“That's the one. I have her granddaughter staying at the cabin with me.”
Somebody let out a whistle. “Now that's fantastic news to hear. We were worried about Harper.”
So was he.
“She rolled her car a few days ago at the beginning of the storm. I manage to get her out of the car. It's buried somewhere down the embankment beneath all this snow.”
“We found it. We tried her phone and got worried when no one answered.”
“It got smashed in the accident along with my snowmobile that also had my radio. We planned on contacting someone as soon as the storm let up but we couldn’t get a signal.”
“I see your truck. I just don't see you,” the man said.
Nash looked up at the big pile of snow in front of him. Then he turned back to his truck which was fifteen or twenty yards behind him. He sprinted back to the truck and then turned back to look at the top of the snow mound.
“There you are,” the man said.
Nash smiled. “What’s your name?”
“Officer Zeb Lincoln. I work with Harper. Everyone has been real worried about her, especially her grandmother.
Nash couldn't be sure but it looked as if Zeb was holding onto something. Nash took a few more steps back and realized whoever had come up the road had a tractor and the officer was now standing inside the bucket looking over the big mound of snow between them. That explained how they’d been able to clear the road so quickly.
“I'm sure glad you found us, Officer,” Nash said.
“Have you met Mrs. Madison?” Zeb asked.
Nash shook his head. “Just her granddaughter.”
“Well, Harper is a pretty persistent woman, just like her grandmother. In fact, I think her grandmother might be a little bit more so because she's been calling the station every hour on the hour to make sure someone went up to rescue her Harper. She’s going to be thrilled to know we found her.”
“I guess feistiness runs in the family.”
“That's for sure. How's Harper doing? Was she hurt in the accident? I know that's the first question Mrs. Madison will ask when I call into the station.”
“Bruised from her tumble down the side of the mountain. But she's doing okay, especially after yesterday.”
“Wait, you weren’t caught in this, were you?”
“I'm afraid so. We were lucky. My snowmobile wasn't. I’ll let Harper tell you all about it.”
The man whistled. “I’ll call Mia. She's a paramedic on duty at the fire station. She can check you both over when we bring Harper home.”
“I’m fine. Really. Harper probably should have someone take a look at her. I'm guessing you know she probably won't.”
“She will if Chief Lucas tells her to.” Zeb laughed. “But only because he'll insist on her being checked over before she can return to work. I’m sure glad she’s okay.”
“Harper has been really worried about her grandmother,” he called out.
“You tell her Mrs. Madison has been very well taken care of,” Zeb said with a chuckle. “I do believe that just about everyone at the police station has checked in on her. She even spent a few nights at Lucy Perini’s house. Sweet is a neighborly town. We take care of our own.”
Nash nodded.
“I appreciate you taking good care of Harper though,” Zeb added. “We missed her down at the station. She likes to tell us how indispensable she is and we give her grief for it. But the truth is, she was missed.”
“I get why. She's…” What? Amazing? Was he really going to tell one of Harper’s coworkers something like that? “Resourceful,” he finally said.
Zeb chuckled. “Yes, she is.”
“How long are you going to be working here?”
“As long as it takes. How is your four-wheel drive truck handling that road?”
Nash looked at the rutted tracks behind him. “I managed to get down here. I’m not so sure how much luck I'll have getting up but I know Harper is anxious to get home.”
“If you want to give it a go and get Harper, we will be here. If you don't come back by the time we’re done we’ll continue plowing up the road until we reach the cabin.”
“Sounds good.”
Nash walked back to the driver side of his truck and opened the door, wishing he hadn't taken the radio out and mounted it on the snowmobile. It didn't matter anymore because the snowmobile was gone. He wasn't going to need it again until next season seeing how it was so late in the season. But the radio was necessary.
“Hey,” he called out before climbing into the truck.
Zeb turned back to look at him.
“Where's the best place around here to buy a radio. Something that will work up at the top of the mountain.”
“You may need to go to the city for that. The hardware store might have something but I’m not sure what the range is.”
“Thanks.”
Nash climbed into the truck and carefully maneuvered it so it was facing in the right direction to go up the hill. He took his time and stayed in a low gear as he followed the tracks from the snowmobile and the tracks he’d made with the truck coming down the mountain. As he expected, it took longer for him to make the climb back up than it had for him to go down the mountain.
It gave him time to think. And he hated the conclusion he’d come up with. Last night holding Harper had been amazing. But she was murder to his focus. He’d come here to work and ended up doing nothing for days except notice every little freckle on Harper’s nose and study every contour of her beautiful face. How the hell was he going to get any work done?
Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter Eight
Harper heard the truck return long before she saw it rounding the bend in the road. She didn't bother to move the curtain so she could peek out the window. She heard the sound of the truck parking next to the cabin. She'd been anxious the entire time Nash had been gone. She only hoped he had news about her grandmother. She hated the not knowing, just like she had told Nash the other night.
And then again yesterday when she couldn’t find Nash.
