“What about us?” Kate cries, clapping a hand to her chest, then flinging it wide, nearly punching Leo in her tirade. “What about Maggie? How does she feel about this?”
It’s jarring how upset Kate seems to be.
“Maggie supports me.” My quiet words seem to take the fire out of her fight. Her hands fall into fists at her side. Cal just watches, standing silently before me. Things haven’t been the greatest between us lately, and it’s partly my fault. I’ve pulled away because I knew I was leaving.
She spins and barks out, “I’m making a run. Get in the truck, Leo.”
“Uh, do you need me to dr?—”
“Get in the fucking truck.” Her voice echoes through the bay.
They leave as fast as a four-ton vehicle will allow, and then it’s just me and Cal.
He heaves a sigh and comes to sit beside me.
I wait for him to deliver whatever stinging words he needs to say. Minutes tick by. Outside the bay doors, normal life goes on. Cars pass by. The trees that line the edge of the field across from the station begin to shift and sway as clouds float across the blue sky.
“Looks like those pop-up storms might happen after all,” he mutters.
The weather. He wants to talk about theweather.
“Yep.”
“I’ll try to not get smacked by a tree limb if we get a call. Won’t have you there to look out for me for much longer. What do you say, let’s try to make the most of it while you’re here?”
If I’d been more on my toes, he wouldn’t have been hurt in the first place on that call. Instead, I had a few fleeting seconds of thinking my partner had died on my watch.
“Scared the shit out of me,” I admit.
He fucking chuckles. “I know. You should’ve seen your face.”
He doesn’t know that seeing him like that took me right back to high school and pulling T.J. out of the lake. Of hauling his lifeless body out of the water and performing useless CPR on his still form.
“I’ve been meaning to ask. What’d Jules say to you in that hospital?”
“Man, I don’t remember that shit. That whole night is a blur,” I lie. Jules pulled me into a hug and whispered thank you. Shethankedme for letting her man get hurt. A little part of me recognized that she was thanking me for beingthere for him. But deep in my gut, I knew I’d been distracted. I could’ve done more. Should’ve done more.
He stands and stalks to the open bay door, watching the world beyond our station, while I sit on pins and needles. Finally, he turns to face me, crushing his empty water bottle in his fists.
“You know what I think? I think that’s some bullshit. I think you’re carrying around some kind of fucked-up guilt over something you couldn’t control.” He balls the water bottle up and tosses it into the nearby trash can. “And fuck you for not having the balls to tell me you were leaving.”
Well. Fuck. That didn’t go as planned.
Chapter Eighteen
Maggie
“You’re gonna miss this. It’s okay, you can admit it,” I tease as I strip my backpack off and let it drop to the granite rock. I’m quite proud that I was able to say it without a quiver in my voice; the only thing Jackson’s going to hear is me trying to catch my breath.
The sun has barely risen, but already, it’s chasing away the crispness of the fall morning. The sunrise hike to one of our favorite trails for our last hiking adventure before he’s due to report as invigorating and bittersweet as I expected it to be. Short and sweet, with a big payoff.
Just like our relationship.
Jackson stands tall and proud, hands on his hips, facing the valley below us. His strong shoulders pulled back, accentuating the curve of his spine to his perfectly muscled ass.
I drink in his profile, committing this moment to memory. He sees rolling mountaintops dressed in a kaleidoscopeof orange, red, and yellow glory. All I can focus on is how much I’m going to miss him.
I join him at the clearing, and sadness threatens to overshadow the adrenaline from the hike, and for once, I acknowledge it, let it roll through me. Let it prick my eyes with hot tears.
