Waiting For Eden (Eden Series) (19 page)

“Oh, poor baby,” she crooned low in her throat.  When she allowed her hips to brush his groin, she felt him tighten his fingers on her back, and the tips twitch against the small of it, as if preparing to drop lower and explore her bottom. 

She shimmied against him, and dropped lower.  Then she turned around and had the gall to bump her ass against him.  He grabbed her by the hips and rocked with
her. 

“Quit being such a prude and dance, Jamie,” she goaded. “Try being neighborly.”

“Yeah sure, but why don’t you look around for a second.”

Alex glanced over her shoulder and saw t
heir dirty dancing was gaining them a lot of curious looks now.  Damn it to hell.  She closed her eyes briefly, already flushed from the beer and his closeness, and gathered her wits.

She attempted to push away from him again, but he held her hips firmly
.  “If you don’t knock off your damned teasing, I’m going to kiss you in front of everyone.  Hard, long, and with no room for argument.  And believe me, it won’t end there, Alex.”

She glanced up at him uncertainly.  The love song trailed away, and a thumping dance beat hopped up the pace.

Alex laughed nervously.  “Saved by the bell.”

Jamie took her elbow firmly and led her toward the booth,
his mouth drawn in a frown.

Aaron watched their approach
, and made a disgusted sound in his throat.

“What’s up with them?”  Ginny questioned.

“They’re in love and don’t even know it,” he muttered, “They’re too damned busy trying to get one up on each other all the time.  It’s truly sickening. They’re complete opposites.  All wrong.”

Alex noticed that Ginny was perched on Mouse’s lap this time around, and a wide grin was evident on the big man’s face.  Aaron appeared to be sulking.

“This guy is like a big teddy bear,” Ginny announced, giving Mouse a hard hug and a kiss on the cheek.  At Alex’s raised eyebrows, she added, “Don’t worry, I’m not hitting on him.  He’s my cousin.”

Mouse stood up, lifting Ginny with him like she was made of feathers.

“Hey, Hee-Man!”

He set her down gently, chuckling.  “I haf dish-es, Gin-nee.”  With a wave, he disappeared into the kitchen.

“Jack-of-all-trades,” Jamie responded to Alex’s surprised look.  “Actually, his Pop owns half the restaurant.  Mouse gets saddled with a lot of the dirty work.”

“Poor guy.”

“His Pop’s not the ideal fatherly sort,” Aaron added with a frown.  “Treats him like he’s completely worthless.”

Ginny laid her long, red fingernails on Aaron’s shoulder.  “All right, young buck, time to show me your moves.”  She gestured to the dance floor.  “I gotta burn off some calories.”

“I thought you’d never ask.”  They moved away into the dancing crowd, leaving Jamie and Alex to stare uncertainly at one another.

“Have a seat,” he murmured with a grin, and Alex slid into the booth.  Jamie sat opposite from her, and she breathed a sigh of relief.  Mentally, she still struggled to shake off the lingering feeling of the intimate slow dance, and the impact
that it had on her.  Her own teasing had left an impact on her senses with which she hadn’t even begun to contend.

“So what have you been up to lately
, James?”  She managed shakily to break the awkwardness.  Alex found two mugs, and poured them each a beer.

“
Well.”  He blew out a breath in an attempt to switch gears.

“
It was a hectic week, to say the least.  I’m involved in a fairly big project that’s really gaining impetus at the moment, plus the farm work is no easy ride during the summer months.”

“What kind of project?”

“It involves something called a biomass plantation... a reproduction of hardwoods and all that.”  He took a swig of lager and glanced out over the dance floor, watching his brother mince around beneath Ginny’s wild undulations.  He caught the young blonde glaring at him from an alcove near the bar, and quickly looked away.

“Go on,” Alex prodded.

“You’re really interested?” 

He looked pointedly into her hazel eyes, and
she grinned with amusement.  “I wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t,” she chastised.

Jamie
chuckled.  “I received a grant from Cornell University last year to begin work on the re-vegetation of disturbed lands.  I found the perfect area on an old, reclaimed strip mine from years ago.  The soils had been damaged by acid and erosion to some degree, so the study is really dealing with remediation.  I’m working with genetics and breeding issues best suited for disturbed areas.”

