Snow Falls

chapter Sixteen



The days—and nights—seemed to crawl by. The tension was there, yes. But so was the silence. It was almost as if they’d reverted back to the first week, Jen thought. There was little conversation between them and lots of time spent on their laptops. She even saw a familiar brooding look on Ryan’s face, a look she hadn’t seen since the first few weeks of her stay. She couldn’t decide what was worse—the strained conversation during meals or the unbearable tension at night when it was time for bed. The last three nights, Ryan had made some excuse to stay up later than normal, leaving Jen free to go to bed. Each morning, Ryan was already up when Jen woke. If there hadn’t been the rumpled evidence of the bed and pillow, she would have thought Ryan hadn’t come to bed at all.

The only thing even remotely normal between them was the daily hikes they took. The snow was melting fast, even though there were still deep pockets of it in shaded areas. It was nice to see the earth, see rocks and boulders, see the pines and spruce trees without snow clinging to their branches. And it was nice to see—and hear—chattering squirrels and foraging birds, hinting at springtime, a precursor to warmer days. Of course, she wouldn’t be around to see those days, and that made her feel sad.

Ryan and the dogs walked ahead of her, as was the norm. She enjoyed hanging back, enjoyed watching them. She knew she was storing it in her memory bank, etching the scene in her mind.

“Look,” Ryan said, pointing to the treetops. “Golden eagle.”

Jen looked on in awe, watching the huge bird soar just over the trees, catching the wind currents that carried it over the mountain and away from their view. “Wow. That was beautiful.”

“Yeah. I see them quite often.”

And that was the extent of their conversation as they trudged on, taking one of the lower trails down to the stream. When they’d made this trip last week, the snow had still been deep, the boulders that lined the streambed covered in snow, making for a picturesque setting. Today, the boulders were bare, the warm sun having melted the snow. The stream was rushing past them, gurgling loudly as it went on its endless, timeless trek down the mountain.

They stood watching it, neither speaking. The water, the birds, the wind all joining in perfect harmony—nature’s song. Jen closed her eyes, wanting to remember this day, this hike, this stream, this song. But then another sound penetrated, a sound so foreign and out of place even the birds stopped their chattering.

Snowplows.

Jen glanced at Ryan, their eyes meeting, holding. It was a sound Jen had both hoped to hear and dreaded to hear. She wondered if Ryan felt the same.

“Sounds like they’re already up to the avalanche road,” Ryan said.

“Where the...where the gate was?”

“Yes. They’ll stop there. They won’t attempt to plow the upper road for several more weeks.”

Jen nodded. She knew what it all meant, of course. Once Reese let them know the road was passable, they would hike down to meet her. And she would whisk Jen away, away from the mountain, away from Ryan. Back to civilization, back to Santa Fe, back to Brad.

Back to her life.


***



The trip back to the cabin was made in silence. Not that that was unusual, but it was a different kind of silence, Ryan noted. It was filled with trepidation, dread. At least for her. She knew she should be happy. It was time. Hell, it was past time. She was tired of the tension, tired of trying to ignore her attraction to Jen, tired of avoiding any conversation that might lead to personal questions. She knew Jen was tired of it as well. But still, she wasn’t ready for Jen to leave. More than six weeks of having her around—the place would be empty without her.

But it was time. She would e-mail Reese and Morgan, find out how soon Reese could come up the mountain to meet them. Jen would most likely drive out of her life without so much as a backward glance. A few more weeks of solitude should put things back to normal, she thought. Then maybe she could make a dent in the manuscript she’d only been toying with the past few weeks.

Yeah, it was going to be good. Get things back to normal. Everything would be just fine.