Her entire face lights up. “I’m sure you heard the news?”
My stomach drops. Not only have I been living at a remote field station in the Selkirk Mountains off and on since August, I’ve been purposely avoiding all things social media and even checking in with mutual friends. The breakup was…confusing, and taking some space seemed like the best way to make sense of it. “I…what news?”
She gives me a light tap on my arm. “Oh you. Always sofocused.”
I grimace, but my pulse is already tapping into my throat. Her use offocusedcame out lighthearted, but it was a dig nonetheless.Obliviousis probably what she would say behind my back. It’s okay. I’m not sorry for the way that I am. I just wish I could pay for it a little bit…less.
Her eyes widen. “Oh dear. You really haven’t heard? Well…” She shifts in her seat and brushes back an invisible hair from her forehead “…Nathan proposed to Georgia last July. They wanted to have a winter wedding at Bear Mountain, but let me tell you, it was quite a feat to make it happen with such little notice. We had to settle for a Tuesday, if you can believe that. Thank goodness I could take this week off to get everything ready.”
The plane sways and rattles, the roar increasing, and then we’re lifting off into the gray clouds.
But my heart is still on the runway.
Nathan is getting married? At my favorite ski lodge?
My chest feels too tight, and I suck in a wheezy breath. I was the one who introduced Nathan to the summer concerts at Bear Lodge. He’s the only guy I’ve ever danced with like that. Carefree, flirty. That was before things changed. Beforehechanged. Or had healways been that way, and the fun we’d had in the beginning was just one more example of his manipulation skills?
“That’s exciting,” I manage as the landing gear beneath the plane folds up in a series of thumps. “Tell them congratulations.”
Margaret’s sleek eyebrows arch. “They’re picking me up, so I’m sure you’ll get a chance to tell them yourself.”
I sip my still-too-hot coffee. Is she serious? “Sure.”
The caffeine is my lifeline throughout the rest of the flight. I smile and nod and use my manners when what I really want is for her to stop talking, or at least find a new subject. Instead I hear all about Nathan’s new job at a private biotech research facility and the gobs of money he’ll be making, the grand wedding at my hometown ski area two Tuesdays from now, the house he and Georgia are building in Bozeman, the honeymoon ski trip in the Italian Alps.
Has Georgia begun to feel smaller and smaller already, or is Nathan waiting to turn on his full powers until after they’re married?
When the flight finally ends and I’ve managed to extract myself from Margaret, I beeline for our tiny baggage claim area, but it’s so crowded with passengers and family members that I nearly run into Nathan’s back.
I dart sideways behind a tall guy carrying a giant snowboard bag. Luckily, my duffel is rounding the carousel bend closest to me, so I can snatch it up without breaking my stride. But at the exit, I risk a glance. Nathan is now huddled near Margaret at the opposite end of baggage claim, a pile of suitcases and a matching dress bag folded over one of them. Glued to Nathan’s side is a young woman wearing crisp tan chinos and a pink sweater, her dark hair in flawless waves. She’s impossibly pretty, with a warm smile.
But is she strong?
I hurry through the sliding doors to the curb and blink at the snow falling in big, fat flakes.
Dad steps down from his old pickup, his smile a mile wide. I race over and he scoops me up.
His strong arms hugging me tight. “God, I’ve missed you.” When he steps back, his handsome blue eyes look tired, but they’re shining with quiet joy. The kind that’s always been my anchor.
“You brought Bruneau?” I laugh, wiping the corners of my eyes as Dad’s sidekick tries to push his massive brown head through the crack in the window, his wagging tail a blur.
“Of course.” Dad hoists my duffel and opens the passenger door for me. Immediately Bruneau attacks my face with his cold nose and sloppy tongue, making me laugh.
I give his thick chest a firm shove. “Okay, boy. Let me in.”
“Hey, Rowdy!” an older man with a neatly trimmed beard calls from the car behind us. I don’t recognize him, but Dad knows just about everyone in Finn River thanks to his career as a conservation officer. Dad gives him a friendly wave before closing my door then rounding the front of the truck.
We’re just pulling away from the curb when Nathan and his bride-to-be step out of the terminal with Margaret.
Dad shoots me a concerned glance. “Was Nathan on your flight?”
I shake my head. “His mom.”
Dad reaches across the console for my hand. His weathered, callused palm is warm against mine, and I squeeze it back. But he thankfully honors our unspoken agreement to leave the topic alone.
Maryanne leansin close as we dance to a cover of “Shake it For Me.” “That sexy cowboy keeps looking at you.”
I don’t exactly feel ready for this. It’s too loud. Everyone’s too…close. Compared to the research cabin in the wilderness I shared with a handful of other humans for months, it might as well be another planet. But Maryanne and Summer and her boyfriend Pete convinced me that the best way to acclimate to society after six months of field work is a night of dancing and debauchery at the Sweetwater Saloon, which is surprisingly packed for a Sunday night.