She took a sip and looked at him over the rim of her mug.  He ran a hand through his sandy hair, and his blue eyes were suddenly thoughtful.  The project was on his mind.  Forester, farmer,
and
scientist, she wondered.  And he still found time for his friends and family.  Why was this man not married?

“This all sounds fairly complicated,” she observed, bringing him out of his reverie.

“Terribly so,” he agreed with a laugh.  “It’s difficult to keep track and analyze all the different parameters - stream flow fluctuation, erosion, plant diversity, vegetative growth measurements, and the impact of animal life. I could really use about twenty research assistants.”

She shook her head.  “Sounds like it.  Plus
, you have all your normal forestry duties, right?”

“Right.”

“How is it that the state allows for your time in this project?”

“Oh, the state and Cornell are working together, believe it or not.  It’s tricky
- Cornell granting money for studies in Pennsylvania, which was difficult for me to finagle.  But I had some connections, and the state snapped up the opportunity.”

“Did you attend Cornell?”

He nodded.  “For my graduate degree.  Forest Biology.  I got my undergrad at Penn State.”

Alex stared at him.  There was always something new and unusual to learn about Jamie She
ldon.  “And yet you’re here... Nowhere, PA.”

“Wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

She laughed.  “It does have a certain charm, I have to admit.”

He sat back, heaving an exaggerated sigh of relief.  “Finally, the lady confesses.”

Smiling, Alex glanced at her watch. “Wow.  It’s one o’-clock.”

“Getting late. 
So what are your plans for tomorrow?”

“Oh, work of course.  What’s new, huh?  But I’ve
got
to give Bold Venture some exercise.  He’s ready to explode,” she explained.

“
Well, I have to check a few stream flow measurements tomorrow afternoon.  I’d actually prefer to ride in, if you’d like to go along.”

Alex
hesitated, and thought briefly of refusing his offer, due to the long list of cons that went off like bells in her brain.  It just didn’t work. 

“I think I would,” she grinned slowly, “and I know Bold would love it.”

“Great.”  Jamie stood, stretching.  “I’m actually pretty beat.  I have to deliver a load of hay first thing in the morning.  If I don’t get some sleep, I’ll be taking cat naps on horseback tomorrow afternoon.  Head lolling, drooling, and all.  I’d be boring company.”

Alex looked at the lean, muscled body standing in front of her, and remembered his heat,
and his hardness, when she so brazenly pressed herself into him.  “I don’t think so,” she mumbled without thinking.  He gave her a funny look.

“How are your mares doing?”

“What?”

“Your broodmares?”

“Oh.  Great, actually.  Echo is definitely pregnant; the vet confirmed it this morning.  I won’t know about the other for a couple days.”

He was staring at her intently, and she felt heat rising to her cheeks.  They both were remembering what had happened after the breeding.

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”  He broke the contact of their eyes, and headed for the dance floor to disentangle his brother from Ginny’s lusty grip.

Alex looked down into her mug.  Bubbles gone, the brew
looked flat and tasteless.  
Tomorrow.
  Her stomach churned instinctively, knowing she was headed for trouble with James Sheldon, yet again. 

