Her Heart's Bargain

This was the reason things weren’t quite as simple with Macy. In a hundred different ways, they were more than coworkers. She looked out for him.

He would do the same for her, but he never tried to give his feelings for Macy a name. That could be scary.

“You know I was sure you could handle whatever came up here, right?” Ash didn’t meet her stare because he was leaving his comfort zone quickly. Feelings and saying them out loud? Not his MO.

“I did need help.” Macy retreated to the doorway. “On the first day. Since then, the calls have died down a bit. A few picketers showed up yesterday, but this cold weather is probably slowing them down. If word gets out that you’re back, that will change. What do you want me to say?”

Lie for me. Tell them I’m not here.

She would do it, too, because Macy supported the Otter Lake Ranger Station fully.

But asking her to do that would do little to restore his own balance, so Ash didn’t.

Macy’s exaggerated eye roll would have been insubordination on any other day with any other employee. Today, it made him laugh. “So much respect.”

Macy marched over to his desk and thumped her hand on a towering stack of white paper. “Here’s my respect. Perfect paperwork every time. Stacked in order of priority. Just like every time.” She made the signing motion. “Waiting on you to finish.”

She left off the every time, but it was present in the room.

“Where are the newspapers?” Ash had never expected to become so set in his ways, but the idea of diving straight into spreadsheets without first meandering his way through the day’s headlines further upset his queasy stomach. He sipped his coffee, hoping it would drown the acid of worry.

“On my desk.” She planted her feet firmly. “You don’t want to see them. Neither does Brett, but I have plans to make sure he gets a good look at a certain photo, lipstick smear in full color, in the Sweetwater Sentinel.” The gleam in her eyes suggested they might all have a real laugh about something. The warning about the rest of the papers? Not good.

“You better show them to me.” He stared hard at the red light on his phone. “I might have messages waiting about them.”

Macy nodded once and then marched away. Normally, the noises she made as she moved in the lobby were soothing background sounds. Today each step clicked like hands on a clock.

Or a ticking time bomb.

Instead of plopping the newspapers down and then sailing away, like she would usually do, Macy eased them down and lingered. There was no other word for her watchful waiting.

“Don’t hover.” Ash sipped his coffee and then carefully stared at her until she held up both hands in surrender.

“I’ll be outside if you need me.” Macy paused in the doorway, her long blond ponytail swinging to punctuate her irritation. “You never did tell me what you want me to do with callers who ask for you. I’ll tell them you aren’t here. Give you some time to catch up.” Satisfied with her own answer, she turned to go.

“Put them through to me. I’ll handle it, Macy.” Ash waited for her to meet his stare and nod. He still didn’t fully trust her to do as he’d asked, mainly because she was almost always certain she had a better answer, but he’d done the right thing.

It was also the hard thing, but that seemed to be the case more and more.

On top of the stack of newspapers was a shot of Ranger Brett Hendrix standing out in front of the visitor center. He seemed to have full control of the situation. Macy had his back, her pen ready. The two of them were a credit to the Reserve.

Ash slipped on a pair of reading glasses he kept in his desk to study the fine print.

“Lots of questions. No answers. So, basically the same as every other news outlet.” Satisfied he’d gotten the main idea, he moved to turn to the next page and caught a red smear on Brett’s cheek. Lipstick. On his face. In a photo on the front page.

No wonder Macy was delighted. She’d be back in soon to reclaim her prize.

Brett Hendrix was the kind of employee every boss would be lucky to find. He was dedicated to his job. Smart. Followed procedure without complaint and served with the highest standards.

After a rocky period where family stress caused some distraction for him, he’d settled into the job and performed at the highest level. The guy made no mistakes.

This photo would drive him nuts.

Ash smiled as he set the newspaper down on top of the documents Macy was antsy to have reviewed and signed. When she asked, he’d tell her that the news was causing the delay. Picturing her death glare made him smile again.

