26. Briar

In a perfect world,Briar would have spent the weekend curled up in bed, letting Derek feed and pamper him.But the patients down at the clinic still needed care, and Derek ended up driving all the way to Boise to pick up a set of rare fourteen-inch wire wheels for a custom Mustang restoration.Briar didn't understand the rush.At least, not until Derek had explained it in terms of fashion.Briar would drive a lot further than Idaho for a chance to nab a discounted Brioni jacket.

Derek wouldn't be back until dark, so there was no reason to wait for him.He brought Sabbath everywhere with him these days, so Briar didn"t need to stop by the cabin to care for her in his absence.But there was something comforting about surrounding himself with the detritus of Derek"s life.The cabin felt so much homier than Briar"s own apartment, which he only used as a closet these days, and he was surprised by how much he enjoyed the mountain ambience.Sure, cell phone reception was spotty this far out of town, but the fresh air was better than a shot of B12.He'd even started teaching himself bird calls, even if he could only recognize the distinctive warble of a redwing blackbird.

Briar loafed around the cabin, fantasizing about the day when they woke up together as old men.Derek would fish and tinker in the garage, and he would still pick Briar wildflowers every week.Briar would be a flamboyant old queen, gossiping over coffee down at The Hungry Pig.They'd be a real-world Odd Couple.It could work. It felt real, like he'd just gotten a quick glimpse into their future.

If he was in it for the long haul, Briar figured it was time to leave his mark on their space.The first thing he did was unload a box of garden gnomes he'd purchased from the tack and feed shop.The whimsical window display had always caught his eye, but he"d never had anywhere to put them.Now, he planted gnomes all over Derek"s yard. A rainbow of colorful hats in naughty positions poked out of the shrubbery.One particularly fat gnome lurked on a beam above the carport, ready to scare the crap out of Derek when he glanced up.The last gnome sat beside the door with a welcome sign, and Briar smiled every time he looked at it.

He was more hesitant to touch the inside of the cabin.It was Derek's sacred space, the one place he was safe from the expectations of others, and Briar didn't want to mess with it.He settled for a vase of wildflowers on the table and a decorative chalk message board by the door.Derek always left for work at the crack of dawn.Briar loved the idea of waking up to see him off, but not even the power of love could force his eyes open that early.So instead, he doodled a picture of a happy Sabbath with a wagging tail.He added a barking speech bubble and scrawled a message inside it: love you.

The tiny touches weren't much, but they felt like the first important step in the journey that made Derek's cabin into a home for both of them.

Late afternoon found him sitting on the freshly swept floor, sifting through a box of family photographs he'd discovered in the back of a linen closet.Derek only had one photo of his siblings in his bedroom, a daily reminder of his responsibilities.But Briar had noticed something very important at the picnic.It was about time someone pointed out that Derek wasn't just the provider for his family—he was its heartbeat.

He picked up a photo of a messy backyard barbeque.A dilapidated farmhouse sat in the distance.The focus was slightly blurry, unable to capture the motion as Derek dropped a water balloon over his youngest sister's head.They were both caught mid-laugh, eyes crinkled and carefree.He looked so young. Briar carefully clipped it with a piece of twine to the message board beside the door.Then he selected a shot of Derek with his arm slung over West's shoulders.They both wore the exact same irritable expressions, as if they were being forced to pose by someone behind the camera.Derek's head was bent toward his younger brother, his intense eyes practically leaping off the glossy photo paper.Briar lost himself for a long time, just staring at it, then he added the picture to the board.

Each photo was a testament to Derek's presence in their lives, but it was also a reminder of how much they all truly loved each other.The Owens family's biggest problem wasn't how much they'd suffered in the past; it was forgetting why they'd suffered—for each other.Their love and dedication to each other was a tangible, invisible field surrounding them.Briar could never be a part of it, but if he could remind Derek how lucky he was, he'd be content.

As he reached for another picture, his phone vibrated across the hardwood table, startling him.Nate's ID popped up on the screen.

"'Lo?" he answered, balancing the phone between his shoulder and ear as he clipped another photo to the board.

"Hey, you free?" Nate's voice was calm, but it held an urgency that made Briar"s ears twitch.