But
for some reason, she was beginning to crave that certain kind of trouble.

~~~~~~~~

The silence in the truck’s interior was thick and oppressing.  Jamie rolled down his window an additional inch, but the extra lift of night air was not much relief.  He sighed.  “It’s real humid out there.  Summer’s got her hooks into the mountains now.”

Aaron issued a noncommittal grunt and stared out
of his window.

“All right.  Out with it little brother.”

“Out with what, the same old same old?  Like...my big brother’s a tool?”

“And I’m sure you’ll hold that opinion until your dying day.  No use trying to change it.”  Jamie struggled to keep his voice casual, but the undercurrent of irritation was unmistakable.

“Yeah, well.”

Jamie thumped his hands on the steering wheel in exasperation.  The truck swerved slightly, and then returned to his command.  “Look, your concern for my welfare is touching.  But as I’ve always said, mind your own goddamn affairs.  I know they’re plenty in number.”

Aaron laughed shortly.  “Yeah, I had a hell of a role model.”

Feeling the tightness
increase along his jaw line, Jamie gripped the steering wheel, and struggled to keep driving in something resembling a straight line.  He held himself silent, and waited. 
Aaron would never drop it
, he thought spitefully,
and I’ll be damned if I’ll feed him and opening.

The minutes drifted by and they neared the farm.  Aaron shifted in his seat.  “You know, I kind of like Alex.  She’s got city ways, but my bug’s
really not with her.”

“Of course not, it’s with me,” Jamie added dryly.

“You’re damn right!  Did you take my advice about Tracey?  No.”

“Actually, I did, little brother.”

Aaron stared.  “Repeat that.”

“We... had it out, I guess you’d say.  Earlier this evening, as a matter of fact.”  A giant
luna moth hit the windshield and fluttered there before being sucked away into the smothering forest around them.  It was beautiful, a transient glow as it whirled away swiftly into the blackness. 

“So what happened?” Aaron prodded.

“Tracy reacted how Tracey always reacts.  Scream, curse, cry... I got the full gambit.”

Aaron looked away guiltily.  “Sorry, Jamie.  I know how that is.”

“Yeah.”  He managed a laugh.  “Anyway, she took off, to her old man’s she said.  Until Monday morning.  She has an afternoon shift then.”

Aaron
sighed, but said nothing more as they pulled into the driveway.  Jamie knew what he was thinking.  Tracey’s father would provide no support, no shoulder to cry on.  A maintenance man at the cement factory in Roulette, he was a habitual after-work drinker.  When scotch flowed freely through his veins, he tended to use his fists first and his head later. 

Oh, he always apologized, even cried at times for forgiveness, but the end result was always the same.  It happened again and again.  It tore Jamie’s heart out.
  And obviously, Aaron’s too.

Attempting to force a light tone into his voice, Jamie added, “Maybe she’ll be ready to talk
without screaming when she gets back.  Anyway, I intend to enjoy the weekend, and not think on it overmuch.”

Jamie parked the car and they headed for the back door.  The house was silent and dark but for a light off
of the back porch and a soft glow from the kitchen.  A mother’s touch. 

“It’s a no win situation,” Aaron mumbled, shoving his hands into
his pockets.  “But if she won’t go back to rehab, I think she’s about done for.  She’s gonna hit bottom.  I guess have to realize that too. And I gotta stop thinking you’re to blame.”

“Thanks Aaron.”  Jamie
gave his brother a sidelong glance.  “I just wish that was entirely true.”  He closed the door to the night behind them.

Waiting for Eden

~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter 15

Alex flicked off the radio with a smile on her face
.  It was going to be an ideal summer day.  High of 83 degrees and plenty of sunshine.  The humidity was still up above normal, bordering on the unpleasant, but the shade of the rustling trees that blanketed the mountain would surely give off their own brand of sweet relief.

She went back to packing her saddle bags.  Sandwiches, chips, sodas, oranges.
.. what else?  She thought of bug spray and a first aid kit, but figured Jamie, certified forester that he was, would have those items on hand himself.  Hefting the bags to her shoulder, she locked the front door and headed for the barn.

The interior was cool and quiet.  She had let the others out in the pasture for the night, as relief from the heat and pesky biting insects.  In fact, they hadn’t even wanted to come in for breakfast this morning, so she had allowed them to
stay out in the pasture for the night, happily munching the thick, tender grasses. 

Bold Venture, being a stallion and thus an outcast from the others, had been sacrificed to remain inside.  If turned out with the other geldings and mares, trouble
was sure to ensue in the form of well-aimed kicks or bites, and the litany of squeals and neighs throughout the entire night.

