Shoe Strings

the better part of
three months. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes while he waited for the
object of his desire to appear. All the things he savored with that one breath
captured everything he loved about the woods. Nobody understood why he chose to
live alone tucked in the forest instead of in the free wheeling dorms near the
fly shop, but at twenty-four, he’d had enough of communal living.
    He sucked in another breath of cool morning air and could
almost feel it clearing out all the dust in his lungs. His friends said it was
too quiet, but had they listened, really listened? The birds called to loved
ones, back and forth from above and all around. The bugs croaked a different
melody from the ground. Squirrels, when they scuttled about the forest floor,
sounded like a speeding jaguar leaping on its prey.
    And then he heard it, the sound he’d been waiting for
while holding his steaming cup of coffee and wearing nothing but a pair of
shorts. The gravel crunched under her mile-eating stride. When she cleared the
curve, he let his free hand rest on his stomach and tried to wipe away the
ache. He felt the clench in his gut, the adrenaline rush he felt just before
reeling in a big fish. Jill Jennings probably wouldn’t appreciate being
compared to a fish.
    He felt himself lean forward in anticipation, ushering the
moment of eye contact to fruition. He wasn’t disappointed by the wait. She was
beauty in motion, although she’d probably hate that description as she pushed
herself up the steep incline. Sweat made her thin shirt cling to her stomach
muscles as they twisted with every step. Her quadriceps quivered, almost in
tune with his thundering heart. She wasn’t the biggest fish he’d ever seen, not
with her elegant build and slight frame, but she was the most magnificent.
    Conflicted by his overwhelming attraction while still
attached to his girlfriend back home, Ty avoided Jill most of the time, at the
restaurant where she worked and whenever she came to the fly and rafting shop
to visit her roommate. He didn’t even try to ignore her here, outside his door
when he could watch her move and admire everything about her that had caught
his attention from the very first glance.
    She looked up, her head swung in his direction, and a line
of irritation graced the delicate space between her dark brows. She glanced
down at the path, but not before she landed on a rock that had fallen from the
stony overhang at some point and came to rest in the road. Her ankle buckled
and she went down hard, her leg crashing against a boulder lining the road. Ty
heard the crack just seconds before her scream. He was at her side in a flash,
grabbing her shoulders as she thrashed around on the ground, filling her
chestnut hair with gravel and dirt.
    “It’s broken,” she huffed through clenched teeth. “Damn
it, it’s broken.”
    Ty noticed her eyes hadn’t filled with tears, but the
tawny color had almost disappeared around her enlarged pupils. She was dangerously
close to shock.
    “I’m going to pick you up and carry you to my truck,” he
said.
    “No, no, no,” she whispered, as if speaking loudly would
make the pain spread throughout her body. “Call an ambulance. I don’t want to
move.”
    “I don’t think either one of us wants to wait forty
minutes for an ambulance to come from Del Noches. I’ll be careful. Put your
arms around my neck.”
    After one uncertain look, she cinched her fingers around
his neck and he lifted her into his arms, careful to support, but not grab her
injured leg. Once he got the door open, he kicked his fly vest to the
floorboard and gently placed her on the backseat. She used her arms to inch
across so Ty could close the door before he raced inside the cabin for his
keys, wallet, and cell phone.
    He tried to drive with consideration for how every bump
and turn felt as she braced herself with her arms and breathed heavily through
her nose. “You okay back there?” he asked as he studied her face through the
rearview mirror. She’d gone deathly pale and her pupils were still enlarged.
    She let out a groan when the truck bounced over a rut in
the gravel. “I will be once we get onto the blacktop.”
    “We’re almost there.” He gunned the engine when they
leveled out and he could see the pavement ahead. “Is there anyone you want me
to call? Your family?”
    “No. Not yet.” She held her lips tight and her head leaned
back against the seat. “I’ll deal with them later.”
    Ty