Page 29 of Working for the Mountain Man

"I'm not good at this," I say.

"At public hand-holding?"

"No, at having everyone watch me," I tell her honestly. "I'm not ashamed of you," I say. "I'm not unsure, I'm not going to treat this like something that only exists when nobody's watching." I look at her. "I’m falling for you, Elsie, and I want you to stay here in Forge Creek and try this with me.”

She stares at me, tears filling her eyes. "You picked a very public place to learn communication," she says.

"I needed to show you that you matter, that I’m not embarrassed, and I want you.”

She looks at our hands, and then back at my face.

"I fell for you somewhere between the bridge folder and the creepy cabin," she says.

"It wasn't creepy."

"Hugo..."

"Elsie."

"I’m falling for you too," she says.

I move closer, pressing a soft kiss to her lips, she sinks against me and kisses me back. I ignore the cheers from my crew. Asses.

I just hope that this isn’t goodbye. She’s supposed to go home any day now and I don’t want her to leave, but that’s a decision for her to make and I can only hope that she wants to stay.

I can hear her on her cell as I get out of the shower. Since the night we spent together in what is now known as the creepy cabin, we’ve not spent a night apart, I’ve always kept a go-bag in my truck just in case, and it’s been used a lot since the night in the cabin.

She hasn't packed her bags yet, and last night we stayed in my home. She seems comfortable here and I love that. I've dreamed of her living here and being the superstar writer that she is from here in Forge Creek.

I exit the bathroom, and see that she’s sitting at the table with her laptop open, a coffee cup beside her, no doubt it’s cold by now, it usually is, it’s a habit of hers that I’m never going to fix. She’s no longer on her cell but is typing on her laptop. She’s writing.

"I can write anywhere," she says, without looking up, when she hears me come in.

I steel myself, I guess this is the moment we’re finally talking about this. "I know."

She’s silent for a moment. "I've been thinking about staying."

Relief unlike anything that I’ve ever felt hits me like a wave. I push out a breath and smile. "I know."

She looks up, her eyes narrowed. "You don't seem surprised."

"You haven't packed."

She laughs. "I came here because I was running," she says. "I ran straight into you, and I’m done running, I feel as though I found home."

"No more running,” I tell her and nod toward the back of the house. "There's something I want to show you."

I cleared the spare room last week, I didn’t know how to mention it, so I didn’t. I hoped that it would come in useful, so I moved the storage boxes to the garage, cleaned the windows, and put in the desk that has been sitting disassembled in the shed for two years. I found a good desk chair that is a cream color, and I ran a power strip along the wall. There’s a brand new stack of sticky notes on the desk, because she uses them like they’re going out of fashion and out of the window is the best view of the ridge in Forge Creek.

Elsie stands in the doorway, her eyes wide as she takes in every inch of the room. "Hugo," she whispers.

"It's not fancy," I say. "But it's yours if you want it."

She walks to the desk, running her hand along the surface, she laughs when she sees the stack of sticky notes. "You made me an office," she says.

"You need a proper desk, the cabin table is too low."

She turns around and I see that her eyes are bright, and I can see that she's close to tears. I hate that she’s going to cry, it feels like something in my chest is coming loose.