My Mountain Man Muse

“I do.” I don’t know why it took me this long to finally do it.

“So, where do you go from here?”

I sigh. “I’ve never felt so alive than I have this week.” Writing my book, but also with him.

“And does your job make you feel that way?”

I snort out a laugh. “You mean my job as an office administrator at Proper Propane? It makes me feel the opposite.”

“Then quit.”

He says it like it’s so easy. Like I can just do whatever I want.

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“I need money. What do you do for money?” It only occurred to me to ask him now.

“Sometimes in the summer, I’ll do some logging. I sell firewood. I’ve worked on a crabbing boat before. Anything that’s physical and keeps me outside. But I don’t need much. The mountain provides me with almost everything I need.”

“Well, I don’t know where I’m going to hunt for food in the city,” I say with a sigh. “I’ll probably get thrown into a mental institution if I start chasing the squirrels around with a homemade spear.”

“Then stay here.”

My heart stops as the words hang between us.

Jayden picks up another log and continues chopping as if he didn’t just drop a bomb at my feet.

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because… reasons.” They just aren’t coming to me right now, but I’m sure there are perfectly legitimate reasons.

It’s easy for people like him to do whatever they want. But people like me, not so much.

“You want to be a writer, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And you like me?”

My cheeks start to get hot. “Yeah.”

“Then stay. Live your passion. Become a writer. Stay with me.”

He lowers the ax and locks eyes with me. My legs buckle a little.

“Don’t let fear win. There’s never a good reason not to follow your heart, Lily. Never.”

He raises the ax and keeps chopping as my mind starts spinning with a million thoughts.

I can’t stay, says the sane, rational voice in my head. It would be reckless. Irresponsible. So not me.

But then another voice starts whispering through the negative thoughts. An inspired voice that sounds a lot like Jayden…

But what if I can?

“Okay,” I say as I rub my freezing hands together. “I can do this!”

I take one step toward the river and then panic. “Wait! No, I can’t!”

Jayden laughs as he takes my hand. We’re both completely naked, completely freezing, completely insane.

“We’ll go on three.”

“No!”

“One.”

“I can’t.”

“Two.”

“No, no, no, no, no!”

“Three!”

I scream as the two of us run toward the icy cold river of death and jump in.

A million knives stab my body all over as I sink below the surface. I immediately turn around and run back out of the ice-cold river as my chest constricts to the point that I can’t breathe.

I can hear Jayden chuckling behind me as I trample through the snow, grab the thick towel, and wrap it around my shivering body.

My teeth are chattering and my knees are knocking as I turn around and look at him floating there like he’s on vacation in Jamaica.

“Come back,” he says with a grin on his face. He takes some water into his mouth and then spits it out, looking like a sexy fountain. “The water is great.”

“Not going to happen,” I say in my shaky voice as I get dressed as fast as I can.

I can’t believe I just did that. I jumped in that river in the middle of January.

I don’t do those kinds of things. That’s not me.

But I did it.

So, maybe it can be the new me.

Jayden has inspired me to do so much this week.

I’m freezing, but I feel exhilarated and thrilled that I did it.

It makes me wonder…

What else can I do?

Chapter Ten

Katie & Lily

“It’s going to be okay,” Evan said as he paddled the boat through the rough ocean waters. The blood of the infamous Captain Theo Bones was still fresh on the sword-thingy (*google what a pirate sword is called) hanging from his belt.

Katie swooned as she watched the love of her life maneuver the small boat over the turbulent waves. He had saved her and slain her vicious captor in the process.

Her heart swelled as she turned back to look at the burning pirate ship as it began to sink into the sea. The flames licked up the wooden posts, catching the sails and destroying the notorious Bones’ flag forever.

She was a free woman once again and the cursed red ruby, which turned everyone who looked at it insane, was now safely stored at the bottom of the ocean. Perhaps a hermit crab would use it as a shell. Perhaps not. Maybe a shark would look at it and lose its mind. (*Way too lame, Katie. Come on!)

She turned back to her lover as she nervously played with the necklace he whittled out of a coconut shell for her. Evan had said they would be together forever, but now it was the time to prove it. Would he leave her when they finally got to shore or would he take her to the French Countryside and purchase a goat farm like he promised, living the rest of their lives in each other’s arms?