Afterglow

by Artemis Anders

  “I love fall in Colorado,” he said. “It’s my favorite time of year.”

  “Me too!” Diana said.

  Stovi looked at Teagan. “What about you, Teagan? Favorite time of year?”

  “That’s a tough one. Either summer or winter. In summer you get to hike and camp, but in winter there’s skiing.”

  “But summer means no teaching,” Aaron volunteered.

  “True. Summer, then. What’s yours? Winter?”

  Aaron nodded. “Winter’s perfect in Tucson.”

  “You don’t camp in winter?” Stovi asked Teagan.

  “No. Not in Colorado, anyway. My temperature cutoff is about twenty-five degrees for sleeping outside.”

  “Oh, you’re missing out. I took this guy winter camping once.” He motioned to Aaron. “He loved it. Never complained once.”

  “Did he love it or just not complain?” Teagan asked. “Not the same thing, at least not with Aaron.” Teagan couldn’t think of a single time that Aaron had complained about anything, even when complaint seemed warranted.

  Aaron laughed. “She knows me better than you, dude.”

  Stovi made a face. “What, you didn’t like it?”

  “It was fine. But it was cold. And it got dark at five o’clock.”

  Teagan and Diana laughed at that.

  Stovi shrugged. “Hey, I’d rather camp in the dark and cold than in that miserable Middle East heat. That’s all I’m saying.”

  Aaron scoffed. “No argument there.”

  “That bad over there, huh?” Diana said. “Worse than Arizona in summertime?”

  “A whole different category of hot,” Stovi said. Aaron nodded in agreement. Stovi glanced at his watch. “You ladies getting hungry? Slate and I can start cooking soon…”

  “We can help,” Teagan offered.

  Stovi shook his head. “We got it. You two relax.”

  As Aaron and Stovi took to the preparations, Teagan and Diana took their bottle of wine and went to chat at their own table.

  “You did not warn me,” Diana said when they were out of earshot.

  “Warn you of what?” Teagan said, concerned. Had one of the guys offended her?

  “How hot Aaron is.”

  Teagan laughed. “I know. It’s annoying.”

  “His friend isn’t bad, either.”

  “No. He’s not.”

  They sipped their wine and caught up on what they’d been doing since they last got together. Soon, Teagan smelled grilled meat. She glanced over, and Aaron was hunched over a campfire, tending to four steaks cooking on a metal rack, while Stovi manned the stove.

  “Maybe we should camp with military guys more often,” Diana said.

  “No shit.”

  As if sensing he was being watched, Aaron looked up. He winked at Teagan. She smiled. When Stovi called out to him, Aaron held up five fingers.

  “Five minutes,” Stovi said to them.

  The sun had set and the temperature dropped significantly, as it always did at that altitude. Teagan and Diana changed into warm layers before the guys served them grilled steaks and fried potatoes mixed with red bell pepper.

  “This looks amazing,” Teagan said.

  “Um, yeah,” Diana said. “No pre-made sandwiches and potato chips for you guys, huh?”

  Stovi cut his steak. “When you’re car camping, why not do it right?”

  Teagan took a bite of her steak—medium rare and delicious. She glanced at Aaron. “You cooked it perfect.” He gave a tiny nod and looked down. She smiled, remembering his dislike of compliments.

  “So how did you guys meet?” Diana asked them. “You aren’t even in the same branch of the military, right?”

  “Right,” Stovi said. “The Air Force will send our people to train with the Army in certain areas they specialize in. The Intelligence Center at Fort Huachuca knows their shit. Slate here trained me.” He glanced at Aaron. “When was that? Eleven years ago?”

  “Twelve,” Aaron said. “The first time.”

  “Right. We’ve stayed friends ever since, through transfers and deployments and promotions and all that.”

  “You guys are the same level, in terms of rank?” Diana asked.

  Stovi eyed Aaron, a wry smile on his face. “Not anymore. Someone got promoted before the rest of us.” Aaron rolled his eyes and Stovi grinned. “I’m just fucking with him. He deserved to get promoted. Slate always puts doing what’s right over what he wants or whatever’s easy. Even if it means risking his ass.”

