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Shaw chuckles when he reads the shock in my eyes. “I went hunting this morning when you were asleep,” he says in a way of explaining. “Well, more like I checked the traps I set yesterday.”
“Really? What kind of meat is that?” I ask, sitting up on the kitchen counter and watching him prepare the meat.
“It’s a wild rabbit.”
Oh!“I’ve never had game meat before,” I tell him, watching in fascination as he expertly cooks the meat on the wooden stove.I offer my help, but he only instructs me to wash the potatoes we dug out from his little garden, and everything feels cozy and intimate.
We take our lunch on the porch, staring into the forest and chatting casually as we eat. It all feels homey, and I almost forget about my life back in the city. Here, in the mountains and surrounded by nature, I feel safe. I feel calm and protected. The smell is clean and pure.
When thunder rumbles in the sky, a smile filters on my lips. I bet the forest smells like heaven when it rains.
“Fuck!”
Shaw’s voice draws me from my daydream and I turn to find the man watching the skies with a worried look in his eyes.
“What is it?” I ask.
“It’s going to rain soon. I forgot to stock up on firewood. We need it to keep the cabin warm and for cooking. If the wood gets soaked, it won’t burn.”
“Oh.”
“I need to go chop some and stock up in the shed before it starts raining,” Shaw says getting up.
I gather our plates and get up as well. “I’ll come with you,” I say, rushing into the cabin and dropping the plates in the sink. When I come back outside, it’s to find Shaw standing there with a massive axe. “Do you need me to grab anything?”
“No,” he says. “I want you to stay back in case it starts raining when I am gone. I don’t want you to catch a cold, Angel.”
“But I want to come with you,” I say with a slight pout.
“And you will. When it’s not about to rain. Just stay back and wait for me. I’ll be back soon, okay?” He walks up the porch and to my side, placing a gentle kiss on my lips. “Grab a sweater in my closet to keep warm.”
I nod, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and returning the kiss but I have to force myself to pull back so I don’t keep him too long. I watch the giant disappear into the forest before walking back into the cabin to do as he’s asked. I rampage through his closet until I find a thick woolen sweater and slip it on. Like everything else in his closet, it smells like him. Like… home.
I’m only inside for more about five minutes when I hear him moving around outside. A smile appears on my lips when I figure he must have forgotten something so I rush outside, excited to see him again, but instead of my rough-looking mountain man, a uniformed man is standing outside Shaw’s cabin with a gun tucked to his side. I read the ranger’s badgetaped to his chest and blink at the man who seems just as startled to see me.
Is he perhaps looking for Shaw? That can’t be right. Shaw told me he doesn’t really talk to people unless…
Wait, is he the brother Shaw said lives on the other side of the mountain? I don’t recall him saying he was a ranger.
“Uhm, hi, can I help you?” I call out, staying close to the door in case this man is dangerous. I don’t trust the gun tucked to his side.
“Are you Jean Watson?”
“How do you know my name?”
The man lets out a relieved sigh. “Your friends have been sick with worry about you,” the man tells me. “We found your car parked on the side of the road with all your things in it and started to fear for the worst. The grizzly bears in these mountains are not fond of tourists. Your friends are going to be relieved to know you’re fine.”
Oh, does that mean my message got to my friends? I haven’t checked my phone since I arrived here, too distracted by the mountain man to think of anything else but him.
“I’m sorry I worried them, and you,” I tell the ranger. “Can you please tell my friends that I am fine?”
The man’s brows push to his hairline as he stares at me. “What do you mean to tell them?”
“Well, I’m sure they’re worried–”
“Miss Watson, I am here to pick you up,” he says. “I cannot in good conscience leave you in these mountains alone.”
“But I’m not alone,” I quickly say. I have the mountain man here with me and…
