He exhaled slowly. “First off, I have this for you, Jason.” He unzipped his bag and carefully pulled out the sketchbook, which he’d kept flat by hauling the atlas along too. “I meant to give this to you before you left.”
Sucking in a breath, Jason took it, reverently running his hand over the battered cover. “Thank you. I thought these were lost forever.”
“A little worse for wear, but no.” Ben gazed at him over Maggie. “Not lost.”
Jason met his eyes, smiling tremulously.
“Are you going to kiss, like, right now?”
Laughter bubbled up, and Ben pecked Jason’s lips, Maggie giggling between them. Jason gently laid the sketchbook on the coffee table and asked, “So what’s your idea?”
He pulled out the Yosemite brochure next, and Maggie eyed it excitedly, squirming. “Are we going there?”
“Well, I want to know how you’d feel about that,” Ben said. “After what happened, I wasn’t sure if you’d still want to go to the woods.”
“I do! I love it away from the city.” She grimaced. “I’m not going to let that bad man wreck everything. There are bad men everywhere anyway. Hopefully we’ll only meet good ones from now on.”
Jason leaned over and rapped his knuckles on the table. “I hope so too.” To Ben, he said, “Okay, Yosemite. Are you talking about a vacation?”
“No, not a vacation.” Butterflies flapped, Ben’s skin tingling. Would they want to share this future together? “They’re looking for a new head ranger at Yosemite. I asked Brad about it, and he thinks I have a great chance. He’s talking to the people down there.”
Maggie wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like Brad.”
Ben laughed. “I didn’t like him much myself the past few years, but he’s really trying to help. I want to make peace between us. He was a big part of my life for a very long time, and I hate to think it was all for nothing.”
She seemed to ponder it. “That makes sense. Okay. I’ll try to like him more.”
“Thank you. So, if I get this job, I’d move down to California. And I want you both to come with me. If that’s something you’d want to do.”
Maggie sat up straighter, eyes bright. “We could live by Yosemite? Instead of in the smelly city?”
“You could,” Ben answered, excitement rippling. Don’t get ahead of yourself. You might not even get the job.
Jason was quiet for a few moments. “I’m not sure. It would be a huge change.”
“It would,” Ben agreed, wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans. “I came up with a plan, and I could just tell you and see what you think?”
Maggie and Jason shared a glance, then nodded, Maggie kicking her feet rhythmically.
He exhaled. “Jason, there’s a new CalArts satellite campus in Fresno. Do you still want to go to art school?”
“I think so?” A little smile tugged on Jason’s lips. “Wow, CalArts? I dreamed of that.”
“Of course he wants to go to art school!” Maggie motioned with her hand. “What else, what else?”
They might say yes. Holy shit. “We could live around Oakhurst, on the outskirts of the park. It’s about an hour from Fresno, and you could commute to classes, Jason. Maybe do it part-time? It would be doable.” Ben realized he was talking too quickly and stopped to take a breath.
Jason licked his lips. “Yeah. That could work.”
Maggie shook Jason’s leg, bouncing the whole futon. “Daddy, it would be perfect!”
“But what about the tuition?” Jason asked. “I don’t want to get into huge debt.”
“We’ll figure it all out. I can sell the cabin in Montana. I was looking at houses while I was waiting for my connection in Chicago, and the prices aren’t bad. There’s one in particular…” He fished out his phone and tapped. “It’s outside of town, but still close to the schools and stores. It’s at the end of a street, nice and secluded, can only glimpse one neighbor’s place through the trees.” He gave the phone to Maggie.
She and Jason scrolled through the pictures, Maggie swiping with her finger, an excited tension zinging through the air.
Ben said, “Big porch at the front and back. The estimated mortgage is twelve hundred a month. It’s totally doable. Brad bought me out of our house in Kalispell, and the money’s just been sitting in my account. I really should reinvest it. This house has been on the market a while too. Might be able to bargain them down.” He added, “And I know this is putting the cart in front of the horse. But I wanted to give you an idea of what it could be like. What we could have out there together.”
As Maggie scrolled through the pictures again, glued to the phone, Jason looked at Ben and said, “It does sound amazing, but…”
He held up his hands. “I know this is probably too much. I’d have to get the job first, and maybe you guys don’t want to move at all. I’m sure I could find a job here.”