Sierra Hearts (Part One)

by Ash Elko

  Danny did it for her. “Why so quiet?” he asked. Jenn saw the hint of a grin on his exquisite face.

  Jenn tried to come up with an answer that didn’t make her sound like an idiot.

  “Oh… just enjoying the snow,” she said.

  “Well, there certainly is a lot of it for you to enjoy,” Danny said. Jenn could feel herself unconsciously start to blush.

  Enjoying the snow? Really? THAT is the best you can do? Jenn thought to herself.

  Out in front of the car, Jenn saw two dim spots of light emerge from the white landscape approaching them. Probably another car coming from the opposite way. The lights quickly got brighter and brighter. Whoever was driving that car was coming their way and fast. Jenn turned to Danny. He clearly saw the lights.

  “Whoa,” he said. “Easy there, buddy.” Jenn saw him flick the Subaru’s high beams on and off. “That guy is in our lane,” Danny said. His tone was matter of fact and unafraid.

  “Uh,” Jenn started to say.

  The car coming at them was visible now. Jenn didn’t know much about cars, but she could tell this was some kind of luxury sedan, black or some other dark color. Most likely driven by an out-of-towner up in the mountains to go skiing. The car was speeding towards them.

  “Shit,” he said. He honked the horn in three crisp beeps.

  Beep! Beep! Beep!

  Jenn felt her heart jump into her throat. In that instant, the dark luxury sedan came barreling into them, clipping the back end of the Subaru and sending it into a spin. Jenn screamed. The Subaru glided off the road, still spinning. Jenn felt the world go upside down. The whole passenger side of the car fell out from under her. The car flipped onto its roof and into the ditch on the side of the road. The body of the car moaned and groaned as the roof bent under the weight of the car.

  The next thing she knew, Danny was yelling, “Out of the car!” He undid his seat belt. He slipped his arm under Jenn’s and around her torso. Jenn felt his grip tighten around her and pull her towards his side of the car. He managed to pry open the driver’s side door and haul himself out, pulling Jenn behind him. Jenn felt specks of ice on her face as she emerged from the car and into the snow surrounding it. He pulled them both up and out of the ditch away from the car. The world around him was chaos, but Danny Williams was the epitome of grace under pressure.

  Part of her subconscious had taken inventory of her body and told Jenn that she was safe. Nothing was too badly injured. The danger had passed. Danny was suddenly over her. His hands darted across her, starting on her face and jumping across head, neck, arms, abdomen. Touching, probing, gripping.

  “Talk to me Jenn. Are you alright?” he said firmly. His tone was urgent.

  “What’s your birthday?” he asked.

  Jenn didn’t even bother wondering why he was asking. “August… August twenty-ninth,” she said.

  “And where are you now?” he asked, the same urgency in his voice.

  “Uh, Bear Lake?”

  “What’s your favorite color?” His questions were getting ridiculous now.

  “Huh? What?” Jenn said.

  “Your favorite color. What is it? Tell me,” he said. His eyes were looking into hers, but somehow passed them like he was trying to see what was behind them.

  “Blue.” Jenn stammered. “Blue. That’s my favorite color.”

  “What is my name?” he asked. His tone still had the same urgency.

  “Danny… Danny Williams,” Jenn mumbled.

  What was with all of the questions?

  “OK. Good… Good,” he said. “I don’t see any signs of trauma on you. I think you will be alright.”

  “Huh?” Jenn said, confused.

  “I was a medic in the army. I just gave you a good pat down. I didn’t feel any broken bones. I was asking you all those questions to see if you were all there.”

  “And the part about my favorite color?”

  “Just curious.”

  Jenn looked around. Despite everything that had happened, they were still relatively close to the toppled Subaru.

  “Shouldn’t we move farther away? Isn’t the car going to explode or something?” Jenn asked nervously.

  Danny relaxed. That beautiful smile of his reappeared on his face.

