out the side window for a moment to get my girly feelings under control. I can’t let him know he affects me so easily. Resting my nose on the material of his jacket, I breathe the smell in. It’s so Ian. Delish.

“What are you thinking up there in that bean of yours?” he asks.

“What bean?” I shift my gaze to the non-road in front of us. There are dirty tracks leading away from the house, going up towards the mountains that we’re at the base of. I hope we don’t fall off anything steep. How good are four-wheel drive shifters with ice on the road? I can’t imagine it’s much better than a regular shifter.

“The Mexican jumping bean that’s your brain. Always jumping from one crazy thing to another.”

I glare at him. “First of all, the things I think are not crazy, they’re interesting. And second, I was thinking … that the weather is nice today.” No way am I going to tell him that he makes me feel safe. His head will blow up so big it’ll explode.

He laughs. “That’s a lie. You hate the snow.”

I sigh loudly, staring out at the bright white expanse in front of us. The snow never stops out here. I think it would drive me crazy to stare at it all day. “I’m trying to get over that.”

“Some people never do. I’m not much of a fan myself, to be honest.”

I look at him, suspicious. This statement seems very disloyal to the family for some reason. “How can you live here in Baker City and not be a fan of snow?”

He shrugs. “I didn’t pick this place. My family did. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“But you’re a grown man. You’re an architect. You could move anywhere. Why stay if you’re not happy?”

He loses his happy face. “It’s not that easy.”

“Sure it is. You pack your bags, you say goodbye, you go. Done.”

He looks sideways at me for a second before going back to facing the road. “You make it sound easy, that’s for sure.”

“Tell me what’s so hard about it.”

“How about if I just show you?”

A smile turns up the corners of my mouth. “Hmmm … I’m intrigued.”

He grins, still facing out the window.

“Fine. I’m convinced. Show me what makes it so hard to leave here.”

“Almost there,” he says, turning the truck around a wide bend in the road. There’s a large tree in the way with loads of snow balanced on its green branches. I cringe a little as we drive by, wondering if it’s enough to qualify as an avalanche.

Our previous conversation in the gun store comes back to me and my happy feelings dissipate. Maybe this is a set-up so he can really get me good. “Are you going to show me a dead animal? Because if you do, I’ll never forgive you. I’m not kidding, Ian.”

He frowns, downshifting the truck to get it to go up a small hill with more power. “Now why would I do that?”

I shrug, feeling a little ashamed now that I even considered it. He might be a pain in the butt, but he’s never struck me as mean-spirited. I’m going to go ahead and forgive myself, though, because I’m running on two hours of sleep. No one can think straight without some good REM.

“You said you like to hunt,” I explain, hoping he won’t hold my near accusation against me.

“Yeah, but not for sport. I eat what I hunt, plain and simple.”

I don’t have enough Google research ammo to have the grocery store versus wild game argument with him right now, so I keep my mouth shut. Later I’ll explain in a way we can both understand. After I’ve had some REM and some time in front of the computer.

“Here we go,” he says, coming over the top of a hill and putting the truck into park. Stomping down on the emergency brake, he cracks open his door. “Just walk quiet and stay kind of behind me.”

I throw my purse strap across my body and follow him out of the truck. I have to wade through snow up past my knees to get to him.

He reaches a hand out behind him and I take it, thrilled that we’re actually holding hands. My inner high school girl nearly squeals with delight.

“See over there?” He points to a black blob out in a flat area of snow. There’s a lot of mud showing through the drifts of the frozen stuff, and for a couple seconds I think he’s brought me out here to show me a big rock. But then I realize the rock is moving.

“What is that …? Is that a cow?”

“Yep. She’s calving.”

“She’s what?” I move closer, peering at the event over his shoulder.

“She having a baby.”

Movement out of the corner of my eye draws my attention away. There are actually several cows standing around, some with small calves next to them and others just hanging out alone.