He heard her footsteps and whinnied.  “Coming, Big Man.”   Alex led him to the crossties and picked up a brush.  She had made the time to give him a bath yesterday afternoon, and after whisking away the soft woodchips clinging to his skin, his coat gleamed an extraordinary burnished gold.  Alex stepped back to admire him.  The four white socks that graced his long legs and the slender blaze that ran down his face only accentuated the brilliant hue. 

“You are some handsome hunk of male,” she murmured appreciatively.

“Why, thank you kindly,” a male voice drawled. 

She whirled.  “Jamie!  I didn’t hear you ride up.”

He gestured over his shoulder.  “Lilah’s tied outside.  I taught her to walk like an Indian.”

“Yeah right.”  She laughed, and headed for the tack room.  “Let me throw a saddle on Bold, and we can be on our way.”

“No problem.”  Jamie walked over to the stallion and brushed his fingers down the muscled neck.  “You
are
a looker though, fella.  Would you like a try at my Lilah?”  Alex reappeared and he flashed her a smile.  “I think they’d make a good match.”

His eyes were like the ocean today, turbulent yet ever so blue.  “I think you’re quite right about that, and you’d get an amazing foal off of her,” she retu
rned and focused her attention to the task at hand. 

Jamie tickled the stallion’s ears, and brushed the soft muzzle.  Bold sighed contentedly.  “Hey, he likes my touch.”  He grinned at Alex devilishly.  “Usually, a soft caress only works with the ladies.”

Alex swallowed a rising curse, realizing that her good humor was drowning in the familiar swamp of nervous anxiety that suddenly plagued her.  Why did this keep happening to her? 

Last night, they had parted as friends, chatting about their lives, the tense moments on the dance floor put behind them.  But not forgotten, she realized, feeling the tension take its grip in the back of her neck, in the slight tremor of her fingers.  She prayed that Jamie wouldn’t notice, and that she could get through the day without making an ass out of herself, as she was so apt to do
in his presence.

But
apparently, Jamie had noticed.  “That was a joke, Alex.”

She didn’t reply.  When she finished readying the stallion, he gripped her forearm, forcing her to turn to him.

“What?”  There was a snap to her voice that she regretted, as he recoiled slightly.

“I just thought I should make something clear before we left.”

She bit her lip and worked to pry his fingers from her arm. 

He dropped his hand and scowled.  “Look, I’m sorry about last night, Alex.  I just wanted you to know that it won’t happen again.  I didn’t invite you along today to make a pass or anything.  I just wanted some company and thought you might be interested.  Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Friends?” 

He extended his hand and she took it gingerly.  “Friends,” she mumbled grudgingly, wondering why she felt a sliver of disappointment at the notion.  Jamie left to get Lilah.  She went over the saddle bags a final time, adjusting the strap a quarter of an inch, mainly to give herself a moment before she joined him.

“Conceit,” she whispered, scolding herself.  “You expected him to make a pass at you today. Wanted him to, in fact.  You were just scared to face it.”  She was
slightly humiliated to realize that it actually hurt knowing that he had no intention of doing so.  Alex gritted her teeth and led the stallion from the barn.

It was impossible to hold onto doubt and misgiving for long.  The morning simply swept it away on crystalline wings, the sky above was liquid and flowing, crested by the occasional whisp
ering cloud. As the air still lacked the heat of mid-day, the horses were justifiably frisky, transmitting exuberance physically into their riders.  The pace was fast and furious initially, until all were breathless and sheened with sweat. 

Jamie pulled
Lilah up first.  “Hey, we have to save some energy to get back down, you know.”

Al
ex laughed.  “Bold’s energy is boundless.”

“Well, we’re almost at the site, anyway.  It’s over this next ridge-top.”  They ambled along at a walk, letting the horses catch their breath, and
catching their own as well. 

Alex began to absorb her surroundings, which
, before, had sped by as a blur of green and brown.  Ferns waved nodding heads everywhere, contrasting beds of emerald next to the quiet brown of heavy pine needles.  Evergreens were slowly gaining dominance over the hardwoods, and the small foot trail they rode upon was blanketed with a soft film of dead needles.  They moved silently now, with only the whisper of ferns against the horses’ legs as the trail grew narrow.

“This path isn’t used much, is it?” Alex inquired.

“No, not often.  There’s a faster way in using old logging roads.  When I’m carrying equipment up, I use an ATV or a four wheel drive pickup.  I seldom have the time to ride in.”

They soon passed over the steep ridge, which Jamie informed her was Brodhead Mountain, leaving the horses laboring from the incline even at a walk.  The apex was relatively narrow in width, and they soon crossed it and headed down the other
side, of which, Alex noted thankfully, was not nearly as steep as the upslope. 

All around were gnarled evergreens, packed tightly together in long, straight rows that led down the ridge.  As they rode into their depths, the light grew dimmer.

