Page 24 of When The Mountains Held Us

Do I stand a chance at starting over here if I don’t allow myself to open up to people? What kind of life would it be if I just existed here without giving people a chance? Levi allows me the space and quiet to mull over his words as we walk without the pressure of feeling like I have to respond.

Eventually, we make it back to my car. I can’t help but feel a twinge of disappointment that our hike is ending. It’s been nice spending time with him without feeling the pressure to fill the empty space with idle small talk. He walks me to my door, opening it and placing a gentle hand on the small of my back as I climb in. His touch is gone too soon, leaving an electric tingle across my skin in its wake.

Before he closes the door, Bandit leaps onto my lap with his front paws, demanding chin scratches, and I oblige him, laughing when he licks the full length of my face.

When he jumps down and sits obediently at Levi’s side, I close the door behind me, start the car, and roll my window down, staring absentmindedly at Levi’s mouth. His full lips quirk up when he notices me staring, and my eyes fly to his green ones as he bends down until he’s at eye level with me. The car feels too small with him this close, but the proximity doesn’t scare me. It thrills me. I’m overcome with the desire to draw him closer, my body on fire as I glance down at his mouth again and wonder what those lips would feel like against my skin.

Bandit breaks the moment with an impatient woof, and I blink, pulling myself out of whatever strange daydream I’d found myself in.

“Drive safe, Oakley.”

“You too,” I reply and then frown, realizing that his truck isn’t in the parking lot. Is there another lot at the other end of the trail? If so, why did he insist on walking me to my car if his truck is in the other direction?

Pulling out of the gravel lot, I watch the man behind me fade away in my rearview, only turning to walk back towards the trailhead once he’s seen I’ve made it onto the road okay. I catch the swing of a tail as Bandit springs ahead of Levi down the path and disappears into the woods.

Twelve

Levi

Imight have some competition.

My dog is head over heels in love with Oakley.

Never in the six years that I’ve had Bandit have I seen him warm up to someone so fast. He’s a loving and affectionate dog, sure, but it took him a full three months of Justin coming around the house to let his guard down. It took him even longer to warm up to me. That’s the way it goes with rescues sometimes. They’ve been through some shit. You ain’t the only one, bud.

Bringing Bandit with me this morning was a good call. As soon as he saw me grab the keys to the truck, he turned the puppy dog eyes all the way to maximum, and I was a goner. There was no way I was going to be able to leave him at home.

I make a mental note to bring him along more often. I watch in amusement as he bites at a bug behind him and then proceeds to chase his tail until he catches it and falls to the ground. He’s clearly having the time of his life.

The way the sun dances across the branches in shining streams of light reminds me of the way Oakley’s hair shimmered as we walked along the path. I kept stealing glances at her, in utter bewilderment at the wonder and curiosity in her eyes as she drank in the scenery around her. There was a lightness about her as we walked side by side, like she had realized that whatever chased her into town couldn’t reach her here.

Our hands were so close, and I wanted to reach out and take hers if only to let her know that she isn’t alone. That she’s safe to let her guard down and feel whatever it is she needs to feel.

I watched the way the tension lifted from her shoulders, and only by having experienced the same freeing feeling of being surrounded by something so much bigger than myself was I able to recognize it for what it was.

The start of a breakthrough.

I can’t keep the smile off my face as I climb into my truck, Bandit panting in the passenger seat. Rolling the window down so he can hang his head out as we drive home, I flip through the radio stations until I land on one playing John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High.” I turn the dial up and let the lyrics of the song wash over me, reminding me why, despite everything, I never left this place.

There’s a verse that mentions walking alone through the mountains, and how the man is on a journey to soak in the quiet calm of the forest. It’s there where he learns who he truly is.

Maybe Oakley will find herself out here too.

I know I did.

My phone rings as I pull into my driveway, and I look down to see it’s my sister, Eva, calling. She’s a college student, and while we make it a point to talk at least weekly, I know she’s been busy getting ready for the new semester, and I didn’t want to bother her. I tap the green button and tuck the phone between my ear and shoulder as I round the truck and let Bandit out.

“Hey, little sis.”

“Hey, big bro! How’s it going?”

“Great. Just getting back from a hike with Bandit now.”

I can hear her wistful sigh through the phone, and it makes me smile. Eva loves these mountains as much as I do.

“God, I miss the mountains.” Eva goes to college down in Miami, and only when she was boarding the plane did it sink in that my mountain-loving sister was going to live at the beach for four years.

“Hate to break it to you, but you’re shit out of luck for another year.”