  “Coming from a pilot who served in Afghanistan,” Aaron said.

  “You were there, too…”

  “In the intelligence unit. Not in a damned plane.”

  Stovi shook his head and looked at Teagan and Diana. “This guy can’t take a compliment.” When Teagan laughed aloud at that, nodding, Stovi looked back at Aaron. “See? She does know you.”

  Aaron shook his head, trying not to smile.

  Stovi laughed before turning his attentions on Teagan and Diana again. “How’d you two meet?”

  “College,” Diana said. “Teagan and I, and our friend Hannah, wound up working at the same outdoor gear shop for a while, and we became friends. I ended up getting a job back in Grand Junction, but we’ve stayed in touch all these years.”

  They talked over dinner, then over roasted marshmallows as the four of them plus Patton huddled around the warmth of the fire the guys had built. The stars had come out, multitudes of them.

  Diana looked up. “It’s so beautiful here. I never get down here because I don’t know anyone in this area. It smells so good up this high, too.” She inhaled. “Like pine trees and campfire.” She glanced at Teagan. “Are you going to knock me for calling them pine trees?”

  Teagan laughed. “Not in mixed company.”

  “What’s wrong with calling them pine trees?” Stovi asked.

  “Because there are spruce and fir up here too,” Aaron chimed in. “Spruce and fir aren’t technically pines.”

  Teagan gaped at him, impressed. “How’d you know that?”

  He shrugged, a little twinkle in his eye. “I’m a wealth of knowledge.”

  The rest of them laughed at that. It was so unlike Aaron to be a wiseass, but when he was, it was worth it.

  “So, tomorrow,” Stovi said. “You all want to do a fourteener or a thirteener? If we do the fourteener, we need to leave earlier.”

  “Thirteener,” Teagan said. “Fourteeners are crowded and overrated.”

  “I second that,” Diana said. “Then I’ll have time to do some riding. You can join me if you want,” she added, eyeing Stovi.

  Stovi grinned, a high-wattage smile that lit up his face. “Done.”

  When it got late enough, the four of them took to their separate beds. Teagan lay in hers for a few minutes, enjoying the silence before she fell asleep.

  Teagan woke to the sun shining through the window of her topper. She glanced at her watch: 7:02.

  She heard quiet male voices and the distinct sound of a propane stove being lit. She lay there for a few more minutes, trying to wake up. Soon, the smell of bacon hit her. She crawled out of her bag and put on her fleece jacket and flip-flops. Sure enough, the guys had made coffee and begun cooking. Aaron looked up when she approached.

  “How’d you sleep?”

  “Like a baby. You?”

  “Woke up with a headache. But I took something and it’s getting better. Coffee will kill the rest of it.”

  “You’re still adjusting to the altitude.”

  He nodded, holding up the coffee. “Ready for some?”

  Teagan ran to get her mug and Aaron poured her a cup.

  “Hope you like a hearty breakfast, Teagan,” Stovi said as he flipped the sizzling bacon. “Gotta fuel up for the hike.” He glanced over at Diana’s tent. “She awake yet? We need to leave by eight if we want to stay ahead of the thunderstorms.”

  “Don’t worry. She’ll be ready on time.”

  By 8:00, they’d eaten, packe
d up, and left for the trailhead. The morning sky was bright blue without a single cloud. They’d chosen to hike a nearby thirteener—a peak that reached over 13,000 feet in elevation—and a moderate one with good trails. They trekked through the forest for a while, the smell of damp conifer needles all around them. Occasionally they crossed a rivulet, either over a wooden bridge or, in many cases, by navigating slippery rocks and getting a dose of cold water in their boots. The quiet sound of the burbling water brought peace to Teagan’s soul. Someday, she would live up here.

  After a couple of hours, they reached tree line and the view opened up to reveal a large gulch with a blue-green alpine lake. The gulch was surrounded by giant rocky peaks, one of which they would ascend. Most of the alpine wildflowers had faded by that time, but Teagan spotted some bright yellow buttercups and purple gentians among the tufts of ground-hugging alpine plants. As they got higher up, trail turned to rock and even Teagan felt that slow, heavy feeling from the thin air, where you worked twice as hard for doing half the work. Their talking ceased as they concentrated on breathing, only Patton trotting along with ease.

