Chapter 3

He stood in the door and watched her trying to brush her hair. It was obviously painful for her. But she was dressed, so he stepped into the room.

“Hey,” he said, softly.

She looked over and smiled. “You came!” she said, obviously happy.

“Let me do that,” he said. “You’re hurting yourself.”

“Okay,” she said, handing him the brush.

In return he held out his hand, upon which rested the pain pill Mindy had given him to give to her. She popped it in her mouth and swallowed.

He stroked her hair half a dozen times, looking from the hair to her eyes watching him in the mirror. He remembered what her mother had said about boys not noticing her.

“You’d look fine without brushing it anyway,” he said, his attempt at a compliment a bit clumsy.

“Yeah, right,” she said, grimacing. She reached to push her glasses up on her nose. One of the things she’d thought about more than once, and which still amazed her, was that her glasses hadn’t been knocked off her face when a whole tree fell on her.

He wanted to lean down to smell her hair. He also wanted to touch it, so he stopped. “Supper is ready,” he said.

“I know, I can smell it,” she said, taking the brush and laying it on the dressing table. She stood, and winced.

It was instinct to offer her his arm. She took it and pulled it close against her body. He could feel the heat of her breast against his upper arm, and realized she probably wasn’t wearing a bra. The breast rubbed against his arm as they walked, her shuffling, and him limping, to the kitchen.

The meal was more relaxed than either of the adults expected it to be. From Mindy’s perspective, the way he dug in was an obvious compliment to her cooking. Either that, or he was starving. But she didn’t get that impression from looking at him. He was wiry, but not thin.

As for Bobby, this was a bittersweet kind of situation. He missed good meals with good people. These people just ate, and didn’t chatter inanely about this or that. He knew that, when he was back home, people pitied him and constantly tried to engage him in conversation about things, thinking that’s what he needed to feel normal. But it was that very pity that drove him away from them. He didn’t need their pity. He knew they couldn’t understand what had happened to him ... would never be able to fully understand what had happened to him. He didn’t expect them to. All he wanted was to just be himself ... however that turned out to be. He knew he had some neuroses. He knew he didn’t have to patrol the forest. There were no enemies waiting for him out there, no IEDs, no booby traps. But it made him feel better to know what was ... and was not ... out there.

These two women didn’t treat him like the others. They didn’t moan over him, and offer to do things for him, like he was an invalid. It was quiet, here. The food was good.

For the first time in a long time, he liked sitting with other human beings.

Somehow, he knew that was important ... and that coming here had made his life a little better.

“My bow!” squealed Jennifer as she got up to take her dishes to the sink, and noticed the bow in the corner for the first time. She shoved the dishes onto the counter and went to pick up her weapon. The pain pill seemed to work like magic, and there was no pain as she bent to lift her things. She inspected them for damage. The strap to the quiver was torn in half, but that was all she saw. She turned. “You didn’t have to go find them so fast.”

“I didn’t think the dew would be good for the string,” said Bobby.

“I watched them pull a six inch spike of wood out of his leg,” said Mindy, casually. “And he still went out in the woods and found your bow. You’re going to have to do something nice for him in return.”

“Six inches?!” said the girl, unbelieving.

“It was probably closer to four,” said Bobby, frowning at Mindy.

“That’s still as long as a knife blade!” said Jennifer.

“Not my knife blade,” countered Bobby.

“Oh, quit being a big, tough guy and just let me thank you,” complained Jennifer. She went to him and hugged him, her bow in one hand, and the quiver full of arrows in the other. She kissed his cheek. “Thank you,” she said.

“You’re welcome,” he replied, but he didn’t hug her back.

She didn’t seem to notice, and backed away.

“I was afraid I’d never see them again,” she said.

“Why?”

“I didn’t know where they were. I was just out walking in the woods and heard your saw going, so I went that way. I would never have been able to find them again.”

“Nonsense,” said Bobby. “I’ve seen you in the woods. You know them well. Besides, there’s a big, honking fallen down tree right there. You could have found it easily.”

“I’d have had to trespass to get them back,” she pointed out, putting way too much emphasis on that word.

He smiled. “I suppose I don’t mind giving you permission to cross my land ... occasionally.”

“And I suppose I don’t mind letting you spy on us from time to time,” she teased.

“I beg your pardon?” asked Mindy. “And what’s this about you seeing her in the woods enough to know she knows her way around. I wasn’t aware you two met until today.”