He’d kissed her last night when they’re returned. She’d felt so alive and needed him to hold her. She didn't have to say the words aloud but had. She’d wanted him to hold her and to kiss her. She’d wanted that closeness so bad it had hurt.
Now that she was faced with leaving the cabin, her feelings were all jumbled up inside. She’d be going home alone without Nash. Of course, why on earth would he come with her? He was here to do work and she had intruded on his space. He was probably anxious to have her gone so he could get back to whatever it was he needed to do.
The rational part of her who always worked through a problem and came to a conclusion told her the answer was clear. She would go home. Nash would stay. End of story. End of his kisses and his warm embrace in front of the warm wood stove.
Except she didn't want there to be an end. Something had shifted here and she didn't know exactly when it had happened. If it was just a matter of the two of them being stranded together on the top of a mountain in the middle of a blizzard and almost dying, well, she could handle that. They’d move on and forget about each other. Except, she didn’t want to forget about Nash Webber. It was so cliché that she found herself laughing aloud at the absurdity of the daydreams going through her mind waiting for him to burst through the door.
What did she expect? He wasn't coming down from this mountain to be with her. She was going home. He wasn’t going to burst through the door and ask her to stay. Life would go back to normal.
How incredibly boring that sounded now when it hadn't sounded that way for years. That was Harper’s life. Boring. There was no adventure. She lived all of her excitement through the calls that came through the dispatcher’s radio. That was the only thing that had ever gotten her heart pumping.
Until she was in Nash's arms last night. Those precious moments made it abundantly clear to Harper that she hadn't been living all these years. Not really.
Soon
there would be plenty to keep her busy. Flowers were going to start blooming in a few weeks. It always amazed her how quickly after the snow spring magically appeared. They’d all have barbecues and potlucks out on the back lawn with neighbors. The annual Fire and Police Department’s potluck was in a few weeks. People would be coming into town for rodeos and vacations and festivals. Harper liked that about Montana.
But now Nash was standing in front of her with the look of death on his face.
“What’s wrong? Did you find anyone?” she asked. “Was that a plow I heard down the mountain?”
Nash closed the door and forced a smile. She could tell the difference between a real smile and a fake one already. This one took some effort. “Yeah. Zeb Lincoln said they miss you down at the station. He’s going to wait for you while they plow the road so he can take you home.”
“Zeb is waiting for me?” Her heart beat faster. “Why? Did something happen to my grandmother? Is that why he needs to take me?”
Nash came over and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Calm down. He said your grandmother was well taken care of by all of them. She even stayed with one of her friends. She’s fine. But Zeb knows you probably want to get home so he’s waiting for you.”
Her relief came out in a rush of air and a chuckle that she couldn't be sure wasn't partially a sob.
“She's okay.” It wasn’t a question. It was just pure relief.
“That's what the man said. And soon as the road is clear, he's going to take you home.”
“Okay then.”
“Okay then,” he said quietly. “You should probably get your things. They already had quite a bit cleared when I was down there.”
She nodded. “Okay. I really didn't have much with me. Just my jacket and purse. If you give me a minute, I'll change out of your clothes and you can have them back.”
“That won’t be necessary. They’re just sweats. You can keep them. I'm sure I'll… I'm sure we'll be seeing each other at some point during the summer.”
“Sure. And you're renting my grandmother's cabin.”
He smiled. “And you are stalling.”
She blew out a quick breath of air. “Yeah, I guess I am. I guess I’m finding it hard to find the words to thank you for saving my life.”
“You saved me too.”
“You never would've been on that mountain road if I hadn't come up the mountain in the first place. You would've been safe in this cabin riding out the storm on your own and eating those…MREs,” she said making a face.
“Don't knock them. They're really not that bad once you get used to them.”
“Not that I'm not thankful, but you can keep them.” She sighed. “Give me a minute and I’ll meet you outside.
Nash nodded and quickly dashed out the door. Harper gulped down some air in an effort to squash the emotion rising up inside her. Then she pasted on a smile like the one Nash had given her, grabbed her jacket, her clothes that were drying by the wood stove, her purse, and she walked out the door.
* * *
“I'm fine,” she said to Mia. Mia had been working as an EMT at the sweet Montana Fire Department for the last few years. Originally from Hawaii, at times Mia stood out as a tourist in town. But to Harper, she fit in perfectly with the rest of the long-time residents. Mia had come here on vacation several years ago and loved the small town and the people in it so much that she stayed.
“I'll be the judge of that,” Mia said, laughing. “You know, I swear that all of you folks working at the fire department and the police department are my worst patients and give me the hardest time.”
“I assure you it's not intentional. I just think most of us believe we’re made of steel.”
“And isn't that the problem?”
“I guess. I learned just how quickly life can be taken away last week.”
Mia paused as she pulled off the blood pressure cuff. Then she ripped it off making a loud sound when the Velcro released. “I am going to tell you to follow-up with your doctor,” Mia said. “I know you probably won’t because you want to put all this behind you. It can be quite scary to take a tumble like you did. Twice.” Mia laughed. “My goodness, girl, you have more lives than a cat.”