  When they reached the summit, they found nothing more than a pile of rocks and a wooden stake to mark their accomplishment.

  “We made it!” Diana said.

  “No one here but us,” Stovi said. “Good call with the thirteener.”

  Their view offered 360 degrees of mountain peaks and green valleys. It was like being on top of the world.

  “Damn,” Aaron said, looking around him.

  Teagan nodded. Stovi and Diana got their phones out and took pictures, including one on a timer that got all four of them together plus Patton, who obeyed Aaron’s order to sit. As they sat down to rest, a high-pitched “eep!” sounded.

  “What is that?” Aaron said.

  “Pika,” Teagan and Diana said at once.

  “Are those the furry, beaver-looking things?”

  “Those are marmots,” Teagan said. “Pikas look more like chipmunks.”

  They ate their snacks and sipped their water, taking in the view. When Patton gave a bark, his eyes staring in the distance, they followed his gaze. A furry beast the size of a fat cat scurried over the talus, its fluffy tail rotating as it went.

  “Marmot,” Stovi called out.

  Teagan searched the skies. Darkish clouds had formed quickly and headed their way. After a couple of minutes, the wind kicked up. “We better go.”

  It’s good they did. By the time the lightning came, they were under the protection of the trees. They put on their rain gear and waited for the rain, which arrived soon after and dampened their hike for the next thirty minutes. Then, it was over. By the time they got back, the clouds had disappeared entirely.

  After a late lunch, Diana and Stovi got on their mountain bikes and went to explore a nearby trail, while Teagan and Aaron stayed back at camp. When Aaron began cleaning up the leftovers from lunch, Teagan came over to help.

  Aaron shook his head. “I got it.”

  “You don’t want help?”

  Aaron smiled a little. “I have a system.”

  Teagan laughed. “Control freak, huh?” she teased. When Aaron looked away, she regretted the joke. “You know I was kidding, right?”

  “I know. I just… my ex used to call me that.”

  Teagan felt even worse. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” He began putting away the condiments. “I am a control freak, at least with some things.”

  “Like what?”

  “It’s hard to explain. I like things done a certain way. Not everything, just some things. Like the dishes, or packing up the car for a trip.”

  “You like to be organized.”

  “Yeah. And prepared. If I do it myself, I know I have everything I need. I know where everything is.”

  Teagan sat down. “Makes sense to me. People like you are good to have around. Why did it bother her?”

  He shrugged. “She’d fly off the handle and assume I thought my way was the right way and hers was wrong. But it wasn’t that. I’m just… if I’m going to do the dishes, I’m going to do them my way. I guess that’s one way I’m kind of difficult.”

  “Is that what did you guys in? Your need to have the truck packed just so?” She smiled.

  Aaron chuckled as he continued his organizing. “In the military, there are benefits to getting married, including being stationed together. We didn’t marry young like a lot of military couples, but before we did, we were stationed in different places, which made it harder to see the problems. Once we got married, we butted heads… a lot. And she hates to camp or even be outside. She said she’d had enough of roughing it in the Army.”

  “Hmm. Good reason to dump her right there.” Aaron laughed and sat down across from her. “What was the hardest part for you?” she went on. “About getting divorced?”

  “Feeling like I failed. Like I didn’t live up to my word.” He eyed her for a moment. “What about you?”

  Teagan looked down. Part of her didn’t want to answer, but how could she not? He’d opened up to her, after all. “The humiliation.”

  “You mean like facing your friends and family and telling them you’re getting divorced?”

  “Yeah, but it’s more than that. It’s why we got divorced.” She traced the woodgrain of the picnic table with her finger. “He cheated. And then left to be with her.” When Aaron only stared at her, Teagan felt like she’d let the cat out of the bag, and wished only that she could scoop it up and stuff it back in. “Sorry you asked?”

