Chapter Twelve
Abbi walked into the nature center Monday morning with her head full of a million things she had to do.
Then she caught sight of Tyler down the hall and all she could think of was his rough hands holding her tightly, the hard kiss he’d given her before they’d gotten back in their cars.
She felt a flush creep up her face, a mix of excitement and something else, something right moving through her veins. She wanted to see him again. No excuses for why they’d happened to find themselves together. Just him and his incredible body taking up her bed.
Maybe there was something convenient to everyone in the office already thinking they were a couple. She didn’t have to hide how much he was on her mind.
But as soon as she started to wave, Tyler ducked into the spare office he’d been given as though he didn’t even notice her. As though her I know what you did this weekend grin meant nothing to him.
She stopped in her tracks, blood suddenly cold. Hadn’t it been just yesterday that he’d kissed her up against his truck and told her he’d see her soon? What could have possibly happened since then?
Maybe he was already done with her. Maybe fucking her twice was enough and he was over it, back to fake smiles when they were forced together and sidestepping each other the rest of the time.
She should have shut things down after round one so she got to say how they ended. She shouldn’t have let herself imagine there was anything more.
Then she got to her office, checked her email, and she understood.
Tyler wasn’t avoiding her because he wasn’t interested.
He was avoiding her because he was a coward.
Sure, he’d intervene if Russ was on the prowl. He’d cover his ass if his bosses were around. But that didn’t mean he had the balls to face her and admit what he’d done.
She tried to make her eyes focus on the email but she could barely read it. It didn’t matter the details—the point of the memo was clear.
Abbi had failed.
She’d failed to convince Tyler, failed to stop the firebreak, failed to use—not sex, that wasn’t what she meant. But her closeness to Tyler, the fact that she’d thought they could talk about the project not as some abstract concept among colleagues but really see it, live it, experience it out in the woods… She’d thought she’d connected with him.
Apparently, she’d been dead wrong.
She cleared her schedule for the day. Then she dug out her notes from the walkthrough, sifting through everything she’d gleaned from those two days. She’d put them aside, thinking she wasn’t going to have to use that information after all. She wasn’t so naïve anymore.
Out her office window she could see the rise of the hill that opened to the field, the gazebo, and the mountains beyond. She closed the blinds.
Think, she told herself.
She had to fix this. She had to come up with a plan to stop Tyler and save her career.
Preferably one that didn’t require her heart to be intact, since she was pretty sure hers was now in pieces on the floor.
…
Tyler had been given a temporary office that was both conveniently—and maddeningly—located close enough to Abbi’s office that he could see when her light was on but far enough that he couldn’t tell what she was up to in there.
Didn’t she need a lunch break? The bathroom? Didn’t she have a million things to do that didn’t involve staying in her office all day?
He hadn’t known how to react when he first laid eyes on her that morning. Should he pick up where they’d left things at the end of the weekend? The last thing he’d done before getting in his truck was press her against it, which he’d be more than happy to do again… But there was a difference between pretending they were dating and actually following through with every not-safe-for-work thing he wanted.
And he had a feeling that he’d just extinguished whatever might have been building between them. If he could guess by the volume with which she’d slammed her office door, she must have gotten the email he’d sent to her, Russ, Walker, and Chip.
His phone call with Aidan still left a bad taste in his mouth. But it had also clarified what he had to do. He had a job here, and it wasn’t to make sure Abbi got her promotion.
Too bad he didn’t think she’d see it that way.
He watched the clock creep by. It was late in the afternoon when his email finally dinged with a response. He opened it quickly, hoping for a sign that things were okay.
But when he read it, his heart didn’t just slow down. It stopped.
To: Walker Reynolds; Chip Fields
CC: Russell Young; Tyler McCall
From: Abigail Haas
Subject: Re: GM Firebreak Proposal
Although the proposal presented by Mr. McCall addresses wildlife resources in general terms, it neglects to take into consideration the specific habitat of the northern spotted owl that will be disrupted by the proposed construction.
I have reviewed the area intended to be cut and am beginning a follow-up analysis of major old growth trees in the region, which form the primary habitat for the spotted owl.
Please see the attached documents for counts of trees available, nests, and habitats observed. As the data indicates, this firebreak would not be permitted in the state of California and is technically eligible here only because Washington’s spotted owl population had until more recently been steady. However, with the continuing westward expansion of the barred owl competing for resources, we are seeing a precipitous decline.
It is vital that we stay ahead of this problem and not exacerbate the situation by cutting habitat. I urge the Forest Service to review the attached documents and consider the long-term effects of this plan.
Sincerely,
Abbi Haas
Gold Mountain Nature Center
Tyler clicked through the attachments. He hadn’t really believed any of those notes she’d been scribbling on their walkthrough would stick.
But there was a lot of information here. A lot of information that no one at the Forest Service would be able to ignore.
Goddammit, Abbi. He knew it was important to her to stop the project. But what the hell was he supposed to do now?
Aidan had said to call anytime, but Tyler didn’t want to have to go crawling back to California for advice every time he hit a stumbling block.
Besides, he knew what Aidan would say. Stay calm, stick to the facts, remember that he wasn’t personally responsible for endangering some fuzzy little owl chick. Wasn’t he there to save an entire town from going up in flames?
The next hours felt like an eternity.
Tyler knew the only thing more useless than waiting around doing nothing while his project got pulled out from under him was waiting around doing nothing and staring at the computer while his project got pulled out from under him. But as long as he saw the light down the hall, he stayed. He wasn’t going to be blindsided.
And he was right to wait. The rest of the lights were off, the building emptied for the day, when the response finally came.
To: Abigail Haas
CC: Russell Young; Tyler McCall; Chip Fields
From: Walker Reynolds
Subject: Re: re: GM Firebreak Proposal
Thank you, Abbi, for that information.
The Forest Service has agreed to implement a moratorium on proceedings until we can verify that the data is accurate and that a firebreak at the proposed location poses a threat to declining spotted owl populations.
We will be in touch regarding next steps.
Walker Reynolds
US Forest Service
Washington
www.fs.fed.us
Tyler brought his hands to his head. Pause wasn’t good. Pause meant loss of dollars, momentum, goodwill. Pause meant Tyler limping out of Gold Mountain with nothing on his resume to help him get a new job, and nothing to do but tell his mentor he’d failed.
If he couldn’t deal with a little controversy in the middle of nowhere, how could he be expected to hack it anywhere else? He didn’t want to bounce from job to job, like his mother had done. The whole point was to use this to make something stick.
He pushed back his chair and strode down the hallway. Fake girlfriend or not, this was horseshit. He wasn’t going to tiptoe around her, as though he owed her anything just because they’d fucked a few times. This was his ass on the line. Even more than that, this was the safety of her town.
Didn’t she realize he was trying to help this place, not go around bulldozing the woods like he didn’t give a damn? Didn’t she realize he was on her side?
Well, that wasn’t going to happen anymore. He wasn’t going to be on top of her, underneath her, next to her in any way. He wasn’t going to keep pretending to be in this relationship, either—not to help her career, and not even for his.
She was on her own.
But as he approached her office door, he heard the unmistakable sound of arguing. And then a huge crash, the sound of wood splintering, something heavy going down.
There was no point knocking. Certainly no thinking. He shoved open the door.