The woman stopped struggling and let him rise up the step. There they stood. Arms wrapped around one another. Even though the danger of her falling was well past, neither let go. Quinton wished she would just turn her cheek and lean into his chest. He would stroke her hair and kiss the top of her head. But none of that happened. Instead Fury began jumping up and down, putting muddy paw prints all over both of their clothes.
“Oh, Fury!” Regina scolded with tears in her eyes as she backed away from Quinton. He did not think that she was all that upset with the dog. Quinton did the gentlemanly thing and backed down the steps. For now, it was enough to know that she had welcomed his embrace.
***
Once they had said their final good-byes, Regina rushed into the house and peeked out the shade. She watched the handsome surveyor stroll back down her driveway. The moonlight outlined his broad shoulders, and his silver hairs glistened in the dim light. He seemed in no hurry to get back to his motel. How Regina wished she could be joining him. She was so enthralled with his departure that Regina did not even care that Fury was tracking mud all through the house. She could deal with the mess in the morning.
The telephone rang harsh and loud into the silence. Regina rushed to answer it before she could even think. Unfortunately, it was Wayne, and he sounded horribly drunk.
“Where in the hell have you been?” her husband screamed into the phone.
Regina tried to keep her voice even and neutral. “Natalie and I went out to dinner.”
“‘Til eleven o’clock at night? I was about to call the damn sheriff.”
Fighting off panic, Regina tried to scrounge up a reasonable excuse. “I decided to walk home. I didn’t realize how late it was.”
Luckily, Wayne was so drunk that he did not seem to catch how stupid this all sounded. He was too busy ragging at her for something else. “Where in the hell are the kids? Jesus woman, have you completely lost your mind?”
“Michael’s at Jordan’s, and Meryl’s sleeping over at Sabrina’s.”
“What about school tomorrow? Do I need to be home every damn minute to keep an eye on things?”
Regina bit back a sarcastic retort. It would not do to rile Wayne up any more than he already was. “They have the day off tomorrow, and all of their homework is caught up.”
Earlier in the day, she had practically sat on Michael and moved the pencil across the paper herself, but those worksheets were done and ready to turn in on Monday.
Her husband went on railing about this or that, but Regina barely noticed. She had dragged the phone over to the window and was watching Quinton retreat into the distance. His image was just a small speck on the horizon, but she wanted to watch him until he disappeared altogether.
“Is there something wrong, Regina?” Wayne asked with not a hint of compassion in his voice.
“No, not at all.” But Regina could see why her husband was suspicious. This conversation was not going at all like normal. Thinking quickly, she tried to dredge up her usual responses. Oh yes, she would normally be complaining about his absence and demanding that he come home for family time. Gulping, Regina tried to sound concerned. “When are you coming home, honey?” She had nearly choked on the endearment, but Wayne seemed to buy the act.
“How in the hell would I know? These pricks are jacking around the price and conditions. I can’t friggin' leave until we get this shit hammered out.”
Now this was going to be hard to do, Regina thought, but toughed it out. The only way to throw Wayne off was to act as normal as possible. “But, honey, the kids are off tomorrow. I thought we might do something together.”
“I know, I know. But damn it, Regina, I’ve got business. I don’t have your luxury of just slacking any time I want to. This is important.”
“Maybe we could drive up to Bend tomorrow and join you for dinner?”
“No!” Wayne nearly shouted, then calmed down. “No, I’m too busy with business. Just take the kids somewhere, and buy them a gift from me. I should be home by Sunday.”
Was that a bit of guilt that Regina heard in her husband’s voice? She had taken a risk with her last request, but now her question seemed truly inspired. It was Wayne making the decision to stay apart now, and if he was doing anything behind her back, he would be even more reluctant to press her about her activities. This was turning out far better than she could have even planned. She was now beginning to understand how Natalie did it.
Regina even experimented with a bit of loving tone for her next lie. “Well, we miss you, Wayne.”
