Stranded on Vail Mountain by Desiree L. Scott

Author:Desiree L. Scott [Scott, Desiree L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lavish Publishing, LLC
Published: 2016-11-28T00:00:00+00:00

Stephen walked down the staircase to the first floor and headed for the office in the back of the building. Protocol was to debrief on first arriving from a rescue mission and to write up his report, but given the situation, his boss had understood and given him some leeway.

Halfway to his destination, he spied the woman, Stacy, on the couch beside the fire, her slender legs drawn up to her chest and her arms around her knees. The small sitting room was in the middle of the building, and he would have to go through it to get to the office. Lips tight, he started to walk straight through, ignoring her, when her sobs reached him.

Scowling, he stopped and stared at her. He envisioned Joan devastated and heartbroken because of what this woman had done to her. He didn’t have any sympathy for her. It hadn’t been her husband who had been found frozen to death.

He started to go around her, but her words followed him, stopping him in tracks.

“I really loved him.”

At her words, he stiffened but stared straight ahead, not willing to respond to that.

“He’s really gone, and I can’t tell him one more time that I loved him. I-I know J-Joan hates me, and I-I’m sorry, s-so sorry, but I-I loved him.”

Sobs strangled what else she had been about to say, and he looked over at her, his eyes dispassionate.

“He was her husband,” he said quietly.

Her eyes red and her blonde hair tangled down her back, she rocked back and forth, her legs shaking with each sob that burst out of her throat. “I-I know."

Stephen turned away and continued on to the office. There was nothing to say.

He knocked on the office door.

“Come on in,” Rob called from the other side.

Stephen walked in finding his boss at his desk in the middle of the room, the ice glazed window at his back.

Rob looked up from his paperwork and leaned back, a tired smile on his lean face.

“We were about to give up,” Rob confessed, a tired sigh erupting from him. “You had us really worried, man.”

Stephen raked his hand through his hair, really craving a shower and sleep, but he had his report to get in before the next morning.

“I know. I was worried, too.” He started to say more, but Rob had stood up and walked over to him, slapping him on his back. Normally, the pat wouldn’t have moved him, but he stumbled forward, catching himself on the desk before humiliating himself further.

“Take a room upstairs,” Rob said. “Your report is done except for the twenty-four hours you were missing, but you can do that tomorrow. Get some rest, Stephen. Now.”

For once, Stephen wasn’t going to argue.

“Thanks, man.”

He turned to leave, but Rob’s voice stopped him.

“She’s alive because of you. They all are. You’re a hell of a park ranger, Stephen. Thank you.”

Stephen didn’t want any thanks, and before the last twenty-four hours, he would have said he had just been doing his job,

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