6 - Melissa

6

Melissa

I groaned the moment I saw him. “I can’t get away.”

“Oh!” Theresa said. “You two already know each other?”

“Unfortunately,” we both replied at the same time. I glared at him, but he was already glaring back at me.

“Do you have any other recommendations?” I asked Theresa.

“Well, sure, but they’re a lot more expensive.”

“So you told her my cabins are cheap?” Jack demanded.

Theresa was still smiling like we were all good friends. “Why, of course not! But I told her I could get her a good rate, since you owe me a favor.”

“I repaid you for that spare tire,” Jack protested.

Theresa aimed a finger at him. “You did, but you still owe me for replacing the mini-split unit on the Green Cabin.”

Jack winced. “That’s a big favor. You’re calling it in for her?”

“Sure am! Looks like the Orange and Indigo Cabins are open.”

“Then we’re square?” Jack asked.

“I don’t want to stay here,” I interrupted.

“Then we’re square.” Theresa turned to me. “Jack’s a grump, but I can promise he’s harmless. I need to get home to tuck my boys in before bed, but you have my number if you need anything else! Make sure you’re nice to her, Jack.”

“Who’s going to make sure she is nice to me?” he muttered.

Theresa giggled like it was all a joke, then hopped into her Jeep and drove away.

Jack and I stared at each other from ten feet away.

“Luxury cabins?” I asked. “I wouldn’t have guessed you work in the hospitality industry.”

He scratched into the dark hairs of his thin beard. “Wasn’t my idea. Do you want to stay here or not?”

“Has anyone ever told you that you look like Wolverine?” I said.

“Hugh Jackman’s a good-looking guy. That’s a compliment.”

“I didn’t say Hugh Jackman,” I clarified. “I said Wolverine. All the grumpy, annoying qualities without any of the Hugh Jackman charm.”

He gritted his teeth, adding to the likeness. “You can have the Indigo Cabin.”

“I don’t want—”

“For free,” he added.

I gave a start. He now had my complete attention. “Doctor Noah said it’ll be a week before I can hike again. You’re seriously going to let me stay here and not charge anything?”

“Sure,” he replied with a sickly-sweet smile that warned me his intentions weren’t pure. “Under one condition.”

“There it is.”

“You ask nicely,” he said. “And say please .”

“Oh come on! You can’t be serious.”

“I’m as serious as a rolled ankle at thirteen thousand feet. All you have to do is ask me to stay here. Without any attitude.”

He crossed his strong arms over his chest and waited.

It was such a small thing. A single sentence, maybe two, with a dose of humility on top. Then I would have a place to stay, for free, until I was healthy enough to leave this town.

But that wasn’t what this trip was about. I had set out to hike the Colorado Trail because I needed, desperately needed, to feel like I was in control of my life again. I was supposed to set out and attempt a difficult feat all on my own, reminding myself that I was a capable person who was going to be fine without my ex-boyfriend.

Jumping through hoops for a place to stay was a very large step backwards. A step I stubbornly wasn’t willing to take. Not tonight.

“Fuck off,” I muttered, and turned to leave.

“Where are you going?” he called after me.

“I’ll figure it out.”

There was a note of surprise in his voice. “You’re seriously turning down a free cabin because you can’t say please?”

“I’m doing great all on my own,” I shouted over my shoulder. “All I need is a clearing to pop my tent.”

“Not on my property, you won’t,” he growled while following. “Everything from here to the main road is my land.”

“Then I’ll hike to the property line,” I replied, even though my ankle was pounding in protest.

I heard a loud sigh, and then footsteps as he jogged to catch up to me. “Just take the cabin.”

“No.”

“Take the cabin!”

“Pass.”

Jack let out an angry growl. “Why are you so fucking stubborn?”

“Why are you so insistent on this after you said you were done helping me?” I shot back.

“Because I feel responsible for you,” he replied. “I’m the one who dragged you down that mountain and brought you here.”

“Your big tattooed friend is the one who carried me down the mountain.” I whirled toward him. “Tell you what. You’re absolved of all responsibility. You already got me free healthcare. I can take it from here.”

I started to walk away.

“There’s a bed.”

I stopped.

“Big comfy mattresses,” Jack continued. “Like sleeping on a cloud. If you want the key to the cabin, I’ll be in the office for another half hour. But after that, you’re stuck with your tent. So you’d better decide quickly.”

Damnit. My willpower was strong until the mention of a bed. My back ached in three different places, and the most sleep I’d gotten in the past week was in the back of Jack’s Jeep on the way into town. I felt all of my walls crumbling.

“I will take the cabin if you’re offering it,” I said carefully. “That’s very kind of you.”

The ghost of a smile played on his lips.

“I’m not saying please,” I insisted.

Now he grinned in earnest. “Close enough.”

I grumbled to myself while following him back to the cabins.