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"Then get out of the service," Roberta replied. "You've been in long enough to retire."
"I'm not ready to sit around twiddling my thumbs," Mario groused. He glanced out a side window
when he caught sight of movement and saw Julia dragging a sack of what looked like seed toward
where several bird feeders were hanging from iron brackets attached to a fir tree. He watched as she
opened the sack and dipped out a can of seed and filled a couple of feeder trays, but when she stood
on tiptoe and tried to dump seed into a higher tray, the tray tipped, and seeds fell in her face, so she
stopped what she was doing and looked up at the tray, like she was trying to figure out how to fill it.
She was a beautiful woman, no question, and the ironic thing was, she did look like a Barbie
doll, which was the way she'd described herself during a time when he'd sat in total darkness, with
his arm around her to offer security. She'd sat close against him, not in a romantic way, but because
she needed a warm body to remind her she wasn't alone...
"Is that the woman?" Roberta asked.
Mario realized he'd been staring at Julia. "Yeah, and she needs help with the feeders." He shoved
his chair back and stood.
"You might try smiling this time," Roberta said.
"I'm not trying to get something going with her if that's what you're suggesting," Mario snapped,
"so whatever you're thinking, you can forget."
"Don't be so touchy," Roberta said. "What you need is to socialize some while you're here, go to
the lodge and meet the guests. And you also need to get rid of the rough edges."
Mario didn't respond, his attention focused on Julia, who he couldn't seem to let go, never mind
that he was about to make an asshole out of himself again, by coming up with some lame-brained
excuse to see her, like filling bird feeders.
***
When Julia saw Mario walk out of the cabin where his sister and brother-in-law were staying
and head toward her, the sight of him set off a series of reactions she recognized, not as the lead into a
panic attack, but because he stirred things inside, the kind of things she once felt when she was with
Cole. It was good, in a way, because for years she'd felt dead inside when it came to the kind of
emotions a woman should have for the normal, male-female reasons. Mario definitely stirred those
feelings.
"You need some help?" he called out, as he walked toward her.
"My bird friends do," Julia replied. "They're waiting for dinner, and every feeder was empty, and
I'm a bird person. If you could reach the high feeders, they'd appreciate it."
Mario smiled, which took Julia back to a time that now brought mixed feelings because that same
smile was what she remembered most about him.
"Hand me the can," he said.
What caught Julia's eye as she handed Mario the can was a broad, muscular chest in a snug black
T-shirt, evident beneath his unzipped jacket. He was exceptionally fit for a man in his mid-forties,
like he must work out regularly to stay that way, or maybe his job demanded he stay fit. Whatever the
reason, she liked what she saw. She stepped back and watched as he filled the can with sunflower
seeds from the sack her grandfather brought over, and dumped the seeds into the first of three feeder
trays hanging out of her reach.
It was strange watching a man she'd once been trapped with, but had no idea what he looked like
until they began to hear noises, like rubble being moved, and a dog barking, incessant barking, and
ultimately scratching as the dog continued searching and guiding the rescue workers to where she and
Mario had been imprisoned. But once the rubble was cleared and there was an opening, Mario closed
his arm around her so she was tight against him, and crawled through an opening barely high and wide
enough to get through. Once out, he lifted her in his arms and carried her to where rescue workers had
a waiting stretcher. She had no more than five minutes to look at him before he told her goodbye, then
turned and walked away&
"That should keep them fed for a couple of days," Mario said, after filling the last feeder. He
tossed the can into the sack of birdseed, twisted the top of the sack, and hefted it onto his shoulder.
"Where do you want this?" he asked.
"Just on the porch," Julia replied. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]