Annie laughed at the memory. “I was standing there next to the truck, absolutely terrified, but he just told me to figure it out and left. And I did. They were the scariest two nights of my life, but I made it through.”
Jake smiled, but said nothing.
“Afterward, we didn’t talk about it to other people, and I had a feeling that I shouldn’t—like no one else would understand why he had done it, or maybe they’d think that it was some bizarre form of child abuse or something, but the truth was that those two days changed my life for the better.
“During that weekend, I learned more than I ever would in a classroom. I walked back into that campground about five pounds lighter and proud as a peacock, with my legs torn up from sliding down scree slopes. Dad was waiting in his pickup, and I threw my pack in the back and climbed in. That’s when I saw the dark circles under his eyes. I doubt he slept for one second that weekend. Anyway, about a year later I found out there was a job that fit the description, that the government actually pays people to spend all day in the woods, and I was all in.I chased my wilderness degree with a fury, and the proudest I ever saw my dad was when he was beaming up at me from his folding chair as I walked across the stage with my diploma.”
Annie smiled sadly. “He’s gone now. Three years ago. And the woods make me miss him sometimes, but the feeling isn’t only sad. Being out there brings me closer to his memory than anything else could, and this job, it’s more than work. It’s who I am. I couldn’t have been anything else.”
Jake sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest, still wearing that gentle smile as he gazed at her.
“Well, say something,” she said, suddenly embarrassed at the sweeping range of emotions she’d put on display in the last ten minutes. It had been a long time since she’d given another person such an uninterrupted look at the inside of her head.
“I’m just processing. I mean, it’s more words than you’ve said all put together since you moved to town.” He lifted her doughnut from the napkin and took a bite.
“And I’m glad you told me,” he said around the mouthful, “but that last part isn’t exactly true, is it?”
Annie snatched the doughnut back. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that bit about you not being able to do anything else. You could have been anything you set your mind to, Annie.” He gestured toward her with a hand. “I mean, look at you. You’re smart, and funny. And tough as an old boot.” He laughed. “But to be honest, I haven’t met many girls who prefer to spend their days out in the woods, getting muddy and torn up out there, tracking animals or going head-to-head with guys hunting and fishing where they’re not supposed to be. It’s, uh… it’s kind of intimidating. In a good way.”
Annie’s cheeks flushed with pride. It was a compliment she’d been paid before, one that she always heard asYou’re just like your father.
Jake folded his hands together on the desk. “So, you left Bend because…”
Annie took an unsteady breath and condensed the months of heartache into one word.
“Breakup.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded, looked away. “Oldest story in the world. My husband and a younger woman.”
Jake’s mouth fell open. “You serious?”
“Yeah.”
“Are… are you okay?”
Annie shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I’m still in that early phase where it feels like you’re at the bottom of a great big hole and you don’t know if you’ll ever be able to dig yourself out.”
Jake’s reply was quiet. “You will. As soon as you figure out how to put down the shovel.”
Annie turned to meet his eyes, and in them, she saw hurt. Old and deep, perhaps mostly healed, but hurt nonetheless. She leaned back in her chair and looked at him then,reallylooked at him: the young, handsome face, the slender cross tattooed on his forearm, the fingers interlaced on the desk. With a lump in her throat, Annie realized that the happy-go-lucky man beside her had once had his heart broken, too.
“You?” she asked quietly.
Jake’s shoulders rose and fell. “Long time ago.”
Annie waited.
“High school sweetheart,” he said after a beat, looking away. “Bought a ring and everything. Found out about the other guy the day before I was planning to propose.” He coughed and sat a little straighter in his chair. “I don’t know. Time goes by and you figure maybe everything really does happen for a reason. I was just a kid. A selfish kid. The breakup forced me to reflect on a lot. I realized I wanted to live life for something more than myself. My faith got a whole lot more real, and this”—he waved a hand around at the small office—“best job I could think of to do some good for the town.”
He smiled, but there was sadness in it.
“I’m sorry,” Annie said.
Jake stretched a hand across the desk, as though he might coverhers with it, but he seemed to think better of it at the last second and dropped it instead.
