They were researching what factors exist in a healthy forest ecosystem.
For being all dressed up in her frilly clothes tonight, Marissa was a juxtaposition.
She could clean up nice, but she was a tomboy at heart. She used to tag along with me and Matt all the time. And even if shecouldn’tthrow an axe, she’d kept up with our pace through many Ozark wilderness adventures.
It was one of the things I liked about her. Okay, maybe Ilovedit. I could still remember a hike the three of us had gone on not long before Matt moved off the mountain.
Marissa had squealed and flung herself into the dirt when she spotted a rare loess deposit. She’d rambled on for ten minutes straight about things neither me nor her brother understood. We’d gotten a garbled lesson about iron oxides and substrates, and even though I hadn’t known what the hell she’d been talking about that day, I couldn’t stop watching her. The excitement in her voice and on her face had triggered something in my heart.
Rissy would always be the ten-year-old tomboy I first met. But that hadn’t stopped her from growing into a curvy bombshell that made my dick twang every time I looked at her.
She looked down at the table. “That’s actually one of the things I was crying about tonight. Do you remember that promotion I’d been gunning for?”
“Yeah.” She’d been waiting for the opening for over two years.
She pursed her lips flat. “They chose someone else.”
“Fuuuuck. Really? I’m so sorry. So you’re still part-time?”
She nodded. “Yep. I never thought at thirty-two years old with a college degree in my back pocket that I’d be unable to find a full-time job in my career field. I am so fucking tired of working at the Red Oak Market just to get a few extra dollars. I really needed that full-time position.”
Her eyes fluttered up to mine. “Lately I’ve been thinking maybe it’s time for me to admit defeat and take a job somewhere else. There just aren’t enough positions for soil scientists in this region.”
My heart clamped shut hearing that. “Move? You’re thinking of leaving?”
A look of resignation landed on her face. “What’s here for me other than family and friends? And they’re great, but they don’t pay my bills. It’s not like I’ve found a husband. I don’t have kids. And there are openings all over the country.” Her voice dropped low. “I’ve been thinking of applying for one in Santa Fe.”
Everything in me skidded to a stop. I’d never expected Rissy to leave the mountain. Then again, I hadn’t expected that Matt would either.
“Oh,” I said, the word completely devoid of emotion. I felt myself shutting down right there in front of her. “Well, that sucks.”
“Does it?”
I licked my lips nervously. “Yeah. I never thought you’d leave Red Oak Mountain.”
“What difference would it make to you? I don’t even see you anymore.”
“But that’s not by choice. It’s just because of Matt.”
She cocked her head. “What about Matt?”
Fuck. Was I really doing this?
He was going to kill me when he found out, but at the same time what did it matter? I’d lived so long without this woman, dreaming of her, plotting out ways that we could be together, knowing it was impossible.
But the idea of her leaving for Santa Fe was like watching a door that had been cracked open slam shut.
I couldn’t let her leave this mountain without knowing the truth.
“You know, Rissy, there’s a lot I haven’t said. Uh, and it’s all because of your brother. He, uh, made me promise something a long time ago, and I’ve never broken my word on it. But… maybe that was a mistake.”
She squinted at me, crossing her arms in a delightful way that pressed her pretty tits together, deepening the line of cleavage visible over the top of her low-cut tank top. “What are you saying, Sawyer?”
The words were on the tip of my tongue when I froze up, the idea of betraying my best friend eating me up inside.
So I chickened out completely.
Instead of saying what was in my heart, I put on a happy face and drawled out, “Oh, forget that. I’m just talking out my ass. But Ihatethe idea of you leaving the mountain. You’re like a little sister to me, Rissy. Who else would I tease if you moved away?”