  “You’ve seen too many movies. Cars don’t just explode like that,” he said. Jenn chastised herself for asking such a dumb question. Of course cars don’t just explode like that.

  “Are you OK?” Jenn asked.

  “Probably have a concussion. Don’t let me fall asleep,” he said. He slouched down next to her. They were both on the side of the road now. There was no sign of the luxury sedan.

  “Asleep? Are you joking?! After what just happened?” Jenn was incredulous.

  He looked at her like she was speaking a different language.

  “No,” he said. “I’m not joking. Keep talking to me. Keep me focused. We are stuck here until someone comes driving along. And if I fall asleep,” he paused. “Don’t let me fall asleep.”

  Jenn’s mind raced. How was she going to keep him focused? She racked her brain to come up with something.

  “How did you end up being a medic?” she asked.

  “The same way anyone ends up being anything in the army. I took a test and the test said I was a good candidate for medic training,” Danny said. “Believe it or not, you aren’t the first person I’ve had to pull out of a crashed car.”

  “Did you have to do that in the army?” Jenn asked.

  “Yes,” he said, flatly. He didn’t elaborate but Jenn could tell there was a hell of a lot more to it than a simple yes.

  “Did you ever save someone’s life?” she asked.

  “Yes. Yes, I did.” Danny said it the same way that made Jenn know there was obviously a lot more there, but he wasn’t going to talk about it. “I’m feeling a little drowsy.”

  Jenn struggled to come up with another question, pronto. She blurted out as many as she could think of, in any order she could think of them. She found out that he liked hamburgers more than hot dogs. He liked chocolate more than vanilla. He loved movies, but in a shock to her he liked more than just the average superhero or action thriller. He said he liked comedies and mysteries, too. He said he liked most types of movies, really. He even listed some that Jenn would categorize as undeniably rom-com, but she said nothing. When he had gotten out of the army, had moved back in with his mom. She liked having him home because he could do things around the house. He could chop firewood for the stove, or he could shovel the driveway for her. He had been hanging around the general store more and more. He liked talking sports with her dad.

  “Did you like your time in the army?” she asked.

  “What do you mean?” Danny asked.

  “Well, uh, the last time I saw you, you looked so…” Jenn searched for the right word, “…different. I mean look at you now!” Jenn gestured with her arm towards him.

  “I was tired of being the scrawny kid,” Danny said. “But you are one to talk. I remember shy Miss MacKenzie with her braces. Now you live in LA.”

  Before she could stop herself, Jenn mumbled, “I used to live in LA. I don’t live there anymore.” She instantly regretted it.

  “What? What do you mean used to?” he asked.

  “I was living with a guy. He… we ended it. So I came back home for a little while,” she said. She braced herself for whatever Danny was going to do next.

  “That sucks,” he said. Jenn couldn’t believe it.

  That sucks?

  Danny said it the same way that someone would after watching someone spill ketchup on their shirt. Was he mocking her?

  “Guy sounds like an asshole,” he added.

  Despite herself, Jenn laughed. “Yes. He is an asshole.” Jenn laughed again, taking note of how good it feel to laugh mere moments away from thinking she was going to die.

  After a while, Danny asked Jenn a question.

  “Do you want to move back to LA?” he asked.

&
nbsp; Jenn wasn’t sure how to respond to that one. She missed LA. But right now LA meant no job and nowhere to live.

  “I’m not sure,” she finally said.

  They were still sitting in the snow by the wreck of the Subaru. It didn’t make sense to risk walking along the side of the road when it was so hard to see. They had already been in one car accident today, and neither of them wanted to take the chance on another car hitting them. They hadn’t seen another car go by, which wasn’t unusual for the small town. But it was starting to get dark, and with the sun going down, it was going to get colder.

  Jenn could see her breath. She hoped someone would come along soon. She could feel the frosty air on the tip of her nose. Danny stood up and looked down the road into the distance. She instinctively stood up behind him. She could barely make out headlights coming down the road.