“We didn’t,” said Jennifer. “I decided I wanted to see what The Hermit looked like, and went over there. He knew who I was ... who you were too.” She looked at The Hermit, as if handing the explanation off to him.

“I sort of patrol the woods,” he said. “It’s part of my...” He seemed uncomfortable, suddenly. “It’s just something I do. So I have seen the two of you a few times. But I never came on your property.”

“How would you know where our property lines are?” asked Mindy, her voice tight, and her face showing some unhappiness.

“I guess I don’t,” he admitted. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

“I didn’t say I don’t want you on our property,” said Mindy. “I only wish you’d stopped by before this and told us you might be around.”

“I couldn’t,” he objected. She stood, looking at him. “I don’t talk to people ... much,” he ended lamely.

“If I’d have known there was a man lurking in the woods outside the house, I wouldn’t have gone around naked so often,” she said, watching his face closely.

“Mom!” squealed Jennifer. “You do-”

“Be quiet!” snapped her mother, cutting her off. But she didn’t look at Jennifer. She was still watching Bobby’s face. What she saw was surprise, rather than confirmation that he’d been caught, peeping.

“I never came up to the windows,” he objected. “Honest. And I never saw anything other than the two of you going in or out of the house. I don’t peek at women!”

“I know,” she said. “Now,” she added. “But I had to test you to be sure. We would love to have you as a friend, but maybe not if you’re a peeping Tom.”

“She never goes around naked,” said Jennifer. “I do, but not Mom.”

Bobby’s eyes rattled in his head this time, and he turned red and looked everywhere except at Jennifer. Mindy wanted to laugh, but did not. She’d been hard enough on him as it was. She had never suspected him of anything other than honorable behavior, because the only behavior she had ever seen of his was honorable. When she’d sent him to wake Jennifer up, he had been back within thirty seconds. Most men would have stayed ... and looked. There had been plenty to see. And this man had seen that more than once, by now. But he hadn’t stayed and looked. He had come back and told Mindy something he didn’t have to tell her.

“Seeing you is one thing,” said Mindy. “You’re young and beautiful. I’m old and wrinkly.”

“No you’re not,” said Bobby. He looked stunned, and everybody in the room realized it had just come out, unplanned.

This time Mindy did laugh. “Thank you! What a lovely compliment. You give all the women in this family nice compliments. You, my fine sir, are welcome in this house any time.”

“Mom!” This time it was a clear rebuke, and it was Jennifer who was blushing as she remembered the look on his face when he told her she was pretty. It had made her feel very good. Very good.

“People get tired of me after a while,” he said, again without thinking. It wasn’t a ploy to get pity or sympathy. It was just the truth.

“We’ll let you know when you wear out your welcome,” said Mindy.

There was chocolate pie and ice cream for dessert, and Mindy served it to them in the living room. As they ate, she told him a little about them, and coaxed a bit of information from him as well. It wasn’t much. He told them where he was from, and that he had gone into the Marines after high school. He explained that the property he lived on was his uncle’s, and that he was just the caretaker.

“Are all those books his?” asked Mindy.

“No. Every once in a while I go down to Rapid City to the used bookstores there, and load up. I do a lot of reading, especially in the winter.”

“I can imagine,” said Mindy. “And you’ve been here... ?”

“Ten years,” he said.

“You came about the same time we did,” she said. “I bought this place at an auction. The only reason I could get the loan was because the bank was one of my clients. The place was a mess when we got it. It had been used as a summer residence, and had been let get run down. The first winter we were here, the pipes froze and we almost did too.”

“You did a good job of fixing it up,” he said, looking around.

“Had to,” she said. “There was nobody else to fix it up for me.” Her smile was a wan offering to a kindred spirit. Both of them had chosen to remain “alone,” and shared some of the same emotions and experiences that resulted from that decision.

“Know what you mean,” he offered in response. “I have to say, though, I sure am glad Jennifer was there when that tree came down. Even if she stabbed me as she rolled it off of me.”

“Wait!” said Jennifer. “You mean I’m the one who hurt you?” She sounded horrified.

“It wasn’t your fault,” he said. “You had to get that trunk off of me. If you’d have rolled it the other way it would have crushed my head.”

“I was trying to help you, not hurt you,” she wailed.

“I’m more than willing to suffer the latter, to have you there for the former,” he said.

“Like I said, Dear,” said Mindy. “You’re going to have to do something nice for him.”

