“Of course,” I said back. Though I found myself praying that it wouldn’t.
Almost everywhere in Sage Mountain had generators. The fact that my brand-new chalets were lacking them was almost a little embarrassing. I was just glad I had thought to get mine installed before moving in. But, as long as the ski resort could stay open for all of this fresh snow, I didn’t care. I had enough diesel reserves to run the generator for a month if it came down to it.
As I lingered in the chalet, wondering if I should join her back at the table or remove myself from the room altogether, a foreign noise came from the back bedroom,Presley’s room.Presley heard it too, as she stood up and paused.
“What was that?” she asked. We were both on high alert as we walked to the room. At first, nothing seemed out of place. Her bed was made so well, the sheets had to have been ironed. None of her things were out except for her phone charging on the nightstand. The room smelled like a bouquet of flowers, which must have been Presley’s perfume. I would haveknown if I had stood that close to her, but I didn’t plan on it anytime soon because ofboundaries.But then, I took one step inside.
“The window is broken!” Presley called out, pointing to a large crack in the glass. “Do you have any duct tape?” The window was so large that I didn’t think that tape could fix it, but I didn’t want to discourage her idea, either—something that an hour ago I wouldn’t have considered.
“I think I have a roll in my garage. Let me go check,” I said, tearing out of the chalet. What on earth could have broken that window? I decided to take a quick trek around the chalet to see if I could see anything out of the ordinary. But first, I needed a flashlight.
My garage had a lot of random things in it; some of the remaining construction materials from all of the chalets had been stored there, hence, why I didn’t park in it yet. I needed time to go through it and see what was what. Miraculously, I found a large, yellow flashlight sitting right next to a fresh roll of duct tape. “Thank you, Lord!” The praise came to me so naturally, I didn’t think about it. Joy, through this hiccup, was possible. I left the garage to do a quick perimeter search around the building before going back inside.
All of the chalets were three stories; you had your garage at the street level; the front door up some heated concrete steps, so no slipping on ice; and then inside, there was an upstairs loft. I loved the design because I could see more mountain peaks and chairlifts this way. I could tell if some of my favorite runs were groomed without pulling it up on the internet. But right now in the dark, with the chalet towering above me, I found the design adding difficulty to determining what exactly went wrong here.
Then, I saw it: A tree branch had broken from the snowfall and was waving in the wind, hitting the chalet with every breeze. I surmised a large gust pushed it hard into the chalet. Since it was still attached and could fall at any moment, and I was standing under it, I hightailed it out of there and went back inside, while my boot prints were filling back up with powder as soon as I made them.
“It’s that tree branch, right there.” I pointed to it out the window, holding the flashlight so Presley could see it outside.
“Oh no! I hope it doesn’t hit the window again. Do you think there’s anyone who can come fix that tonight, so it doesn’t?” A loud crack sounded as the branch swung back at the chalet, making us both jump. Presley screamed and her body fellinto mine in fear. For a moment, we were in an embrace; I stiffened, knowing that temptation was real. She whispered an apology and took a few steps away. I paused, but I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, so I answered her question.
“I’m really not sure, but the snow is still falling. I doubt I could get an emergency tree trimmer tonight.” If only I had a forklift, I could fix the thing by myself. I thought about Presley in this room with that tree tonight. Even after we taped the windows, the cold air was still seeping through. “You can take my bedroom until we get this fixed properly. I’ll take the couch,” I said, walking out of the room. As if on cue, Priscilla jumped up on the couch and started wagging her tail. “Someone has already got my spot warmed up.”
“You don’t have to do that, Ford. I’m already staying here, taking up space in your chalet. I’ll take the couch. Priscilla wants to sleep on it anyway—she’s making that clear.” We both smirked at how she was acting as she ran around the couch cushions and sporadically began digging on the blanket.
“I insist. I’d rather stay down here to monitor if the window gets hit again.” Presley looked like she was weighing her options. Her comment about taking up space didn’t sit well with me.
“Okay, if you promise you don’t mind.” I shook my head, going to the linen closet off the laundry room to grab some fresh sheets and pillowcases. Presley had set her luggage at the end of the stairs, so I brought it up with me. By the time I made it upstairs to strip the bed, Presley had taken another bag up there and was putting her beauty products around my sink. A bark from the bottom of the stairs got her attention.
“Priscilla hates stairs. She tripped on one when she was a puppy and has held a grudge ever since,” she said. My back was turned to Presley, and I felt a smile coming on. Who would have thought that Shih Tzu’s were soentertaining?
After the sheets were changed, I went back downstairs to where Presley was back at the table with her dog on her lap.
