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Carly regarded me with deep suspicion before slithering from my arms. I bent at the waist, getting her closer to the ground to make her escape safer. The second her feet hit the floor, she ran straight to Nora, who scooped her up. Carly rested her plump cheek on the soft swell of Nora’s breasts and continued to watch me from the safety of her arms.
I felt a small flick of jealousy, partly because my niece clearly preferred someone else’s company to my own, and partly because I wouldn’t mind pressing my cheek there, either.
“She only just met me yesterday. She’ll get used to me.” I had been in South Africa when she was born, and ever since something always prevented me from coming home—that something being my ex-wife, if I was being honest about it. For some reason I felt the need to explain this to Nora, minus the ex-wife part, so she wouldn’t think I was a kid-repelling monster or something.
“What were you doing in South Africa?” She stroked Carly’s red curls as she talked.
“Leading a climb up Mount Kilimanjaro.”
“Wow.” She looked suitably impressed and then she scrunched her forehead and tilted her head like she was trying to remember something.
I bit back a grin. It would come to her eventually.
I moved closer, slowly, so as to not startle my wary niece. They both watched me approach with wide, apprehensive eyes. It struck me again just how small Nora was. The top of her head barely reached my shoulder. It did something weird to my insides. I wanted to touch her all over, to investigate how something so delicate actually worked. Did her arms move the same way as mine? Her bones? Her muscles?
“I like your rabbit,” I told Carly, because I needed an excuse to be standing this close to them.
Carly gave me a look of great disdain and promptly dropped the stuffed toy to the ground. Nora shifted thirty pounds of toddler to one hip and lowered in a squat to retrieve it.
“No, I’ll—” I started, but it was too late. She had already grabbed the toy and straightened again.
Okay. Perhaps delicate wasn’t the right word for Nora.
But that didn’t stop me from wanting to touch her.
They all sat down to dinner. I was between Dimitri, my nine-year-old nephew, and Sam. Nora sat across from me between Becca, my seven-year-old niece, and Suzie, who kept Carly close to her.
“I heard Michael telling you about Kilimanjaro.” Suzie plopped a spoonful of mashed potatoes on Carly’s plate, a spoonful on her own, and then passed the bowl to Nora. “You should see the list of mountains he’s climbed. It’s incredible.”
Nora blinked at me, that befuddled look on her face again. I could almost see the wheels turning as she reached for a memory that was still just a little too hazy. I smirked, and her eyes narrowed in response, which only made my internal gloating increase tenfold. Maybe I was enjoying this more than I should.
“You climb mountains?” she asked slowly. She wasthis closeto remembering my promise.
“Yeah. I lead—or assist in leading—expeditions all over the world. When I’m in the States, most of what I do is rescue work. I started right here in Hart’s Ridge, doing rescues in the Blue Ridge and Smokies.” I paused for full effect. “Especially Hart Mountain.”
The lightbulb flashed. I saw it in the way her blue eyes suddenly went wide. I burst out laughing at the look of absolute horror on her face.
“What?” Suzie looked between us. “What’s so funny?”
“Oh,no,” Nora said.
“Oh,yes.” I grinned so wide my face almost split in half. “Nora Zeigler, you are going to climb that goddamn mountain.”
Chapter 5
Nora
Itwasatruthuniversally acknowledged that women who were drunk should keep their dumb mouths shut. Now, because I hadn’t obeyed that very simple rule, I was going to climb Hart Mountain.
The Widow-Maker.
If that didn’t say it all.
“Michael, language!” Suzie rebuked him. “There are children present.”
“It’s a Jack Kerouac quote,” he protested. “I’m giving them an education. Every American should be able to quote Jack Kerouac.”
“Anyway, we’ve heard worse, Mom,” Dimitri piped up. “Yesterday you said shit when you tried to tie your shoe.”
