being amazing in bed, who is Everett? What’s the story?”
“Got tired of the bullshit so I moved out here. Five years ago.”
“You just quit your life?”
“Sometimes things don’t go as you expect, and it kinda changes the way you see the world.”
“And what changed your world?”
Everett dishes up the bowls of chili and brings the cornbread to the table. He turns and grabs a few beers from the refrigerator and uses his hand to take off the caps.
“Well, my parents died, my sister too. A car crash on the way to see me in my big ass job in the city. And after they all died, all I wanted was to have had more time with them.
“Life felt sacred suddenly... with no guarantees. I spent a lot of years wearing three-piece suits, working for the man. Not saying there’s no value in that, I mean we’ve all got jobs to make the world go around, but I just realized that wasn’t what I wanted.”
“So you cashed out and bought this place?”
“Pretty much. I write books now, about...” Everett’s cheeks redden, and I swear he’s blushing.
“Oh, my gosh what are you writing about? Are you writing some smutty erotica? Tell me everything.”
“No.” Everett shakes his head, grinning. “Though after today, I think I’d have plenty of good material.” Everett’s twinkling eyes meet mine , both of us seeming to remember the way our bodies felt inside of one another, his hands on my breasts, my hand on his cock, his come on my face.
“Okay then, what are you writing about, mountain man?”
“I just write about my life. You know how you write a blog? I guess it’s kinda like that, only e-books. I journal my whole year out here on the mountain and then publish it. People seem to like the day in the life sort of thing.”
My hands fly to my mouth. “Oh my God. What are you going to write about today?” Now it’s my turn to have a reddened face.
Everett laughs, dipping his spoon into his bowl and takes a bite before answering.
“Well, as much as I’d like to detail our time together for my rabid fans, I can easily gloss over it by saying I got nostalgic this morning missing my family, being as it’s Christmas time, and grabbed my ax, headed into the woods to chop down a Christmas tree. It’s up to you if you want me to add that I found a present when I was up on Mistletoe Mountain.”
“That’s what the mountain is called?”
Everett nods. “Sure is. Didn’t you see all those boughs of mistletoe up there? The mistletoe grafted on all sorts of pine trees up there. It’s a real special place.”
I consider Everett, I swear he knows everything. Cooking and hunting and making homemade soap. He is the modern Renaissance man.
I feel very honored to be here with him at all.
“You can tell your readers you met me. In fact, you can tell them I trimmed your tree.”
“I don’t think you’ve finished the tree quite yet, Evie. Gotta put a star on top, don’t you?” He grins, then takes a swig of his beer, and I do too. “Tell me, what would you have done tonight if you hadn’t ever gotten lost?”
I set down my beer thinking about how to answer. I have the distinct feeling that Everett is going to judge the way I spend my days and nights harshly... and I’m not quite sure that I want to ruin what we have found.
“I don’t know if I want to tell you.”
“Oh, you’re gonna tell me all right,” he says. “Honest, how bad is it?”
I groan, “Well I’d have worked all afternoon, making the wreaths for my neighbors. Yes, I may be a party girl, but I’m a nice one. Besides, these wreaths need to be made so I can write a blog post about them. Then around ten or so, I was going to go to an ugly Christmas sweater party. The plan was to go to this party, get sloppy drunk on cheap shots. Probably annoy my friends by wanting to stay longer than everyone else.”
“And tomorrow?”
I smirk. “Tomorrow I’d wake up totally hungover and then meet some other friends for brunch, where we would drink Bloody Marys until late afternoon at which point I’d need to find decent clothing to wear so I could go to my sister’s for Christmas Eve dinner.”
I talk fast, thinking if I just put it out there, told Everett exactly what kind