The Forest Ranger's Return

Chapter Three

At 5:33 the next morning, Julie flipped off the kitchen light and stepped out onto her front porch. Hazy sunlight filtered past her neighbors’ dew-laden lawns. She breathed deep of the crisp air and shivered, wondering if she’d need a jacket for her daily jog. She decided no, that her exercise would soon make her hot and the breeze would cool her off.

Looking up, she froze.

Dal Savatch stood leaning against a tall cottonwood on the opposite side of her white picket fence. Dressed like her in runner’s shoes and shorts, he rested his weight on his good leg. With his arms folded, his large biceps stretched his gray T-shirt tight. Even as a teenager, he’d been well built, with muscles any girl would admire. But the fully grown man he’d become almost made Julie drool.

As the screen door clapped closed behind her, he lifted his head. Even from this distance, she could feel his penetrating stare like a physical blow. Lowering his arms, he stepped away from the tree. He paused at the gate, not entering the perimeter of her yard, but waiting for her to come down the front steps and join him.

“It’s a bit early for a visit. What are you doing here?” she asked, trying not to sound curt.

“Waiting for you. Remember, I promised to run with you.”

“You don’t need to do that, Dal. It’s a long distance out of your way.” Yes, she remembered his promise, but she hadn’t expected him to keep it. Not really.

“I want to.” He blinked, as though embarrassed by his admission.

He reached over and lifted the latch before pushing the gate open for her.

“Thanks.” She stepped onto the sidewalk.

His gentlemanly manners reminded her of the conscientious boy he’d always been. When other boys had paid their girlfriends little mind, Dal had rushed ahead to open doors for her, had brought her yellow roses from his mother’s flower garden, had said please and thank-you. In high school, Julie had been the envy of every other girl. Because she’d had Dal.

“So how long have you been waiting here?” She walked to the tree he’d vacated and braced her hands against the coarse trunk before stretching her calf muscles. Trying to appear unaffected by his presence.

“Not long,” he said.

“You could have come inside the house.”

“No, I didn’t want to intrude until you were ready to go.”

But what did he want? And why did his presence unnerve her so much?

“How far do you usually run?” She made small talk, avoiding the real questions pounding in her brain. Thank goodness he didn’t remember her and their whispered promises to each other twenty years earlier. Part of her longed for him to recognize her. The part that still cared for him and wished he felt the same.

Puppy love, her mom had called it before she’d died. But Julie had never felt anything so real before or since.

“I usually run six miles. And you?” Taking a position on the opposite side of the tree, he braced his left hand against the trunk, then bent the knee of his good leg up toward his back and caught the ankle with his right hand. He tugged gently to stretch out his quadriceps.

“Usually five miles. I don’t have time for more,” she said.

A whoosh of air escaped his lips as he released his leg. “Then we’ll run five today. Do you have some preferred routes you usually take?”

She nodded, pressing her left arm across the front of her body and holding it for the count of ten. “I measured the distance with my car’s odometer the first week I arrived in town. Because of my move to Stokely, I wasn’t able to run for a couple of weeks. I was eager to get back to it...and then I hurt my ankle.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Exercise is addictive. I get antsy whenever I miss a day or two,” he said.

So much for small chat. She kept warming up, concentrating on her movements, trying to think of something more intelligent to say. But maybe it was best if they stuck to the trivial stuff.

“I told Cade and Lyn about our plans to view Gilway Trail on Friday. They’re excited about this project. So am I,” he said.

“Good. Me, too.” And she meant it. The thought of doing something positive to help the amputee kids at Sunrise Ranch gave her a good feeling inside. As if her life’s work meant something important, even though she had no family to share it with.

She finished her warm-up routine and stood watching him.

“Shall we?” He indicated the black asphalt.

With a nod, she stepped off the curb and ran down the side of the street. He followed, keeping pace beside her.

At the corner, she looked both ways, then crossed the street and headed outside of town. Her body felt jittery, wanting to run faster than normal. She made a conscious effort to hold to her usual pace. Dal adjusted easily, his steady breathing a comforting sound beside her.

They didn’t speak much until they reached the turnoff to Sunrise Ranch. Without breaking stride, Dal pointed toward the mountains on the south side. “That’s the trailhead at Gilway.”

“Okay, we’ll take a closer look on Friday.” As they reached the dirt road, she pointed at a yield sign. “This is my two-and-a-half-mile marker. Time for me to turn back.”

He nodded and went with her.

“You don’t have to return with me, Dal. You’ve probably already gotten in more than six miles today.”

“I don’t mind.”

He kept running, and she had no choice but to keep up.

“You always were so persistent,” she said.

He jerked his head toward her, his eyes narrowed slightly. “How would you know that?”

Her face heated up like road flares. Without thinking, she’d given herself away. She’d never been much good at pretending and she detested keeping secrets, with good reason. Something she’d been forced to do for eight months when she’d been barely sixteen years old. Until her social worker had figured things out and yanked Julie out of a horrible foster home. But not before her foster dad had hurt her and destroyed her faith in humanity.

Dal stopped dead in the middle of the road and lifted his hands to his hips. He looked at her, a mix of anger and relief covering his face. “Don’t you think it’s time we both stop pretending we don’t remember each other?”

She released a gasp of air and came to a standstill. “I’m sorry, Dal. I—I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to move on. I just didn’t think it mattered anymore.”

“Well, it does. And I’ve still got some questions you may not want to answer.”

Her mind raced as she tried to slow her heavy breathing. Those old feelings of dread and fear seeped through every pore in her body. Like a caged and wounded tiger faced by a hunter carrying a loaded rifle. “Like what?”

“Like why you stopped writing me. And why you wouldn’t return my phone calls. What happened, Julie? You just disappeared off the face of the earth. Why did you abandon me?”

Her gaze clashed, then locked with his. In his eyes, she saw all the anguish she’d caused him. All the pain she herself felt inside. “I never meant to hurt you, Dal. Please believe I didn’t have a choice. Not really.”

“No choice?” His voice escalated, betraying his anger. “You cut off all communication with me. Without any justification at all. Why?”

“I had my reasons. That’s all I can say.”

“You owe me an explanation, Julie. We didn’t even break up.”

“I thought it was for the best. We were living in separate towns by then and rarely saw each other.”