“Zeb is waiting for me?” Her heart beat faster. “Why? Did something happen to my grandmother? Is that why he needs to take me?”
Nash came over and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Calm down. He said your grandmother was well taken care of by all of them. She even stayed with one of her friends. She’s fine. But Zeb knows you probably want to get home so he’s waiting for you.”
Her relief came out in a rush of air and a chuckle that she couldn't be sure wasn't partially a sob.
“She's okay.” It wasn’t a question. It was just pure relief.
“That's what the man said. And soon as the road is clear, he's going to take you home.”
“Okay then.”
“Okay then,” he said quietly. “You should probably get your things. They already had quite a bit cleared when I was down there.”
She nodded. “Okay. I really didn't have much with me. Just my jacket and purse. If you give me a minute, I'll change out of your clothes and you can have them back.”
“That won’t be necessary. They’re just sweats. You can keep them. I'm sure I'll… I'm sure we'll be seeing each other at some point during the summer.”
“Sure. And you're renting my grandmother's cabin.”
He smiled. “And you are stalling.”
She blew out a quick breath of air. “Yeah, I guess I am. I guess I’m finding it hard to find the words to thank you for saving my life.”
“You saved me too.”
“You never would've been on that mountain road if I hadn't come up the mountain in the first place. You would've been safe in this cabin riding out the storm on your own and eating those…MREs,” she said making a face.
“Don't knock them. They're really not that bad once you get used to them.”
“Not that I'm not thankful, but you can keep them.” She sighed. “Give me a minute and I’ll meet you outside.
Nash nodded and quickly dashed out the door. Harper gulped down some air in an effort to squash the emotion rising up inside her. Then she pasted on a smile like the one Nash had given her, grabbed her jacket, her clothes that were drying by the wood stove, her purse, and she walked out the door.
* * *
“I'm fine,” she said to Mia. Mia had been working as an EMT at the sweet Montana Fire Department for the last few years. Originally from Hawaii, at times Mia stood out as a tourist in town. But to Harper, she fit in perfectly with the rest of the long-time residents. Mia had come here on vacation several years ago and loved the small town and the people in it so much that she stayed.
“I'll be the judge of that,” Mia said, laughing. “You know, I swear that all of you folks working at the fire department and the police department are my worst patients and give me the hardest time.”
“I assure you it's not intentional. I just think most of us believe we’re made of steel.”
“And isn't that the problem?”
“I guess. I learned just how quickly life can be taken away last week.”
Mia paused as she pulled off the blood pressure cuff. Then she ripped it off making a loud sound when the Velcro released. “I am going to tell you to follow-up with your doctor,” Mia said. “I know you probably won’t because you want to put all this behind you. It can be quite scary to take a tumble like you did. Twice.” Mia laughed. “My goodness, girl, you have more lives than a cat.”
Harper shrugged. “I have an appointment next month with my doctor. If I’m still feeling sore by then…”
Mia took her by the shoulders and looked at her straight on. “No. You will call your doctor tomorrow. I don’t want to hear you tell me that you have an appointment this week or next week. Tomorrow. By the way, your blood pressure and vitals are fine. But for all you know, you have slow bleed or something worse. These bruises need to be checked out. I’m going to make sure Chief Lucas pushes you.”
“You’re not giving me a choice?”
“No.” The deep sounding voice behind Harper was stern, but she knew Chief Lucas wasn’t angry. He was worried. When Harper turned, she saw him standing in the doorway with his hands propped on his hips. But his face told her just how happy he was to see her.
“You need a doctor's note before you come back to work and that's an order.”
“Fine. If it will make you happy.”
“It will,” the chief said.
Harper knew the doctor couldn’t cure what was ailing her now.
* * *
Nash couldn't stay holed up in the cabin any longer. Everywhere he looked, he saw Harper. He smelled the scent of her. He could almost hear her laughter and it drove him nuts.
He hadn't planned on heading out into the field this soon. The snow was still thick and the conditions were still dangerous. A lot of what he had to do was sampling soil, testing water, and writing reports, something that should've been easy to do at the cabin given that he had total alone time. It wasn't.
When he is first arrived at the cabin, everything seemed new and untainted. Now everything had changed and he was having a hard time concentrating on the very reason he chose to come to Sweet in the first place.
After an afternoon of hiking, he found a spot high enough to take a water sample. He pulled off his backpack when he got to the mountain stream, pulled out the small kit he used for water sampling and popped off the covers of the vials. He filled one vial with water from the icy stream and one from the compacted snow. He made