“I miss you too, Regina. I’ll call tomorrow night.”
Sickly sweet, she answered before hanging up, “I’ll be waiting.”
Even the dog seemed to sense her falseness, but Wayne just mumbled his good-bye. With Quinton out of sight, Regina put the phone down and headed towards the bedroom. Ignoring the disaster that was once her angora rug, she did not even register that one of their handcrafted lamps had been knocked over. What did she care? Wayne had picked it out. Besides, Regina had much more important things to worry about. Like what she was going to wear tomorrow afternoon when she drove out to meet Quinton.
CHAPTER 6
Quinton could not wait to get out into the field. He was dressed and ready to roll before eight a.m. It was his turn to pound on his assistant’s motel door.
Ralph opened the door completely disheveled. “Go away.”
Quinton ignored his assistant and strode into Ralph’s room. Hurricane rushed in afterward and jumped right onto the younger man’s rumpled bed. “Looks like you had a late night.”
“Don’t remind me.” Ralph did not even make a fuss about the dog. “Could you get me some coffee from the office while I take a shower?”
“Be right back.”
Hurricane led the way to the motel’s office. The dog loved to go in there. The old bitty of a manager had taken a liking to Hurricane and would slip him some nibbles of croissant.
“Good morning,” Quinton said as he entered the office. The old woman only gave him a ‘humph’, but she did smile when she saw Hurricane. Quinton poured two cups of coffee, both black and both for Ralph. He needed his assistant sharp today. They had a lot of work to get done before this afternoon. If Regina did show up today, Quinton wanted to have plenty of free time to spend with her, and he certainly was not going to teach her how to calculate biomass. No, his appreciation for nature went deeper than mathematical equations. He just had not allowed his love surface for a while.
Ralph was still in the shower when they got back to the room. If Quinton did not hurry the younger man along, they might never get out in the field. In a moment of sheer abandon, Quinton cracked open the bathroom door and allowed Hurricane to nose his way through. Quinton was quite satisfied to hear Ralph scream as the dog joined the younger man in the shower. Sitting back onto the bed, Quinton knew it would only be a few more minutes before his assistant was ready.
Right on schedule, Ralph burst out of the bathroom cursing and complaining, but at least the younger man was dressed and ready to hit the road. His assistant knocked back the two cups of coffee before they loaded into the truck. They even had to drive through Dairy Delight on their way out of town and get Ralph a SuperDuper sized coffee. Even after all that caffeine, the younger man still looked worse for the wear.
To his surprise, Quinton was the first to start the conversation. “So did you at least have a good time last night?”
“I don’t know if you would call it a good time. Let’s just say it was different.”
Quinton really did not care one way or another what type of time Ralph had, but he did not want silence again. The more quiet time Quinton had, the more time he spent rehearsing over and over again what he wanted to say to Regina. Quinton knew, though, that the more he staged the words, the worse they would sound. No, it was best if he kept his mind occupied.
“Different, how?”
Ralph took drink of his coffee. “Don’t let the glasses and pocket prot
ector fool you. I know my way around a woman’s anatomy, but Natalie, damn.” The younger man had to take another sip before continuing, “It seems that girl comes with an instructional booklet that I didn’t have time to read. She was like an airline traffic control. Do this, don’t do that. This way. That way to the left.”
This was far more information than Quinton needed to hear, but he let the younger man ramble on. Anything was better than torturing himself over Regina. “So you’re not going to see her again?”
“Are you crazy? Of course, we’re meeting again tonight. Think I would pass up round two? I figure it’s got to go better than the first. At least I know the lay of the land now.”
Quinton found it odd to talk about sex in such mechanical terms. Even when he was younger and at his worst hound-dog phase, Quinton had always, at the very least, fancied himself in love. To have sex with someone just because they were available felt uncomfortable to Quinton. But it was not his life, it was Ralph’s. “Guess that means the hostess is out of the running.”