Things could not be that bad. Life at the Otter Lake Ranger Station was close to all right that morning.

Then he opened the next paper, saw the governor’s angry face, and his own official photograph from the website for the Reserve. It wasn’t a mug shot, but it could almost pass as one. What made no sense was why it was there. Ash quickly scanned the content of the article around his photo. The only reference to him was completely true. He was the ranger in charge of the Otter Lake area. So what?

The project had enjoyed almost zero support on the ground here at the Reserve. Even without data and traffic projections, the effect on the habitat of The Aerie from construction alone had raised so many alarms. His objections were on record in the form of easily requested memos and reports, but it was almost like someone was setting him up to take the blame for this covert maneuver. He’d stated his objections publicly. How dumb would he have to be not to understand everyone would focus on him if he’d actually decided to leak the report? Even Ash could understand why he’d be the primary suspect.

If he never objected, everyone would assume he was the anonymous source who’d leaked the report to the governor. He checked for the journalist’s name on the story and turned to the computer to find a phone number.

Then he flipped to the next paper. Nothing. The story didn’t make the cut. “Finally. Some luck.”

When he reviewed his search results for the reporter’s contact info, Ash clicked the website link for the article and another photo of himself loaded. This time he was leaving the district office. “And I look like fifty miles of bad road.”

His uniform was wrinkled. His hat was missing. And his hair clearly exceeded the Reserve’s standards. Besides that, it might as well have been combed with a weed whacker.

Ash closed his eyes, but he could still see his own mess. “Why hasn’t the chief ranger called to rain his displeasure down? He told me to lay low and I did, but I’m still all over the front page and looking as if I slept in my uniform.” Silence from Knoxville’s district office was not a good sign.

“He called. I took a message.” Macy slowly reached over to pick up the Sweetwater paper. “You okay, boss?”

“I can tell things are serious when you call me ‘boss.’ Do I look that fragile?” Ash asked as he scrubbed his hand through his hair. From most of his staff, “boss” was an endearment. She meant it that way, too, but he preferred his name on her lips.

He didn’t really want anything putting more space between them, but the reminder of who they were, boss and important right hand, might be a gift.

When he realized he was still wearing the reading glasses, he yanked them off and tossed them in a desk drawer. He couldn’t do anything about the gray hair spreading at his temple.

“That’s what happened to your hair before they took the picture.” Macy leaned closer, the scent of magnolia and soap an easy reminder of better times. “And you don’t have to hide the glasses. They make you look...distinguished.”

“Another word for old. Distinguished.” Almost a decade older than Macy. The word twisted on his tongue. “Fits me today. These last few days have aged me at least ten years.”

“Anything I can do?” Macy asked brightly. He liked her energy, but today, she was too young, too healthy and strong. Compared to her, he felt brittle. Too little sleep. Too much time cooped up inside his small cabin with his own thoughts. A combination that was bad for him.

Ash braced his elbows on the desk and considered asking her advice on what to do to clear his name. Unless he convinced the Callaways and the chief ranger he’d had nothing to do with leaking that report, his job might be gone. His plan had made sense: get numbers, the data to show the impact of the construction and operation of the new lodge in black and white. Take the emotion out of the equation, all his family’s history. That had been his only goal. The Callaways had set aside this land and hired him to do the job of preserving. Ash had only been doing what he’d been asked to do, to request the study on the environmental impact.

But unless someone else came forward, who would believe his claims of innocence?

Macy might be able to figure out how to spin this story, so everything turned out the way it was supposed to. She did that daily with small problems. Could she help with this one?

“Don’t know what I’d do without you manning your post, Macy.” He’d meant it as nothing but a compliment. The way her face fell made him think he’d missed the mark, but she immediately straightened her shoulders and nodded. “I’ll be just outside if you need me.”

She disappeared a second before he blurted out something he would regret. What could he say?

I missed you.

A few other things came to mind, but that was what he wanted to say. Instead, he buried his head in the reports on his desk.