  “There,” he said. “A car’s coming this way.” He started to wave his arms to signal the car.

  Jenn, unsure of what to do, did the same. After a few seconds Jenn recognized the vehicle. It was her dad. She felt a mixture of intense relief and of embarrassment. Mick MacKenzie probably got nervous that his daughter had taken so long to get home, so he got in the car and headed towards Danny’s house. He would probably want to make sure that everything was alright, and then probably make a groan inducing joke at Jenn’s expense.

  Mick pulled up to them and rolled down the window. He looked first at Danny, then Jenn, before finally settling on Danny.

  “What happened?” he said, gravely.

  “Some tourist shithead ran us off the road,” he said. “Flipped the Subaru. Jenn is alright.”

  Mick nodded. “You OK?” he said to Jenn.

  Jenn nodded, unable to speak.

  “Are you OK, Danny?” Mick asked.

  “Got knocked out. Should probably get it checked out,” he said, matter-of-factly.

  “What kind of car was it that ran you off the road?” Mick asked.

  Jenn perked up. “Dark colored luxury sedan,” she said. “It was speeding,” she added.

  “Black Lexus,” Danny said. “Last three numbers of the plate were 719.”

  Of course Danny knew what kind of car it was and got some of the license plate.

  Somewhere deep inside of Mick Mackenzie a mission started. His eyes narrowed. He grunted. He was going to make it a point of letting everyone know to be on the lookout for the car that almost killed his daughter.

  “OK, climb in,” he said. Jenn recognized the look. Mick was overall a soft and gentle family man, a good neighbor, and a friendly bartender. But when it came to his family he was a deeply protective force to be reckoned with. And this was a small town. The driver of the black Lexus would be found.

  Luckily, it was a short drive, only a few miles away, to the medical clinic. Danny insisted they did not need to stay once he was checked in. Her father and Danny shared a brief look. Her father nodded. Danny nodded. Some kind of unspoken communication had passed between them, and she was unable to decipher it.

  Out in the parking lot, her dad asked, “Are you sure you’re OK sweetheart?”

  She said, exasperated, “Yes, Dad.”

  I’m tired of being treated like a little girl, she thought.

  “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go home.”

  The ride home was similarly quiet. As they were pulling in to the driveway, she asked, “Dad, how come you had me deliver groceries to the Williams house?”

  “Huh? What do you mean sweetie?” he said.

  “I don’t think anyone there is sick. Plus, Danny had a car so he could have just as easily driven to the store to pick up what he needed,” Jenn said. “Usually you don’t deliver groceries to anyone who can’t otherwise make it to the store.”

  The statement hung there for a moment. Neither of them spoke. Finally her dad was the one who spoke.

  “I thought it would be good for you to see Danny,” he said.

  She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Was her dad seriously playing matchmaker? She wanted to pull her hair out.

  “Dad!” Jenn bellowed. “Why would you do that?”

  “Oh come on Jenn. I thought it would get you out of your funk.” She thought about it some more. This was probably why her mom had been so insistent on her helping out with groceries this morning. She groaned out load. The two of them! Her parents, working together to make up an excuse for her to see Danny. She couldn’t believe it. No, that wasn’t true. She could believe it, which is why she was groaning.

  At the house, her dad ran interference and shielded her from her mother and the inevitable questions. She practically ran up to her room for sanctuary. At the top of the steps, she stopped. She realized she was retreating, again. She had faced a scary, uncertain situation, and her first impulse was to run to her childhood room and shut out the world. Just like she had with the whole Danny situation. Jenn frowned. She was sick of running and retreating. She was sick of being managed by her parents. She wanted to do something different.

  Chapter 4

  The snow leading up to the front door had hardened into ice. Jenn made sure to avoid the bigger chunks as she approached the steps to the front door. She knew from experience that it was a simple equation: losing your balance plus ice hardened concrete equals the kind of pain that takes days to wear off.

