actually her just gasping for breath after that steep climb, but she was surprised, nonetheless.
“Do you like it?” Christian asked, the nerves showing a little more on his face than he probably realized.
He cared if she liked it. A lot.
She reached over and took his hand, pulling his work-hardened knuckles to her mouth and kissing them. “A lot,” she whispered.
And she did. How someone could not was beyond her. The meadow was picture-perfect, like the scene from a postcard.
Except she was lucky enough to breathe it in, not just look at a still photograph and imagine.
The Payette Beardtongue – a brilliant blue flower that was often compared to snapdragons – was in full bloom. It was one of her favorite wildflowers, and watching them sway lazily in the light breeze made her inordinately happy. A ring of grand fir trees encircled the meadow and she could hear the mountain stream they’d crossed over several times on the hike bubbling past. Over it all was the buzz of industrious bumblebees as they flew from flower to flower, and birds serenading them with a mountain love song.
If someone combed the world for a year for a more gorgeous place than this, she was sure they’d come up empty-handed.
“I found it while out hunting in high school.” His voice was quiet as they took in the scene. “Here, I’ll show you my tree.” He tugged her towards an older pine tree, listing to its left, the bark rough and seeping sap. He pointed to a spot that Carla first mistook for simple damage to the tree’s trunk until she looked closer.
CP + LS
“Do you remember Laura Smith? My girlfriend in high school?”
She hadn’t, until that moment. Laura, who was a year ahead of Christian, was thus two years ahead of Carla, and so they hadn’t had much reason to hang out together. A pretty smile? Carla couldn’t remember much else.
She nodded anyway.
“After I found this place while hunting, I brought her back here and carved our initials in the tree. I really thought…” He laughed a bit – not bitterly, but the kind one lets out when thinking back to a naïve, younger version of themselves. “She was the one for me.” He winked at Carla. “Ah, the stupidity of youth. After she graduated, she wasn’t about to wait around for me to finish high school, and was married before Christmas break of my senior year. She broke my heart, but I still consider this to be my tree.” He reached out and ran his fingers lightly over the rough bark.
“Have you dated anyone since then?”
“No.” He looked up from the tree trunk and smiled at her. “Not until I decided one day to pick up flowers for my mother for Mother’s Day.”
He pulled his oversized backpack off and set it on the ground, pulling a blanket out first and spreading it out. After he helped her settle in, he began pulling dishes out of the apparently bottomless pit of a backpack.
“You never did tell me that story,” Carla murmured as he continued to pull items out. How on earth had he stuffed so much into one pack? “I don’t remember seeing you that day. I’m sure I would’ve remembered if I had.” It’d been busy that day at the shop, but not that busy.
“I don’t think you did,” Christian admitted with a sexy grin that made her want to kiss him. Everything made her want to kiss him, but that grin in particular… “I came in, took one look at you helping some old man pick out a bouquet, and fell head over heels in love.”
“You did not,” Carla protested with a laugh. Men did not fall in love with her at a single glance. That was something that happened in fairy tales, not in real life. And especially not in Carla’s life.
“I did too,” he countered. “I was so smitten with you, I accidentally bought a Congratulations on the New Baby! bouquet that day. Didn’t even notice until I got back out to the truck. I only had eyes for you. You were swamped and you never even noticed I was there. Your high schooler helped me instead. Blond gal. Big brown eyes.”
“Oh yeah. Valrea. She helps me when I know it’ll be a busy day.” Carla plucked the stem of a wild blue flax and brought it to her nose to smell it – no scent – and then twirled it in her fingertips. “A new baby arrangement?” she asked,