Cardinal Christmas by Elle Brownlee

Author:Elle Brownlee [Brownlee, Elle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2021-09-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Three

BOYD ADJUSTED his pack and started up the trail. If he kept a steady pace he’d get to the lake overlook by sunrise.

The cold air invigorated his senses and cleared his head. Necessary respite—he a had lot on his mind. That the booth without Douglas the past week was more lonely than welcome. How he was no longer certain being in Cardinal represented the temporary, if needed, break from the city he’d planned it to be. What he knew from his long talk with Melba and the advice he’d given her about the future of the market and the upheavals it would be sure to cause.

He made quick work of the relatively flat opening stretch, passing from a meadow silent and thick with winter frost and into bare trees, shortening his step as the path entered a sharp climb.

Boyd eased as the trail plateaued and steadied his breath. From there the trail wound in gentler switchbacks another mile, the longest of those the one directly ahead. He squinted when movement caught his eye, worried for a hot second it might be a big cat. Then he made out a very human figure—and an unerring sense of who it was—moving steadily not far in front of him.

“Douglas?” he said at normal voice. It sounded like a shout in the barely lit gray quiet.

The figure slowed and then stopped.

He heard Douglas’s soft, disbelieving laugh. Then Douglas fully turned and waited for him.

“Morning,” Douglas drawled as he came even.

They regarded one another, and then Douglas started again, tacit invitation and expectation he join, long legs eating up the trail in a stride Boyd could keep up with but required a bit more effort and concentration. The going felt good—as did Douglas’s company—and at their pace the mile fell behind them in a hurry. They arrived at the rim of the world well ahead of sunrise.

It didn’t disappoint. The inky sky warmed to brilliant coral as lines of orange shot into the clouds, the sun lifting first as a pale lemony crescent melting into the lake that grew into a fiery orange circle as it seemed to escape gravity, everything softer but no less vibrant reflected in the water.

Boyd set his pack on the short stone retaining wall of the overlook, shrugged out of his coat, and opened his thermos. He poured coffee into the small metal cup he kept clipped to his pack and passed it to Douglas. Their fingers tangled when Douglas’s hand engulfed the cup and Boyd held fast, making sure Douglas had a firm grip.

Douglas did—mostly of his hand—and he pretended not to notice the suffusion of heat and pleasure the contact caused. But he did enjoy laughing in answer to Douglas’s snort of humor when they adjusted holds and Douglas finally claimed the cup.

The sun ushered a breeze to push over the water and birds and critters to begin their day.

“Nice.” Douglas saluted the view with his cup and then drained it on a long swallow.

Boyd couldn’t improve on the sentiment.

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