Thrill Me

Which left him with a problem. He knew he wasn’t the kind of man who would be comfortable in one place for very long. He wouldn’t mind a home base, as long as he didn’t have to spend much time there. But how was he supposed to find someone who shared that dream with him? Hell, he couldn’t even figure out what to do with his life, let alone find his damn soul mate.

He dropped the water bottle into his backpack and continued up the trail. The path was rocky and steep, just challenging enough to be interesting. The hike might take longer than he’d planned, but he had plenty of time. Not to mention GPS so he wouldn’t get lost. One of the advantages of the new search-and-rescue program was cell towers all over the mountains. With a smartphone even the most tenderfooted of tourists should manage to find his or her way back to civilization.

Or not, he thought humorously, considering how many search-and-rescue calls there had been this summer.

He wondered if he and Maya should talk about interviewing the search-and-rescue people for their videos. Although maybe talking about getting lost wasn’t good for tourism. He knew Maya would get the humor of it, though. She always did.

He thought about what she’d told him. Although he believed her, he had trouble imagining what it must have been like never to have seen two adults in a happy relationship. No wonder she hadn’t been able to deal with the two of them falling in love. Her past also explained her close relationship with his mother.

After he and Maya had broken up, he’d thought it was strange that she stayed in touch with Elaine. Now he knew it had something to do with her upbringing. Elaine would have provided stability and caring—two things Maya would have needed. She would have been the nurturing mother Maya had never had.

Maya could have told him the truth, he thought. Been honest. He would have understood. But she’d held back and they’d never had a chance. Ironic that the first woman he fell for kept just as many secrets as his family did. Was there anybody out there who told the truth? Although he supposed he was being hard on Maya. She’d been a kid and scared.

How would things have been different if he’d known she was afraid? If he’d been able to see her breakup as fear talking rather than her heart? Would he have been able to explain that to her? Would she have listened? Told him what she was thinking and feeling? And to what end? Could they have made it, like the old people on the mountain?

Questions that would never have an answer, he told himself. What was done was done.

He continued to head up the mountain. About a half hour later, he paused as he heard an unusual sound. It was man-made. A chain saw? Del swore. Was some moron illegally cutting down trees?

He turned toward the noise. Following it was easy. Fifteen minutes later, he stepped into a clearing and stumbled to a stop. The grinding, biting sound did come from a chain saw, but the person wielding it wasn’t cutting down trees. And he wasn’t a stranger. Del stared as his brother Nick used the machine to make unbelievably delicate cuts in a trunk that had to be at least ten feet high.

Nick was wearing goggles and gloves to protect his eyes, hands and forearms. He stood on a nest of sawdust. Although it was too soon for Del to know what the sculpture was going to be, he knew it would be huge.

Behind his brother he saw a tall building. Wide double doors stood open and inside were dozens of completed sculptures. Bears and deer, each so lifelike that it seemed any one of them could take a single step and be alive. He saw a dancing girl, standing en pointe, her arms held above her head. A woman holding a baby in her arms.

The work was brilliant, and more impressive considering the medium and how the sculptures were achieved.

He thought about his father’s criticism that Nick was ignoring his gift and knew the old man was wrong. Which meant Nick hadn’t told him what he was doing. Based on the location of his work space, Del wondered if anyone knew what was going on.

Slowly, carefully, he backed up until he was in the brush again, then turned into the forest and continued on with his hike. He wasn’t sure if he was going to confront his brother about what he’d seen or let it go. Because not telling anyone was kind of a Mitchell tradition.

* * *

MAYA HAD NEVER had a garden before. Her apartment in Los Angeles had come with a tiny balcony that she’d never once used. Her office had windows and a view, but she’d never been in it long enough to consider a houseplant of any kind. But now that she had a house, she was determined to make the plant thing work.

Her rental came with a perfectly nice yard. There was a lawn, along with hedges and other green plant things. But there weren’t any flowers. So her first week in town she’d gone to Plants for the Planet—a local nursery. She’d bought three big pots and flowers to go in them. The lady at the nursery had promised geraniums couldn’t be killed, so Maya had chosen them.

Now, in the quiet of the evening, she carefully watered her plants. It had been warm and she didn’t want them dying from the heat.

So far the week had been a good one, she thought. She and Del had made progress on the videos, she was caught up in her other work and the house was ready for Elaine to spend a couple of days with her after her surgery in the morning.

As soon as she thought of Elaine, she felt tension in her body. Not only worry about the cancer, but a sense of foreboding about keeping the secret. While she respected Elaine’s reasons, Maya knew in her gut the other woman was wrong not to tell her family. They loved her. They would want to be there for her. Sure Ceallach could be difficult, but as much as he was an artist, his wife was his world. He would be devastated when he finally found out what she’d kept from him.

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