“Please. I need to get with her just to bolster my ego again. After Natalie, I’ll probably need a shoulder to cry on.”
“Sorry to tell you, Ralph, but we’re not going to be in town that long.”
The younger man stretched a bit and looked pretty proud of himself. “I’ve got the weekend. Natalie is going away with Gus to a car show in Sisters. Don’t count me out yet.”
Quinton could only shake his head at his assistant. To be young and stupid again. Still, Quinton would never go back to those days. They were far too confusing. Not that today was a breeze, but at least Quinton wasn’t thinking completely with his small head.
“Hey, look at that,” Ralph said excitedly, obviously starting to feel the caffeine buzz. A large poster was tacked to the telephone pole detailing an event at the Indian Reservation. His assistant could not help but press the issue. “They’re having a potlatch this weekend. You going to go?”
“No,” Quinton said abruptly, trying to end the conversation before it got started.
“Oh, come on. It looks like it would be fun. Dancing, exchanging small gifts, lots of music. It sounds right up your alley.” When Quinton did not answer immediately, Ralph’s voice dropped low, and the younger man became serious. “You’ve got family up there --”
Quinton was already sick of this line of questioning. “Distant cousins at best.”
“We both know they’re the only family you’ve got. Why aren’t you visiting them?”
Even Ralph could not crush his buoyant mood completely, but the younger man was getting close. “I’ve got other plans.”
His assistant laughed. “Yeah, right. Like going out with the boss’s wife?” Ralph paused as Quinton’s face contorted, trying to hide is guilt. “Oh my god. You are doing Mrs. Togglehorn!”
“I am not ‘doing’ anyone,” Quinton snapped. With his next words he tried to adopt a more neutral tone. “I said I would butt out of your personal business. I would appreciate it if you would leave mine alone as well.”
It was obviously difficult for the younger man to resist the urge to question Quinton, but Ralph stayed quiet. The cab was silent until they drove up to the sampling area of the forest. Quinton barely had the truck door open when Hurricane flew past him. The dog was hot on a rabbit’s trail before Quinton could even call the dog back.
“You gonna let him harass the wildlife like that?” Ralph asked non-chalantly.
“The dog has a greater chance catching that rabbit than I do bedding Regina.” Quinton had not meant to say it, but the words had just fallen from his lips.
The younger man took a moment and stared at Quinton. Finally, Ralph grabbed his gear and commented as he walked into the woods, “From the looks of it, that rabbit better get a move on. Hurricane might get lucky yet.”
Quinton felt his cheeks burn, and he wanted to retort to Ralph’s not so subtle comment, but he did not. Besides, he kind of liked the younger man’s take on things.
***
Regina crested another hill, only to find that she had gone the wrong way, yet again. The woman had been driving for over a half an hour, way out in the boondocks, trying to find grid number N2-A. It wasn’t like the forest was equipped with road signs. Every once in awhile there would be a small sign tacked to a tree that designated which sector she was in, but half the time these were so badly faded that you couldn’t read them. The other half the time, they had fallen off and were nothing more than black pulp.
She could not exactly swing by the office and ask Bud where N2-A was. What would she tell him when the foreman asked why she needed to know? Oh, yeah, it was because she was having a clandestine rendezvous with one of the surveyors. Regina was sure that would go over well. Instead, she and Fury were driving around and around the maze of backwoods roads.
The dog whined from the back seat, and Regina followed Fury’s nose. The dog’s nose was pressed against the left rear window. She stopped the Jeep and backed up. Fury whined again. With no better directional system, Regina turned down the dirt road, hoping that the dog did not have to just go the bathroom. Soon, though, Fury was up to full-scale alertness, whining every few feet that they drove. The dog was on her feet nosing the window excitedly. Regina could not help but get a bit thrilled herself. Finally, they crested the last hill and found Quinton’s truck parked near a port-a-potty.