  The storm had passed and the sky was relatively clear now with only a few wisps of cloud cover above. Sunlight was reflecting off the snow and ice around her, but it didn’t offer any respite from the cold. She could still see her breath. She felt herself tremble but wasn’t sure if it was from the temperature or her own nervousness. Nervousness wasn’t quite it though. Maybe a dash of embarrassment too? Heck, why not add in a touch of guilt with a good helping of regret?

  Mick had told her that morning that Danny had been released from the hospital. He was back home. Even though she still resented the fact that the whole set up the day before was really an excuse just to get her to leave the house, Jenn felt herself go through the motions of getting dressed, mumble to her parents that she was going over to the Williams to check on Danny, and walk out the door. Her feet took her along the edge of the road, and she paid extra attention for the sounds of fast-moving cars. She barely registered she was at the front door until she practically ran into it.

  Jenn held her arm out to knock but hesitated.

  Would he even want to see me right now? Do I really want to see him right now? She shook her head. Snap out of it McKenzie, she thought. Be an adult. Because you are an adult. He is an adult. There isn’t anything to worry about.

  She knocked. It could have been an instant or an eternity before Danny opened the door, but when he did Jenn felt herself relax.

  “Well look who it is!” Danny laughed.

  “I heard you were released this morning. I wanted to… to make sure you were alright… and…”

  “I’m fine. Really,” Danny said. “I just have to make sure nothing else hits my head for the next couple of days,” he said, smiling. Jenn finally noticed he was holding a beer in his hand.

  “Are you drinking?” Jenn asked incredulously. “Is that a good idea in your condition?”

  Was this some kind of macho caveman thing? Survive car crash, drink beer?

  “The doctor said I had a minor concussion. No broken bones. No signs of internal bleeding anywhere. Just a nasty bump on the head and some bruises. I’m expected to make a full recovery. So, yes, in my condition, in my professional medical opinion, it is a good idea.”

  Jenn made a face that told him she was thinking about everything he just said.

  “Come on in,” he said. “Can I get you something? A drink?”

  Inside the house was a night and day difference from the cold icy exterior world Jenn had just walked through. The cold, grey and blue world outside was replaced with a warm and inviting yellow hue on everything. There was a nice fire going in the fireplace. For such a tiny house the fireplace was massive. It dominated an entire wall. It
made sense for it to be so big. It was the only source of heat. The mantle had a few knick knacks on it. A piece of white quartz probably found out in the woods somewhere. A giant pinecone. A photo of Danny and his parents that must have been taken at a point before he was in the army because he was so skinny. There was some music playing in the background that she didn’t quite recognize but it was some kind of rock music with a distinctive guitar riff she knew she had heard somewhere before. Boys. Was listening to rock and roll a requirement to being a white guy? It seemed like was. Do their fathers sit them down and tell them the birds and the bees and about the bass guitar? On the dining table was a stack of puzzle boxes. There must have been half a dozen or more. A freshly split stack of firewood rested beside the fireplace, and the whole room had a pleasant smoky scent. There was something else she could smell, too. Whatever it was, it made her mouth water.

  “I’ll pass on the drink. Can I have some water?” she said. Another wave of that delicious smell hit her. “Are you cooking something? It smells amazing.”

  “The storm knocked out the TV, so I’m making rack of lamb to keep me busy. Do you want any ice?” he asked.

  “Yes, please,” she said.

  Rack of lamb?

  “You got it,” he said. Jenn could hear him crack open another beer.

  “Do… do you need any help cooking? Is there anything I can help with?”

  “Sure! Want to give me a hand with the Brussels sprouts?” he asked.

  Not knowing what else to say, Jenn said yes.

  Food covered every square inch of counter space in the kitchen. Onions, potatoes, and Brussels sprouts, of course, were all grouped together. There were also garlic cloves, herbs, and spices along with meat. Lots of meat. There were multiple racks of lamb on display as well as what seemed like an unhealthy amount of bacon. A bottle of red wine stood by itself at the edge of the counter, unopened.