A week passed, and then another, and no more was seen of The Hermit. Neither Mindy nor Jennifer told anyone what had happened. In a way, he was their little secret, and what had happened between them was nobody else’s business.

It was early June, so Jennifer didn’t have to go to school. Her mother was there to put the ointment on her scar four times a day. The only problem was that Jennifer got bored, because she was confined to the house.

She did exercises, taking a page from The Hermit’s book about exercise helping things heal. Slowly, as she continued twisting and moving and bending, she got to the point where pulling at the skin on her back didn’t hurt so badly. Eventually, “pain” wasn’t the right word any more. It was stiff, and pulled when she moved. She was constantly aware of it, but she no longer winced as her body got back its normal range of motion.

The time for her appointment came and she went to see Doctor Zimmerman, who had her take off her shirt. She felt weird, being topless in front of a man, but he paid no attention to her breasts at all, spending all his time peering at her back. His finger traced the line of his work and she shivered.

“Looks good,” he pronounced. “I think we got all the foreign matter out of the wound.”

“I was sure you had,” said her mother, who had been sitting in a chair against one wall. She’d put lotion on the wounds for weeks, and knew them like she knew the lines on her own palm.

The doctor handed Jennifer her blouse. “So ... have you told The Hermit yet that you’re going to marry him?”

There was a long silence in the room. Then Jennifer said, “What?” in a confused voice.

“You don’t remember? I’m not surprised,” he said. “It was something you said while you were going under the anesthetic. People often don’t remember such things.”

“What did I say?” Now Jennifer sounded worried.

The doctor chuckled. “You were talking about how you saved his life, and how he took care of you, and then you said you were going to marry him some day.”

Her mother laughed out loud, and Jennifer shot her a venomous look.

“You didn’t tell him that ... did you?” she asked Doctor Zimmerman, worry in her voice.

“Of course not,” he said, smiling. “That’s privileged medical information. Doctor patient confidentiality and all that.”

Mindy laughed even harder and then gasped out her apologies to her daughter.

On the way home, Jennifer chastised her mother for the laughter.

“I know,” said Mindy. “I shouldn’t have laughed. And I wasn’t laughing at you. I was imagining his face, while you told him that, and it seemed so comical I had to laugh.”

“Well I’m not telling him that!” barked Jennifer.

“I know, Sweetheart,” said her mother. A mile or two went by. “You could do a lot worse, come to think of it,” said Mindy. “Maybe you should tell him.”

And then she laughed some more, reaching over to poke her daughter until Jennifer started laughing with her.

That incident reminded Mindy that she had promised Doctor Foster she would make sure Bobby went to his checkup. So instead of driving home, she steered the car to the turnoff to the long winding driveway that led to the A-frame.

“Mom!” said Jennifer, sounding worried. “Don’t you dare!”

“I’m not going to tell him about your undying affection, and matrimonial plans for him,” giggled Mindy. “I just need to make sure he went for his checkup, like you just did for yours.”

“Oh,” said the girl. “Okay then.”

“But you can tell him while we’re here!” said Mindy brightly.

Then she laughed again. But she laughed alone this time.

There was no indication anybody was around when they pulled up in front of the house. The garage was closed up. When she turned the car off and opened her door, Mindy heard the same forest sounds that surrounded their own home. She loved those sounds. It was one reason she had told herself she would never leave the mountains. She stood, just breathing in the fresh air as Jennifer got out of the car. She was still a bit slow moving around. Her scars were both thick and stiff, which was why it was so important that the special cream be massaged into them.

“I’m surprised he doesn’t have a dog,” said Mindy.

“Me too,” said Jennifer.

Bobby stepped from behind a big Walnut tree that had screened his approach from both women.

“Hey,” he said, his voice neither soft nor loud. Both women jumped.

“Good Lord,” gasped Mindy. “Don’t sneak up on us like that!”

“Don’t trespass and I won’t,” he said, his voice reasonable. Then, as he saw both of them react negatively to that, he held up a hand. “Kidding,” he said. He frowned. “You know that’s the first time I’ve used that word in probably ten years?” He shrugged. “So ... what’s up?”

“We just got back from Jennifer’s checkup with the surgeon, and he says she’s doing wonderfully.”

“That’s great,” said Bobby.

“And I thought I’d come trespass, spy and be nosy and ask what Doctor Foster said during your follow-up appointment.”

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