Especially when many of the families had the land for decades, and it was some sneaky, unpaid tax or new law they’d violated that had it ripped from them.
“Earth to Amy?” Kirstin waves her hand in front of my face, her eyes wide and a little alarmed. “Are you okay?”
“Sorry.” I laugh, shaking my head and taking a sip of the latte, which is white chocolate with a raspberry cold foam, andverygood. “Fine. I’ll tell you. But you have to promise not to overreact.”
Kirstin stares at me blankly, crossing her arms and waiting for me to go on.
I roll my eyes at her. “I’m… seeing someone.”
She smacks her hand on the table hard enough that the couple next to us look over, concerned. Kirstin offers them asorrysmile, and they go back to their conversation.
Then, turning to me, she whispers, “Iknewit! You’re dedicated to work, but all those drives up into the mountain? I knew you wouldn’t leave Sun Spa behind for that long on just a work trip.”
Sun Spa—my luxury gym that costs an arm and a leg each month. I’d signed up for it—and bragged to Kirstin about it—because I thought the yoga classes, sauna, and red-light treatment were going to be enough to pull me back from the burnout I was approaching. I haven’t been once since I started going to Granite Peaks, and I haven’t missed it at all. Working on the renovations and random projects, helping Evan with his chores, it’s been more than enough to replace and exceed my normal exercise.
One day, while we were clearing snow, cleaning off the solar panels, and getting out a clog from the water-filtration system, I’d mentioned liking the work.
“It just—it feels good to see the physical manifestation of your hard work, you know?”
“Believe it or not,” Evan had said and laughed, looking over at me with something near wonder in his eyes, “Idoknow.”
About ten minutes of us working in silence together later, he added, “You could always get a cabin of your own. Live up in the woods, like me.”
For some reason, the sound of that made my heart sink. Why did I want him to invite me to livewithhim? It didn’t make any sense. We’d only been “together” for coming up on two months.
“And what would I do for work?”
“You could find odd jobs,” he said, shrugging, “or… remote work? I hear that’s big right now.”
And then I’d kissed him, because I’d never heard anyone else utter the wordsremote worklike they were in a different language. The kissing led to more, and he promised me it wasn’t a big deal if he had to finish the chores up the next day without me.
“So,” Kirstin goes on, drawing me out of my thoughts when I don’t offer anything up about Evan. “You’re agirlfriendnow. That’s fun. Who is it?”
“Well, I don’t know aboutthat,” I say, clearing my throat, staring down at the pink foam on my drink. “We’re exclusive. Does that mean girlfriend?”
“I don’t know,” Kirstin says, her brow wrinkling. “You haven’t talked about it?”
No, we haven’t. Partially because I tend to avoid the conversation, and partially because we’ve been so busy with everything else that there just hasn’t been time for a lot of heart-to-hearts about what, exactly, we’re doing together.
“Kind of,” I relent, then clear my throat, shrugging one shoulder, trying to play off the next part as casually as I can. “Also, I’ve been… thinking. About stuff with work.”
“This is the best coffee date we’ve ever been on.”
I laugh, roll my eyes at my sister again, then proceed to tell her everything. Since she started being upset with me over the job stuff, it’s been harder for us to have open conversations. But now that I’m questioning things at McKay, I feel able to tell her everything.
What happened with Evan. The way it looks like they’re trying to set him up. She gasps at all the right parts, and when I’m finished, she says, “So, when are we going to get to meet him?”
A flicker of unease runs through me when I think about that—how much he didn’t want to come down to Granite Peaks from his cabin, let alone go to Denver.
“I don’t know,” I admit. Then, like I always do when things get a little too personal, I turn things around, asking Kirstin about the new hobby she’s just picked up: hatching butterflies in her garage.
“Oh, the kids are really into it,” she says before launching into her tentative thoughts on a trip to see the monarch migration. For the rest of the coffee date, I’m able to sink into the conversation of her life, already feeling like I might have told her a little too much about Evan and Granite Peaks.
It’s like how you shouldn’t talk about what you wished for on your birthday. Like talking about that other part of my life makes it more real, meaning it can disappear at any time.
When we’re done, Kirstin stops to hug me, holding me for a second longer than normal. “It’s so good to see you happy, Amy. Promise me you’re not going to let it go.”
I wrap my arms around her, a sense of unease growing in my chest as I mutter into her hair, “I promise.”