Fury was out of the car and over the next hill before Regina could even unhook her own safety belt. Straightening her new shirt, Regina set out after the dog. From over the bluff she heard a shout. She picked up her pace as other shouts followed. By the time she made it over the hill, Regina found Quinton on the ground with both dogs nuzzling him mercilessly. Fury was in ecstasy and had taken to nibbling at Quinton’s ear. Hurricane, not to be out done by the new dog, was nipping at the other earlobe.
Regina ran forward, yelling at the dogs, but she was also too busy laughing at the scene. Even Quinton could not get a quite serious enough tone to his voice to call the dogs off. Regina tried to grab Fury’s collar, but the dog agilely darted away, only to come back and start nosing Quinton in the crotch. The man let out a startled bellow and tried to cover his groin area, but Fury just found this delightful. The Doberman began pawing at Quinton’s hands, trying to get to his pants. Hurricane, upset that once again he was being upstaged by the female, began tugging on Quinton’s shirt.
All and all, it was quite a scene. Regina did her best to shoo the dogs, but they were in full-bore frenzy mode. She and Quinton’s near hysterical laughter were not helping calm them any. Ralph rushed over the ridge but stopped short when he saw what all the commotion was about. The younger man gave her a brief wave, then tipped his baseball hat to Quinton. “Paybacks are hell, boss.” With that said, Ralph went back to his work.
After the moment of distraction, Fury was back at her task with a gusto. Between laughs, Quinton was able to choke out, “Throw a stick.”
For a second, Regina did not understand the instruction, but then she saw the reason behind it. Grabbing the first branch she found, Regina whistled, getting Hurricane’s attention. The Labrador was immediately enraptured with the game and left Quinton’s side. Regina hurled the branch as far as she could. Once Fury saw that Hurricane was getting away with the new toy, the Doberman joined in the game of fetch.
Quinton slowly rose to his feet and assessed the damage. His whole body was covered in dirt and pine needles. Regina began to help by brushing off the debris. There was so much that it took both of them swiping away for a few minutes to even begin to clean him up.
“I am so sorry.”
“Don’t be. It was Hurricane that knocked me down. Fury just joined in the fun.”
Regina started to enjoy this process just as Quinton was almost cleaned up. The only area still a mess was around his groin area, and she did not think it proper to wipe there. Quinton looked equally embarrassed and finally turned away to brush off his fly. Turning back, the man’s face was slightly red. “Well, t
hat certainly wasn’t how I pictured this meeting.”
“Me either,” Regina said as she returned his smile. My, how bold she was becoming. Having the house to herself overnight had done wonders for her self-confidence. There had been no Wayne to remind her of how inadequate she was at everything.
“Let’s start over.” Quinton turned and put his hand on her shoulder, guiding her deeper into the woods. “I’m glad you made it. I was starting to worry.”
Regina noticed his hand lingered for a few more heartbeats, then unfortunately, it fell from her shoulder. “Me too. I got lost.” She inched closer as they walked forward, but they did not touch again.
“Well, lucky enough we were a bit tardy ourselves this morning.”
“What exactly are you doing out here?”
Hurricane and Fury ran up with a giant branch they had gotten from the forest floor. The thing was so big that together they almost could not carry it. Quinton picked up the huge stick and tossed it as far as he could. The man explained his job as the dogs disappeared behind the ridge.
“We’re collecting samples of scat.” Quinton must have read the look of confusion on Regina’s face for he explained the term. “Scat is the dropping of wild animals. We can tell from their feces what animals live in the forest and what they are eating. Basically, it’s to determine how much life is going to be damaged by logging in this area.”
“So, you are looking for endangered species? Stuff like that?”
“Yes, but those species are just the tip of the iceberg. If this forest is cut down, it will decimate thousands of other lives. Within a tight, old ecosystem like this, every species is reliant on the other.”
“Why is Wayne cutting it down? There are huge tracts of new lumber growing over to the east.”
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