by Jeff Carson
Wolf toed a rock and looked at her. The scrapes had darkened where they had scabbed over. The bruises were fading now.
“You look good,” he said.
She put her hand up to her face. “Yeah. Right.”
“The swelling has gone down,” he said. “You looked like you were on death’s door back in the hospital.”
“I didn’t put makeup over all this. ‘Cause, you know, then I’d look like I had five pounds of makeup on.”
“You look good.”
She smiled. “Thanks. You look good, too.”
They both kicked some rocks.
She turned around and looked toward the dipping sun. “This place is beautiful. Wow.”
“Thank you. I love it.”
He looked back at the house and saw three heads looking out at them from the kitchen window. “Hey, why don’t we take a quick walk.”
“Okay. Sure.”
He led her past the barn, onto a narrow game trail that had become one of Wolf’s favorite hikes to the north side of the property, where there was a lookout to Rocky Points.
She walked gingerly. A few days ago he had seen the x-rays of her chest, and the two fractured ribs high on her ribcage.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Not bad.”
“Thanks for making the long drive,” he said. “That couldn’t have been that fun with your injuries.”
“Oh, no.” She smiled. “It was fine. And it’s not that long.”
He nodded. “Yeah. Not that long.”
They walked in silence for a beat.
“And your arm?” he asked. He’d also seen the picture of her fractured ulna, either broken from her thrashing against the restraints or from the fall into the hole.
“Better. A little sore. But not bad.”
He nodded, continuing to walk next to her.
The sun had dipped fully behind the peak where they were, but the rays still blazed down on Rocky Points up the valley. The trail sloped up toward the top of a low rise.
“It’s just a little more,” he said. “I want to show you something.”
“Great.”
They made it to the top of the hill and Wolf stopped.
“Oh, wow.” Piper nodded, gazing north into the Chautauqua Valley.
The silver river wound up the valley, cutting its way through the vast landscape and into the town of Rocky Points. The town’s lights shimmered silently. The mountains beyond were painted in layers of fading blue, some of their tops still beaming with sunlight.
“It’s beautiful,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said, standing next to her.
They stood in silence for a while. Wolf breathed in her floral scent.
“So,” he said. “What do you think?”
“About?”
“About working here in Rocky Points with us?”
She looked down. “I would love to.”
He kept his face neutral, but the anticipation of seeing this woman day in and day out filled him with electricity.
She looked up at him. “But I can't.”
“Oh.” The word came out like a sound comes out after a blow to the gut. “Okay.”
“Listen, I really appreciate the offer.” She turned to him. “I really do. But, my father built that place. It's the only thing that gives him any consistent joy day in and day out. It’s the only thing that’s…I don’t know how to explain it.”
“That’s permanent?”
“Yes. That’s it. Exactly.” She picked at her cast. “And I don't want to take that from him.”
“I understand. That’s very noble of you.”
“Or stupid,” she said. “I can’t tell.”
“No.” He touched her shoulder. “That’s not stupid to love your father like that.”
She looked at his hand and he dropped it away, feeling his face flush.
They stood in silence again, Wolf trying to come up with something to say.
Then he saw out of the corner of his eye as she raised her hand and brought it to the back of his neck. She got up on her toes and pulled him down at the same time, looking like she was aiming to peck him on the cheek.
But he turned his head and their lips collided, bouncing hard off one another.
She reached up and touched a scab on her mouth.
“Shit. I’m sorry,” he said.
She smiled. And then her face went dead serious as she leaned up again.
This time she leaned sideways, aiming true to his lips and they kissed. It was a soft and gentle peck. Then their mouths parted and their tongues caressed. Their breath mingled. Their bodies leaned into each other.
When they were done the rays of the sun over Rocky Points had dimmed—the only proof that time had existed for those moments.
He cleared his throat. “Okay, then. You’re declining the job.”
She chuckled.
“I guess we’d better head back,” he said. “I can see they’ve started the grill.”
A tendril of smoke rose from behind the trees towards his house.
“Yeah,” she said. “Good idea.”
They began walking side by side down the hill.
“Oh yeah,” Wolf said. “I have some interesting news.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
As they wove their way down through the trees he told her about Heather Patterson’s ascension to sheriff that would occur in the months ahead.
“Oh,” she said, appraising him.
“Yeah,” he said.
“And you’re fine with all that?”
“Yes. I am.”
They stepped together in silence, until she said, “So, you wouldn’t be my boss anymore.”
“That’s right.”
A smile pulled on her lips. “Which makes what we just did less awkward, doesn’t it?”
“Considerably so.”
When they came around the barn Jack was in a handstand on the front lawn. Ryan kicked a soccer ball and hit him in the face, toppling him onto his back. The girls watching screamed in delight, which scared Ryan, who ran to Cassidy crying.
“Oh no,” Piper said with a laugh.
“They’re back.” Jack walked to the grill and flipped the meat. “Are you guys hungry?”
The outdoor table on the front porch was set with a variety of place settings Wolf didn’t know he owned.
His mother and Harriet sat down, pointing Piper to sit in a designated spot across from them. Cassidy sat Ryan in the highchair next to her and settled in.
Wolf and Jack gathered the buffalo burgers onto a plate and joined them. By random chance a spot opened up between Cassidy and Piper so he took it.
Cassidy elbowed him in the side. With a mischievous smile on her face she asked, “All good?”
“Yeah,” he said. “All good.”
Thank you for reading In the Ground. I hope you enjoyed the story, and if you did, thank you for taking a few moments to leave a review. As an independent author, exposure is everything, and if you’d consider leaving a review, which helps me so much with that exposure, I’d be very grateful.
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I love interacting with readers so please feel free to email me at [email protected] so I can thank you personally. Otherwise, thanks for your support via other means, such as sharing the books with your friends/family/book clubs/the weird guy wearing no shirt and suspenders sitting next to you right now, or anyone else you think might be interested in reading the David Wolf series. Thanks again for spending time in Wolf’s world.
Would you like to know about future David Wolf books the moment they are published? You can visit my blog and sign up for the New Release Newsletter at this link – http://www.jeffcarson.co/p/newsletter.html.
As a gift for signing up you’ll receive a complimentary copy of Gut Decision—A David Wolf Short Story, which is a harrowing tale that takes place years ago during David Wolf’s first days in the Sluice County Sheriff’s Department.
Also by Jeff Carson
Gut Decision (A David Wolf Short Story)– Sign up for the new release newsletter at http://www.jeffcarson.co/p/newsletter.html and receive a complimentary copy.
Foreign Deceit (David Wolf Book 1)
The Silversmith (David Wolf Book 2)
Alive and Killing (David Wolf Book 3)
Deadly Conditions (David Wolf Book 4)
Cold Lake (David Wolf Book 5)
Smoked Out (David Wolf Book 6)
To the Bone (David Wolf Book 7)
Dire (David Wolf Book 8)
Signature (David Wolf Book 9)
Dark Mountain (David Wolf Book 10)
Rain (David Wolf Book 11)
Drifted (David Wolf Book 12)
Divided Sky (David Wolf Book 13)
In the Ground (David Wolf Book 14)
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.