Harper shrugged. “I have an appointment next month with my doctor. If I’m still feeling sore by then…”
Mia took her by the shoulders and looked at her straight on. “No. You will call your doctor tomorrow. I don’t want to hear you tell me that you have an appointment this week or next week. Tomorrow. By the way, your blood pressure and vitals are fine. But for all you know, you have slow bleed or something worse. These bruises need to be checked out. I’m going to make sure Chief Lucas pushes you.”
“You’re not giving me a choice?”
“No.” The deep sounding voice behind Harper was stern, but she knew Chief Lucas wasn’t angry. He was worried. When Harper turned, she saw him standing in the doorway with his hands propped on his hips. But his face told her just how happy he was to see her.
“You need a doctor's note before you come back to work and that's an order.”
“Fine. If it will make you happy.”
“It will,” the chief said.
Harper knew the doctor couldn’t cure what was ailing her now.
* * *
Nash couldn't stay holed up in the cabin any longer. Everywhere he looked, he saw Harper. He smelled the scent of her. He could almost hear her laughter and it drove him nuts.
He hadn't planned on heading out into the field this soon. The snow was still thick and the conditions were still dangerous. A lot of what he had to do was sampling soil, testing water, and writing reports, something that should've been easy to do at the cabin given that he had total alone time. It wasn't.
When he is first arrived at the cabin, everything seemed new and untainted. Now everything had changed and he was having a hard time concentrating on the very reason he chose to come to Sweet in the first place.
After an afternoon of hiking, he found a spot high enough to take a water sample. He pulled off his backpack when he got to the mountain stream, pulled out the small kit he used for water sampling and popped off the covers of the vials. He filled one vial with water from the icy stream and one from the compacted snow. He made sure to label each of them so he would be able to identify which was which when the snow melted.
The sun was hot today and it felt comforting on his face after last week's blizzard. He still marveled how weather could change so rapidly and so angrily, and then turn right back to something balmy and enjoyable again.
He took the vials and placed them in a secure case and then put the case inside his backpack. He followed the stream to a higher elevation where his chart showed some activity near a hot spring. Hot springs were prevalent in the Rocky Mountains. Some made for outdoor fun for people who loved to be in nature. Others were so deadly and toxic that they could burn the flesh of a person or animals in no time at all. Each of the hot springs needed to be marked and registered for mapping and testing to make sure they were safe for recreation and for the water supply.
His stomach was growling by the time he got back to the cabin. The first thing he did was set a pot of water on the wood stove and waited for it to heat while he rummaged through his bucket of rations. Beef stew would be good right about now. But it had been Harper's favorite. And as he rummaged through the pail, he realized there wasn't any left.
“Beef stew would be good,” he said to himself. He didn't mind that the beef stew was gone. He minded the memory of sitting on the sofa and looking at Harper wearing his shirt, socks, and sweatpants because it was still driving him crazy even days after she’d left the cabin. He wanted to rid himself of the memory so things could get back to normal again. He couldn’t afford to waste time like he had the last time.
Nearly a year of his life he couldn't account for. That wasn't going to happen again.
He reached the bottom of the bucket and pulled out one of his least favorite dinners which w
as chicken and rice. He thought that he would end up eating these at the end of his stay at the cabin. He grabbed two packets because he was that hungry and then pulled his pocketknife out and broke the seals on both meals. Closing his knife, he put it back in his pocket.
Then he walked to the wood stove where the water was heating up. Years of eating rations made it easy for him to figure out how much water he needed so that he very rarely ever had to measure out water as Harper had when she was here.
He chuckled to himself, but it held no humor. Two servings of chicken and rice, a meal he'd eat because he was hungry and it was edible. Not something that he would enjoy. And he wished that Harper were here to make a joke or laugh at him about it. And that was the most pathetic thing all.
* * *
It had been over a week since Harper had returned home from the cabin. This spring blizzard was one for the record books. She'd heard so many stories over the last few days of roofs collapsing, pipes bursting, and general disasters that it had caused.
The police officers she worked with were full of stories that had filled her first day back to work at the station. She was happy for it. She was glad to be back. But she missed Nash.
Her desk was a mess, but mostly with cards from the people who she worked with and wished her a speedy recovery. It was a good thing the phones were quiet and she had a chance to go through each card and look at the special note people wrote.
She arranged the cards in the corner of her desk so she could see them. But she'd only keep them on her desk for one day. She’d bring them home with her tonight and put them in the scrapbook for later use if she had occasion to make some kind of memory book. Her grandmother had tried to get her to make a memory book ever since she was a little girl. There never seemed to be enough time.
“It's good to see you back,” Caleb said as he leaned an arm on the office desk divider.
“Thanks. Between the two of us being gone this winter I'm sure the chief is having a hard time knowing what to do with himself.”
Sweet Montana Boxed Set 1-5 Page 28