Wildfire Smokejumper Trilogy

Chapter 6-4

“But he’s drifting away,” Laura indicated the latest bit of moss-coated bark Jeannie had tossed on the pool. This time the Stellar jay ignored them entirely as it started bathing on the far side of the pool with head dips and wing flutters in the clear shallow water.

The big of moss clung to its tiny boat as it slowly bobbed its way toward the pool’s outlet where the stream would soon whisk it away. “I don’t know how to pull him back from wherever he’s going.”

“I’m not so sure you can pull someone like Akbar back once he’s headed down a road.”

“Wow!” Laura felt the tightness in her throat and chest but refused to give in to it. “That cheers me up no end.”

“Okay,” Jeannie admitted, “that didn’t come out quite the way I intended.”

“Duh!”

“Let me try again. No…” Jeannie worried at her lower lip for a moment and Laura felt better for seeing that.

“No,” she started again. “I going to stick with that statement. Once he’s headed down a road—not as in the road, like he’s gone—then… I didn’t mean that. He’s…” she squinted her eyes at the pool as she searched for the right words.

So Laura squinted as well. “He’s looking for what’s stuck in his craw, but he doesn’t know what it is?”

“Right,” Jeannie turned to her with a bright smile. “Until he saw you, his life made sense. Ah, especially the women in his life made sense. He—” She cut herself off.

“It’s okay. Remember, I first met Johnny and Tim at the Doghouse.”

“Yeah, they are pretty sweet when they think they’re being subtle. But I’ll tell you what, Laura. Whatever you did to him those ten minutes or so he was at your table, wasn’t like any version of Akbar I’ve ever seen before. You changed him, right there. That fast.”

Laura had to sit with that one a moment. She watched the Stellar finish its bath, then inspect her for a long moment before flitting off into the woods. Now only the sounds of the trickling water filled the air.

She’d never had that effect on any guy. She actually was, what had Tim called it, a catch-and-release type. At least that’s how men had always treated her. That’s all Grayson Masterson had wanted. A diversion, a conquest, and no more.

“You really did. I’ve known him for four years. I think you’ve already set a longevity record and certainly maxed out his confusion meter.”

Laura swallowed hard. Did she want him badly enough to fight for him? If she was being honest, that wasn’t even a question.

“Any suggestions?” she couldn’t bring herself to look up as the latest bit of bark reached the end of the pool, was sucked downstream, and instantly shot out of sight.

“Only one that I can think of.”

Jeannie’s silence forced Laura to look up at her. She had a slow, goofy smile on her face.

“What?”

“Do nothing different at all.”

“That’s advice?” Laura couldn’t do that. The risk of losing such an amazing man was too great. She had to… What?

“That’s advice,” Jeannie nodded to herself. “Maybe the best advice I’ve ever given.”

“Is this one of those set-them-free-and-if-they-love-you-they’ll-come back lessons?”

“Nope. At least I didn’t mean it to be.” Jeannie’s smile had grown huge. “He’s used to women getting clingy or pissed off. He has pre-built, field-tested methods of dealing with every form of woman who thinks there is more there than was promised. I bet he doesn’t have a single tool in his entire personal arsenal to deal with a woman who simply loves him for who he is. Especially not how to get rid of her when deep down he doesn’t want to.”

Laura studied Jeannie’s grinning face, watched the water, looked for the jay, and then looked back to Jeannie’s grin. Then she started to laugh. If being herself had snared the man’s attention and now totally confounded him, what in the world would he do with a woman who was learning how to stay herself?

It was a hell of a gamble.

Jeannie’s laugh matched her own. Which didn’t go hysterical. Instead, it was truly funny. For once she was confusing the hell out of a man instead of the other way around.

She reached out to hug Jeannie and the woman hugged her back.

Now she hoped to god it worked.

That’s when an eerie sound rose to fill the woods.