Briar held up a blurry photo and squinted at it, saying distractedly, "That depends."

"I just got off the phone with Seth McCall.He's got a mare in a bad way.Sounds like he's set to lose both the foal and the mama at this rate.I need an extra pair of hands."

"I'm on it." A tiny shot of adrenalin kicked Briar's heart into high gear.He'd learned to love ranch deliveries over the past year; the miracle of a fresh new life in an adorably tiny package overriding all the ick factor.There was nothing more heartbreaking than a stillborn, no matter the species.

"It's nearly an hour away," Nate cautioned."It'll be dark by the time you get there."

"No problem."

"It's not the easiest place to find.You've got to turn off on the logging road just past Willow Creek.I'll send you a GPS pin."

"Got it." Briar shrugged into a light jacket and grabbed his keys, locking the cabin behind him.Derek insisted he didn't need to lock up so far in the middle of nowhere, but old habits die hard.This was Derek's sanctuary; he wanted to protect it.

"Don't speed, Briar."

"Do I ever?" Briar asked flippantly.

"I mean it," Nate said sternly. "These roads are tough."

"So am I." Briar laughed and dropped the call.

The route took him deep into the mountains, an area he wasn't familiar with, dominated by large swaths of national forest.His GPS showed green all around, broken only by the squiggly blue lines of myriad tiny mountain streams.Most of the roads didn't even have names, just a combination of letters and numbers.

The roads were empty as he left the main highway, just him and a few jackrabbits racing across the cooling concrete ahead of his headlights.He kept one eye on the GPS as he drove, his anxiety ratcheting up a notch every time the signal flickered.The deeper in the mountains he climbed, the more the reliable bars on his cell phone dwindled…until they disappeared altogether.

"Just part of country living," he mumbled, wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans before he lost his grip on the wheel.

He'd be fine, he assured himself.He just had to watch for the turnoff.It should have been close, but none of the scenery looked right.The road was little more than a dirt track by this point, barely traveled and overgrown with brush.Pines and huge Douglas Firs loomed up over him on both sides, blocking out the sky.

Twenty minutes later, he accepted that he must have taken a wrong turn.Briar turned down the stereo to concentrate, laughing a little at himself, and peered through the windshield.The gloom of dusk made it difficult to pick out details, but it looked like a dead-end ahead.

He slowed and edged toward the side of the road, searching for a turnout, when his wheels hit an unexpected soft patch.The Jeep lurched, and so did his stomach.He braked hard, and his slipping tires stopped churning up mud.Then the entire car tilted sideways.He tried the accelerator again.The tires gripped momentarily before spinning uselessly.The Jeep fishtailed in the mud, sliding deeper down the embankment.

"Aaaaah!"He pounded the wheel in frustration and tried one more time before giving up.

It was no use. Briar killed the engine and sat there, thinking, as an eerie silence settled around him.He was stuck, truly stuck, in the middle of nowhere, with no cell reception and no way to tell Nate where he was—even if he knew.

Mud squelched under his feet as he climbed out of the Jeep to assess the situation.The wheels were buried at least six inches in thick red clay.He rummaged around for anything that might provide some traction for the tires, coming up with some floormats and an old tarp, and wedged them in front of the tires.When that failed, he tried gathering fallen branches, but no matter what materials he used, the Jeep only settled deeper in the bog.

Exhausted, frustrated, and layered with grime, Briar collapsed on the side of the road.Panic was beginning to creep in.The isolation of the mountain felt almost…predatory.He'd never felt so alone, and the night had never been so dark.Even a tiny town like Sweetwater had some degree of light pollution that reached all the way to Derek's cabin.But this place? He couldn"t even see his own hand in front of hisface.It felt like the edge of theworld.

"Derek…" he muttered under his breath, half-wish andhalf-prayer.

Derek had warned him so many times how important it was to be prepared outhere.At least that was one lesson Briar had taken toheart.The trunk was packed with an emergency kit. Navigating by flashlight, Briar followed the dirt road as far as hedared.He set up a couple flares to attract attention, then broke out a bottle of water and the foil blanket and locked himself inside his vehicle towait.

Someone would find him…and if they didn't, maybe he'd see a better option for freeing the car in the morninglight.