Off the Grid
She held up a hand. “Hey, I got this. I kept up with all three of my brothers, I can certainly do the same with one of you.”
A few minutes later she had her fish strung up and in the water, and he got a bite on his hook. They continued their hot streak over the next hour, gently ribbing one another as they added more to their catch.
“All right, time to tally them up, clean them out, store some and keep the rest for dinner.”
“I have twelve.”
“Ten,” he said.
She did an impromptu victory dance, waving her hands above her as she spun around.
“We know you can catch them, let’s see how well you can clean them,” he tossed at her.
She pulled out her knife. “Give me your best shot, Finch.”
They both got to work slicing them up the center, rinsing them out in the river, and removing the scales. He finished first, and sat at back, content to watch her skillfully handle the fresh seafood.
“Task completed. I want to see how you stockpile for the winter.”
“I have massive freezers out back, and I do a lot of smoking meats. We’ll set that up with a wigwam and sallow leaves. Then we’ll let it dry out.”
“I thought we were smoking it.”
“Well essentially drying it out is what you’re doing when you smoke it. You can leave the fish whole or you can cut it down into strips. Since there are two of us, I’d say we can filet them since the processing time will be cut in half.”
“How the hell am I going to go back to ordinary, boring life after this?” she asked as they pulled the fish from the water and began the journey back to camp.
“Am I converting you?”
“I’ll definitely be spending more time outdoors.”
“Ain’t nothing wrong with that.”
She walked so close their hands nearly brushed as they walk. Intently aware of her proximity, he started a conversation when he usually preferred silence.
“So we’ll gather up a few branches to form a mini wigwam, tie it off over the fire, and let them smoke through on racks I have sitting out back.” Her hand brushed his. His heart sped up and he swallowed to moisten his suddenly dry mouth. She was turning him inside out without trying. An interesting combination of quirks, she intrigued him. He wanted to know more about her. We have a month.
Chapter Four
Lilac
It was easy falling into a routine with Thorn. He taught, she learned, and they prepared for the winter. She’d gotten enough to write a small instructional pamphlet on living off the grid. What she wanted to know more about was the enigmatic man who worked beside her daily. He had a sense of humor when he let himself relax enough to let it show. There were two versions of him: the person who remained closed off and the one who let her in little by little. She studied him over the rim of her mug.
They’d percolated coffee over the fire cowboy-style. He made this life look easy, but she understood, he’d also had years of preparation and hard work to get to this point.
“What’s on the agenda for today, Finch?” Two weeks into the assignment she was feeling fairly well versed.
“The same thing we do every day, Fehr. Try to prepare for the winter.”
She giggled at his reference. “So more fishing? Checking snares?”
“You know what? We can have a down day. I’m usually working, so this is more time than I’ve had in a long while. We may as well enjoy it. Both of us can have a hot shower, do our laundry, and hang out in the cabin. What do you think?”
“Are you serious?” She sat up straight. The thought of hot water on her skin, scrubbing her hair, and sitting on something other than the chilly cold ground was like a bar of chocolate to a woman on her period.
He chuckled. “Your face says it all. A day off it is. I’ve been working you hard for the past two weeks.”
“I’m not saying this is like a boot camp, but I’m pretty sure you could get women to pay hundreds to be out here a week losing weight and toning up. I won’t even be able to fit my clothes by the time I leave here in another two weeks.”