We headed back to my truck and continued up the road that followed the incline of the mountains. It took us a little more than an hour to make the fifty mile drive because of the combination of the stop to see the vistas and the traffic. But soon enough, I pulled the pick-up into the visitor center’s parking lot. We both used the bathroom and washed our hands before meeting back up at the truck.
“I brought breakfast.”
We set up the tailgate. Bailey laid down the plaid tablecloth I brought with me. She set up the breakfast sandwiches, French toast sticks, syrup, and sausages. I set out bottles of water and poured hot tea into two mugs, since the spring mornings in Jackson Falls were in the mid-fifties. And it was noticeably cooler than that up in the mountains.
“Did Brewer make these sandwiches?” she teased, hand covering her mouth to hide the food inside.
“You already know.”
“Thanks for thinking of this,” she said after she swallowed. “It’s so peaceful up here.” She paused. “It’s peaceful in Oregon period. But it’s extra peaceful up here. And the sights are so gorgeous and the air is so . . . I don’t know, clean. I’m really gonna miss it here.”
“You’re gonna be missed. I hate that you feel like you have to go back.”
She heaved out a sigh. “So do I. Maybe something will turn around, and I’ll be able to stay. First things first though, I need to finalize the divorce. Then I need to see if I can even stomach returning to work. I talk a lot about how much my job pays. How it’s the main thing keeping me tethered to Chicago. But the truth is that the last time I went to work, I basically got physically ill. I have to see if that was about work or if it was about the headspace I was in at the time.”
I nodded because that made total sense.
We finished up eating and packed the truck back up. Bailey decided that she wasn’t ready to head back to town. Instead we took a short hike. I was shocked when she rested her hand in mine, but I didn’t speak on it.
“Thank you for being so, I don’t know, Bright. You’re just cool. You’re so laid-back. You make my nervous system calm down.” She glanced over at me with a smirk. “I don’t know how you do that, because your energy is always so high. I always feel like you’re one minute away from bouncing off the walls, but somehow you’re calming to me.”
I gave her hand a firm squeeze. We walked for a little bit before I spoke. “Say, take some pictures. Whenever I come up here, which isn’t often at all, I like to get some good shots. I frame them and use them as artwork in the homes I build. Alot of times, the buyers ask if they can purchase them with the house.”
“For real?”
I shrugged. “Yeah. Maybe somebody will buy yours and you’ll get to leave a little bit of yourself out here in the Pacific Northwest.”
“Quit bringing it up, Bright.”
“Sorry.”
“But I will see if I can get some good pictures.” We quietly snapped away on our phones. “You know what?” she asked me.
“What’s up?”
“You have so many layers.”
I laughed aloud.
“No, for real. You come off as this, I don’t know, good time guy. Like you’re silly and personable. But beneath all that you’re a really good dude. I mean, you have one-night stands with unsuspecting lodge guests and send them back home to their men the next day?—”
“They ain’t unsuspecting. They know exactly what they’re doing, and they know exactly what they want. Mountain dick.”
It was her turn to laugh. “Mountain dick? Oh my word. I can’t believe you said that.” Chuckles continued to spill from her juicy lips.
Bailey was so pretty. And when she let herself be free, she was even prettier.
“I’m calling it how I see it. They come here with fantasies of getting knocked down by a big burly dude wearing a cowboy hat or a flannel shirt. I help them have a story to tell when they get home.”
She waved me off. “Whatever, Bright.”
We took more pictures. The day was beautiful. The sky was a cerulean blue and the clouds that dotted the horizon really did look like cotton balls.
“I never knew you had a love for nature. I feel like you hide it.”
“I don’t. I’m a born and bred nature boy, but Beck’s more the nature-head. You grew up with three sisters. I’m sure y’all had roles that you played. Beck’s the outdoorsy one. Bayliss is the genius brother. Brew’s the career-driven one, and I’m the builder. I love working with my hands. And I’m the dreamer. I like to imagine and invent.”
“What do you dream about?”
