Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 118(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 118(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
With my grandparents behind her, Serena walks up to our table.
“Don’t you think you’re a little old for caring about what other people do?” I shoot back.
Lavender looks between us. “Uh, hi?”
“Lavender, I’d like for you to meet my little sister. Serena, I’d like you to meet my new good friend. I’m corrupting her by making her cut out of work early to get some ice cream.”
“Wow, Hawk. Someone as old as you are should know better.”
Lavender looks very confused at the whole thing. “Is... is this one of those sibling rivalries?”
“Where we give each other endless shit but ultimately love one another?” I say in between licks of my cone. “Yeah, it’s one of those.”
“Oh? Hawk has a new friend?” my grandfather says as they finally catch up with Serena.
“Girlfriend, I bet,” Serena chimes in, continuing that fraternal oath to keep giving me shit.
“Hey, I don’t want to force labels on people so quickly,” I say, trying to be the more noble of us. “Although, I do think I would enjoy further interviewing Lavender for this position.”
Really, if she didn’t want me to tease her like this, she would stop turning beet red in the face and being so goddamn adorable. She’s bringing it upon herself.
“What brings all of you here anyway? I don’t see Grandpa wanting to get ice cream that often.”
“Francine’s making me do it,” he pipes up. “Because Serena got herself a summer job at the local animal shelter. We’re proud of her and we’re celebrating.”
“Serena’s going to be such a wonderful veterinarian someday,” my grandmother chimes in.
“Yeah. I’m going to go to college and get smarter,” my little sister says, looking at me with a mocking demeanor. “Unlike you, who has remained as dumb as you always are.”
“Be nice, Serena,” Grandma interjects. “Your brother is very helpful in the community. He didn’t need to go to college to be so. Everyone helps in their own way.”
“I’m sure he does. As long as people keep being dumb and getting lost in the forest, my brother will never be out of work.”
The three of them proceed to let us be for a time.
“What did she mean about that last part?” Lavender says, already at the point of crunching on the waffle cone. “People getting lost in the forest?”
“Evergreen Valley’s a pretty small town. The county doesn’t actually have a proper park-ranger system in place to overlook the woods and the mountains. Doesn’t mean that stuff doesn’t happen. People get lost; their pets get lost. Some sort of disaster happens, and they need someone to lead them through quickly.”
She nods along. “Okay, I’m with you.”
“That’s where I come in. Professional mountain man. I help the authorities do or find what’s needed. I get paid quite well. I’m not the full-time ranger for the local wilderness, but that’s how I make the money I need to get by. Everyone needs a little cash flow, no matter how self-sufficient they claim to be.”
She leans into me. “A ranger, huh? How heroic.”
“It ain’t heroic if I’m getting paid.”
She leans into me heavier. “Would you do it if you weren’t getting paid?”
I hesitate in responding. “I enjoy getting paid, so on the record, no, I definitely would not do that. I would let people get lost and leave them suffering. I would not care about lost dogs that may get eaten by bears.” I make sure my sarcasm is just dripping off each and every word I say.
“Ah, I see, a man of principle.” Lavender watches my family as they order their ice cream and exchange hearty laughter with Cookie. “Your family seems really nice.”
“They are. I don’t know what I’d do without them.”
“And yet you live in a remote cabin in the woods.”
“I love them all to pieces, but sometimes you need to get away from it all. Sometimes you need your own place to go, where you can just be alone.” I lean into her as well. “Or, well, maybe alone with someone you love in a way that isn’t familial.”
“Inviting me to your private cabin, huh?”
“I think you’d like it.”
“I think I would.” She continues to watch my family. There’s a wistfulness about her people-watching.
It kind of makes me afraid to ask. We’ve had such positive vibes so far, and I’m afraid to break them by getting her to reveal some harsh, dark truth about her situation.
That maybe she doesn’t have a family that loves her.
Perhaps she doesn’t have a family at all.
FOUR
lavender
We set our date, and the weather report looks good. I pull up to our agreed meeting point, the start of a forest pathway not far from Tabitha’s old grandmother’s place.
I psyche myself up.
My fears of Hawk have mostly been pushed aside. It was never like I thought he’d actually go and rip my head off, just that he seemed so damn stoic and unapproachable.