But I’m not thinking about the fire.I’m thinking about earlier today, at the waterfall, and I’m thinking about how she called me her boyfriend.I’m thinking about whether it’s too late to get a ranch job in Lodgepole for the winter, because having three hours between us feels like too much.
You might be rushing things, I think, but I’m honestly not sure.
Since we broke up I’ve had a couple dozen one night stands and a few casual girlfriends, and they were nice enough, but I never felt the magnetic pull that Clementine exerts on me.I never wanted to move in and adopt their dogs or argue over which couch to buy or fall asleep listening to them breathe.
I don’t know what normalis.I used to blame Clementine for that, like she’d broken my heart so hard it ruined me, but if I couldn’t get over her ineight yearsI think it was my problem, not hers.
The fire’s an afterthought.She’s worried, but this is pretty routine for me.We go out, we dig some breaks, we do some controlled burns.If things getreallycrazy we might be fighting some actual flames, but they rarely do.
“There’s a couple board games up here when I finish the dishes,” Clementine suggests from the sink.“Want to play Monopoly with half the pieces missing?”
“How about cards?”I ask.
She laughs.
“What, are we retirees?”she asks, looking at me over her shoulder.
“Your suggestion wasMonopoly,” I point out, leaning against a table.“No one has ever had fun playing that game.Ever.In the history of the world.”
“Maybe we could just sit in the dark and stare at each other,” she teases.
I walk over and smack her lightly on the ass.She’s got the leggings back on, so it makes a satisfying noise and I get to watch it jigglejusta little.
I want to do it again, but I’m wearing the comfy lounge pants, and these pants keepnosecrets.Clementine seems stressed about the fire, and I can be better than hey-you’re-having-feelings-whoops-here’s-my-dick guy.Especially because that itch already got scratched once today.
“That’s not a response,” she says.
“Sure it is,” I tell her.“It’s the best response.”
She rolls her eyes and I grin.
I volunteer to take the wash basin down and dump it out.When I get back to the lookout, Clementine is standing on the wraparound balcony, leaning against the rail, looking at the glow of the fire.
“This isn’t Monopoly,” I say, leaning against the railing next to her.
“It’s not?”she says, glancing at me sideways.
“I know they’re easy to confuse,” I say.
We stand there another moment.The night has just started to cool down, and there’s a nice, refreshing breeze coming in across the tops of the trees.Really, it’s just a bonus that it makes Clementine’s nipples stiffen through her shirt even more.
“Sorry,” she finally says, and looks over at me.“I always get antsy the last day of a trip.”
“A work trip, you mean?”
She shrugs.
“Vacation too, actually,” she admits.“I start thinking about all the stuff I need to do that I haven’t done because I’ve been gone, and then all the stuff that I didn’t finish before I left, and...”
She looks over at me and laughs.
“You get the idea,” she says.“If this spreads east, toward the valley, it’ll be a logistical nightmare at theveryleast.”
I put one hand on her back and rub in slow circles.She arches a little as I do, and I glance at her ass in the leggings.
ThenI try to will my dick back down as I wonder why the fuck I broughtthesepants onthistrip.
“You can’t do anything about that right now, though,” I point out.