  “Are you serious?” he finally said.

  She nodded. “That isn’t the worst part, though. The worst part is that those years we were together, he would knock my nerdy side, as if it were some sort of flaw. And toward the end, I knew something was off. I knew it. And I asked him about it and he lied for weeks, making me think I was crazy! When I found out the truth and laid into him, he tried to make it sound like it was my fault. And for a while, I believed it.” She shook her head. “I’ve never told anyone that before. The part about believing it. It’s too humiliating.” She finally looked up at him, wondering what he’d think of her little confession. He looked surprised, even a little angry.

  “Fuck, Teagan. When you said you were off men, I thought you were being funny, or just feeling wary like me. You’re so… fun. And positive. And sweet. I’d never have guessed you’d been treated like that.”

  She smiled. “Well, that’s a good thing, I suppose.”

  “Yeah, it’s a good thing. You can’t let that asshole hold you back. He’s a douchebag who threw away a great woman.”

  Teagan grinned, her spirits lifted. “Thank you for calling him that. Diana and Hannah do, but I love hearing it from a man I respect.”

  “I mean it. A guy who cheats breaks his word, and a man’s only as good as his word. My dad taught me that. Me and Stovi and the other guys… we’ve had our fun, believe me. But we have a rule: we always tell women the truth about what we can and can’t give them.” He paused. “Feel like a beer?”

  “I’d love one.”

  Aaron opened two beers and they moved on to cheerier topics. Again, Teagan marveled at how easy it was to talk to Aaron and how much he “got” things. Despite having many opportunities to, Aaron had never disappointed her. And for just a moment, she wished he was hers.

  Chapter Fourteen

  That evening, Teagan and Diana sat in the backseat of Aaron’s truck, playing with Patton as the guys drove them into town. The rain came down again, but Teagan wasn’t worried. It was the Rockies in summertime; rain rarely lasted more than a little while.

  They stopped at the supermarket for fried chicken, snacks, and drinks before they headed to the park. Like many Colorado mountain towns, the main drag had a western flare to it, dotted with eateries, bars, t-shirt stops, and galleries filled with southwestern art and other wares. As hoped, the rain stopped and the skies began to clear.

  The town park was an expanse of bright green
grass with a lake at one end and a stage perched at the lake’s edge. They joined the other families, couples, and dogs on the grass, setting up their chairs and waiting for the grass to dry a little before spreading out their blankets. Once they got settled in, they munched on their chicken, chatting away as the park began to fill up.

  “What kind of music tonight?” Diana asked.

  “I think it’s country,” Stovi replied. “You like country?”

  “I’m a small-town girl at heart, Stovi. Of course I like country!”

  Stovi grinned. “Me too.”

  Later on, their stomachs full and their beer and wine poured, the music started. It wasn’t long before Stovi talked Diana into joining the others dancing near the stage.

  “Come on, you guys!” Diana pleaded with her and Aaron. “It’ll be fun! We can get someone to watch Patton…”

  Teagan and Aaron shook their heads. Teagan did many things, but she didn’t dance. Apparently, Aaron didn’t either. Diana rolled her eyes and left with Stovi. She glanced over at Aaron, looking relaxed in his chair, sipping his craft beer in a can, his muscular bare arms impervious to the cool air. Patton came over and perched himself next to her as she petted his shiny coat.

  “So what’s next for you?” Aaron said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Your life. Where do you see yourself in a few years?”

  Teagan considered his question. “My dream is to make enough from my writing that I can quit teaching and hopefully move to the mountains.”

  “How long will that take?”

  She let out a sigh. “Longer than I hoped. And with my transmission and some other financial issues… I have to teach more classes in the fall.”

  “How many?”

  “A full load.”

  “Do you like it, at least?”

  “I like teaching, but teaching as an adjunct instructor… you only get the intro classes no one else wants to teach, with students who are just trying to fulfill degree requirements. And the pay is terrible.”

  “Will you still have time to write?”

  “Some, but not as much.”

  “I’m almost done with the second book in your trilogy. It’s even better than the first. I’ll try to spread the word for you…”