The sun was hot today and it felt comforting on his face after last week's blizzard. He still marveled how weather could change so rapidly and so angrily, and then turn right back to something balmy and enjoyable again.
He took the vials and placed them in a secure case and then put the case inside his backpack. He followed the stream to a higher elevation where his chart showed some activity near a hot spring. Hot springs were prevalent in the Rocky Mountains. Some made for outdoor fun for people who loved to be in nature. Others were so deadly and toxic that they could burn the flesh of a person or animals in no time at all. Each of the hot springs needed to be marked and registered for mapping and testing to make sure they were safe for recreation and for the water supply.
His stomach was growling by the time he got back to the cabin. The first thing he did was set a pot of water on the wood stove and waited for it to heat while he rummaged through his bucket of rations. Beef stew would be good right about now. But it had been Harper's favorite. And as he rummaged through the pail, he realized there wasn't any left.
“Beef stew would be good,” he said to himself. He didn't mind that the beef stew was gone. He minded the memory of sitting on the sofa and looking at Harper wearing his shirt, socks, and sweatpants because it was still driving him crazy even days after she’d left the cabin. He wanted to rid himself of the memory so things could get back to normal again. He couldn’t afford to waste time like he had the last time.
Nearly a year of his life he couldn't account for. That wasn't going to happen again.
He reached the bottom of the bucket and pulled out one of his least favorite dinners which was chicken and rice. He thought that he would end up eating these at the end of his stay at the cabin. He grabbed two packets because he was that hungry and then pulled his pocketknife out and broke the seals on both meals. Closing his knife, he put it back in his pocket.
Then he walked to the wood stove where the water was heating up. Years of eating rations made it easy for him to figure out how much water he needed so that he very rarely ever had to measure out water as Harper had when she was here.
He chuckled to himself, but it held no humor. Two servings of chicken and rice, a meal he'd eat because he was hungry and it was edible. Not something that he would enjoy. And he wished that Harper were here to make a joke or laugh at him about it. And that was the most pathetic thing all.
* * *
It had been over a week since Harper had returned home from the cabin. This spring blizzard was one for the record books. She'd heard so many stories over the last few days of roofs collapsing, pipes bursting, and general disasters that it had caused.
The police officers she worked with were full of stories that had filled her first day back to work at the station. She was happy for it. She was glad to be back. But she missed Nash.
Her desk was a mess, but mostly with cards from the people who she worked with and wished her a speedy recovery. It was a good thing the phones were quiet and she had a chance to go through each card and look at the special note people wrote.
She arranged the cards in the corner of her desk so she could see them. But she'd only keep them on her desk for one day. She’d bring them home with her tonight and put them in the scrapbook for later use if she had occasion to make some kind of memory book. Her grandmother had tried to get her to make a memory book ever since she was a little girl. There never seemed to be enough time.
“It's good to see you back,” Caleb said as he leaned an arm on the office desk divider.
“Thanks. Between the two of us being gone this winter I'm sure the chief is having a hard time knowing what to do with himself.”
Caleb chuckled and knocked on the top of her cubbyhole wall with his knuckles. “Just don't overdo it. First day back is a doozy.”
“I remember.”
Caleb had been out for a few weeks over the winter when the beam in the church that he and Katie Dobbs, his fiancée, were renovating fell on his head, leaving him hospitalized.
“Hey, did you get your occupancy permit on the chapel yet?” she asked. “Last time I saw Katie she said things were coming along.”
“They are. But we’re not ready. There’s still too much left to do.”
“Make sure you give me the grand tour when you’re finished. I’m dying to see what you’ve both done there.”
“Will do. Let me know if you need anything,” Caleb said before heading out the door.
Once Harper was done rearranging her desk, she reached in her bag for her cell phone. Her new cell phone. She still wasn’t sure how to use all the new features, but she was getting there. She checked it for messages, although she didn’t know why. Nash didn’t have cell service up at the cabin.
But checking her phone was becoming a bad habit. One like biting your nails or eating potato chips out of the bag and not paying attention to how many you were eating until it was too late and the bag was empty. Harper knew what she was doing. She was waiting for Nash to text her or come down from the mountain and call her and say…
What? She didn’t know. They’d
