Page 8 of Last Chance with the Mountain Man

“It’s not fair,” she admitted and turned her head away from him.

He kicked the tree with his boot. “It’s got to get easier. It just has to.”

Felicia didn’t know what to say although she agreed, it definitely needed to get better. However, she wasn’t a yoyo. She wasn’t going to have her emotions played with like a he’d attempted to do.

“I didn’t want to wake you this morning, but I couldn’t sleep. I mostly wanted to access the damage from the storm, but I came across our old fishing poles in the shed. God, we loved going down to the stream and fishing. Some days we didn’t catch a thing and other times we’d have to throw them all back because there’s no way we could clean them all.”

She stared at the ground, listening to him talk about her brother. She had her own stories to tell, but right now, Titan needed to get it all out.

“There was this one time, Matt and I decided to go camping. Your dad always told us to make sure we didn’t leave any food laying around. I’m pretty sure it was a momma racoon wanting to feed her babies, but Matt convinced me it was a bear outside of our tent. I’d never been so scared in all of my life.”

He eventually sat down on the log and she took the spot next to him. Matt was certainly a character and he’d been lucky to have someone like Titan in his life. When he reached for her hand, she didn’t pull it away.

“Well, what do we do now?” she asked.

He continued to rub his finger over the top of her hand. When he didn’t say anything, she figured he was probably still reminiscing about her brother.

“I’m pretty sure there’s a saw in the shed. It’s a pretty big tree but if we could cut it into smaller pieces, we could probably roll some of it out of the way. At least enough for a vehicle to pass.”

“Please don’t leave. Not yet anyways.”

Titan leaned his head on her shoulder and he began to weep. “Why couldn’t Matt’s life had been spared? Why? Why did he have to die?”

CHAPTER SEVEN

When they got back to the cabin, Titan helped bring all of her things inside. He could totally understand why she’d wanted to leave. He hadn’t exactly been nice to her.

Instead of looking for a saw to cut the tree, they mostly sat around sharing more stories about Matt. It felt good to talk, regardless if the stories were funny or not.

“Did you know about the time Matt was arrested? Well, I shouldn’t say arrested since they never put him in an actual cell, but they kept him in a holding room until your dad could come and pick him up.”

Felicia sat up in the chair. “Say what?”

Titan chuckled and shook his head. “Yeah, I had a feeling you might not know.”

“Okay, I need details.”

“Do you remember when he briefly dated that girl named Ashley? Her dad started teaching at the school. It was one of the history classes we were required to take.”

“Mr. Sims. Yeah, I had him for World History. Ashley was the same age as me but we didn’t hang around the same crowd.”

“Matt had the hots for her so bad. To say he talked about her non-stop is an understatement. He wanted to take her to the fair but the only way her parents would let her go was if someone else went along. I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure they came up with the story that you were going to be with them.”

“Seriously? How did I not know about this?”

“Right? Well, as it turns out, when they left the fair, Matt drove them to the ridge where everyone went to make out. I got to hand it to him—the view from up there is breathtaking, especially when it’s a clear night. Things were getting pretty heated, you know, fogged windows and all that crap. At least that was Matt’s version of the story. Just as he was getting ready to take her shirt off, they saw blue lights. Like I said, I don’t think the cops intended to do anything with him, but they did have to call their parents to come pick them up at the police station. Your dad was working out of town so he had to wait a little longer for him to get there. He knew your mom would be upset and if anyone would understand, it would be your dad.”

“How did I not know this? That’s crazy!”

“Matt was such a ladies’ man.”

“I’m really going to miss him.”

“Yeah, me too.” Titan sat up and rested his elbows on to the tops of his knees. “I think I’m going to get a shower.”

It wasn’t until he reached for a towel that he realized he’d forgotten to get any clothes. Wrapping the towel around his waist, he hurried across the hall to the bedroom. Instead of folding the freshly washed clothes, he’d tossed them onto the bed. It wasn’t something he normally did, but nothing about this trip had turned out normal anyway. He rifled through the pile and pulled out his sweats again.

Felicia was still in the living room so he stuck his head around the doorway. “Hey, do you have a brush or comb I can use?”