“I thought I’d work on this a few more minutes before bed. Want to join me?” Every part of my being was ready to go to sleep, but there we were in my makeshift bedroom for the night. I didn’t want to be rude to my guest, so I walked over to the table and sat down. Presley had quite a bit of the puzzle in progress already. “This helps me unwind and think a little clearer before I go to sleep. Usually, I read before bed, but I’ve sworn off anything that isn’t the Bible for this week.” She smiled andlooked at me, waiting for me to jump into the conversation. “You must pay for every word that comes out of your mouth, huh?”
“What do you mean?” I shook my head in confusion.
“I mean, you don’t say much. That’s okay, because I’ve been told I say a lot.” She shrugged her shoulders.
“It’s their loss, Presley.” I couldn’t stop the words coming out of my mouth if I tried. “It sounds like the men you’ve dated have been real jerks.” Her jaw dropped and eyebrows raised.
“I mean, that’s what I was leaning towards too but. . . Thank you for saying that,” she said. We sat in silence for a few minutes, and I finally found the correct puzzle piece to fit into the perimeter. “Good job, Ford,” she said, getting up and pushing her chair into the table, Priscilla in her arm. “Well, thanks for the chat. Goodnight.” As she turned, I watched her walk up the stairs and into my bedroom.
That night, I took a top sheet and threw it over the couch. Using an extra comforter to keep warm, I dozed off quickly and only awoke at the sound of a tree branch tapping the window in the guest bedroom.Presley’s room.I got up a few times to make sure the glass was secure, but thanks to the tape, it appeared it was going to hold. There wasn’t much of a draftcoming in, despite the hasty tape job, which was a relief. As I paced back to the living room, I considered what could happen if the chalet got too cold. Or if the generator went out. I threw a couple logs in my wood burning fireplace and watched the fire tear through the fire starters and then into the logs. The popping noises and familiar scent brought back memories of my childhood on a ranch in southern Wyoming.
I used to go out on cattle drives with my dad and his ranching buddies in the summer. The cows had to be moved to places where they could have fresh land to graze; it took several days to do so, as it required them walking to where we needed them to go. We didn’t have the means to transport them like some of the other fancy ranches around. So, sometimes that required sleeping in the middle of a large pasture, out in the middle of nowhere. I secretly loved being out in the wilderness sleeping, though my dad always complained about it.
His back would hurt from sleeping on the ground, even if he brought a three-inch thick piece of memory foam out with us. And he’d miss my mother’s cooking and long to be away from food that came in a can. But I loved it. I always wanted to show him my fire building skills, how I could ride on the horse like him and his friends just as well, or that I perfected the art of cookinga hot dog over a fire. He never seemed to care. I wondered if Clint had been the one showing him all of these things, would he have felt differently? But Clint was always back home overseeing the ranch, irrigating. Digging ditches. Or mending fences.
Even when I got caught by a tree branch while on a runaway horse as a kid, giving me a permanent, deep scar in my jaw line, I didn’t think he noticed. I’d never forget that day; he grudgingly took me to the emergency room. They gave me fifteen crude stitches, making X marks all down it. As it healed, I wasn’t allowed to play outside because they didn’t want the bills that would follow if it became infected. In my hurt, I felt like a burden to them.
Now, in my adulthood, I realized I had never connected on an emotional level with my family, and that was difficult for a child to experience. Especially when my older brother, Clint, was the golden child. Did they even want children? I wondered that, but their reaction to my brother’s every waking breath said otherwise. What they did want was help around their farm, and society had certain expectations of people. Or, at least they did back then. I’d like to have believed that they tried their best or did what they could, but I wasn’t sure what they were capable ofbecause they never showed me. As I lay listening to the fire crackle, its warmth spreading throughout my body, I realized I’d been holding a grudge against my brother for receiving what I didn’t. Because I didn’t receive the love I had wanted, now I wasn’t forgiving him for it.
Lord, I need your help to forgive.Within seconds of my prayer, I was fast asleep once again.
When morning came, I was awake at dawn. The soft glow of the sun was reflecting light off of all the new snow that came overnight. It was touchingly beautiful, and I had the urge to call my brother for the first time in years.God, is this forgiveness?If only my phone wasn’t broken. I went to my computer and quickly typed up a request to my manager, Jack, and asked if he could have a new one sent to me when the roads opened.
Then, I went to freshen up in the guest bathroom. I had brought my toothbrush and toothpaste down here last night, but I had forgotten my razor and shaving cream. I felt my stubble; it was already unruly. I wasn’t the type of man who had a 5 o’clock shadow the same day, but my facial hair seemed to always be present in the mornings.