“Were these planted here?”

“Yes, this is a
n Austrian pine plantation.  This area was strip mined in the sixties, and these pines were the typical reclamation process in those days.  I’m using this particular area as a control for the project.” 

The pines made it, and grew,
” Jamie continued, “but there is basically no plant diversity here at all, which makes for poor habitat for wildlife or other native species to populate the area.  Even though there are trees here, it’s actually a pretty barren landscape.”

Jamie made a sudden sharp left, cutting across the neat rows of pines.  Alex had to duck several times as scraggly branches made darting passes at her face.  “Hey, I don’t think this is a trail anymore!”

“We’re almost there.  Hold your horses,” he laughed, “literally.”

Alex chuckled, and then swiftly they were again in the light and open.  A small headwater stream trickled its way down the mountain through a steep and stony channel.

Jamie motioned to the stream.  “This is Bright Run.  The spring that feeds it starts up on top of the ridge we just came over.  It eventually joins a few other headwaters that empty into Kettle Creek.”

“Kettle Creek.”  Alex rolled the name on her tongue.  “That sounds familiar,” she commented, struggling to pull the stiff remains of pine twigs from her hair.

“You must have crossed it near Ole Bull State Park on your hike.  Kettle Creek has a lot of history, a lot of local lore, starting way back with the Native Americans who settled there.  There’s a book written on strange happenings in this whole general area in which we’re riding.  The original settlers called it the Black Forest.”

“Ghost stories?”

“You bet.  Remind me to tell you the story of the Twin Sisters when we it starts to get dark.”  He grinned and dismounted, leading Lilah to the stream to drink. 

Alex followed his example, with
Bold pulling at the reins in his eagerness.  “Twin sisters?”

“Native American tales.  This area is rich with that kind of history.  Those Susquehannock sisters have an entire ridge named after them.”

“Hey, why is the stream orange?” she questioned as Lilah thrust her nose in to pull long swallows from the water.

“Iron
leachate.  From earlier acid mine drainage.”

Reflexively, Alex tugged
Bold’s head away from the water’s edge.  The animal pawed at the bank and pulled back defiantly.

“It’s safe,” Jamie grinned, “the pH is finally coming back toward normal and the stream is supporting invertebrate organisms again.  I’m going to release some fish before long, see how they manage.”

Alex noticed a flume-shaped, wooden structure farther down the stream.  She pointed at it questioningly.

“That’s for stream flow measurements.  The main reason I needed to be up here today was to check the data.  I’ve got a solid base flow hydrograph going, you know, a chart of stream flow levels over time.  I’m anxious to get a good storm, and see how the stream responds.”

“And this is all part of your plantation project?”

“The impact on the surrounding watershed is a big part of it.  You see, the older style of strip mining was not... kind to the environment, you could say.  The under
layers of overburden, mine spoil, all that nasty stuff was mixed in with the topsoil.  The soils ended up being totally degraded... with leaching of iron pyrites, leading to acidic soils, acidic waters.  It’s kind of like a snowball effect after that.”

Jamie glanced at her
quickly, obviously expecting to find boredom on her face, but she nodded for him to continue.

“My study focuses on reclamation: a traditional plantation of one species, like those Austrian pines we came through, versus integrated stands of various species, more like the natural surrounding forest community.”

“Well that makes sense.”  She followed him down the stream toward the flume. There were different plantings all around, some small and scrubby, some hardwood saplings that she couldn’t quite recognize. And there were some areas of bare, pebbly soil, stained orange and brown, where nothing grew at all.

“The traditional plantations grow fast and are easy to harvest, if the soil’s not
too
bad, that is.  It’s the quickest way to make money on degraded land.  But I think the long term benefits of a more natural ecosystem will prove more profitable in the end.  The trees will be of greater harvesting value, erosion will be reduced, there’ll be less disease, an increase in infiltration to the groundwater supply, and high quality surface water will be provided to the drinking water reservoirs downstream.”

“This stream leads into drinking water?” she asked dubiously, eyeing the orange-gold flow.

“Yep.”  He knelt to take a reading beside the flume.

“This will take quite a long time until you have results, don’t you think?”

He sighed.  “Yes and no.  I’m seeing some results already, especially in the area of water quality, but the trees themselves will take a good amount of time to grow.  I don’t know how long the grant money will hold out.”

Alex perched on a log, resting her legs.  Birds seemed to be everywhere at once, dipping, soaring, chattering.  “The birds seem to like it,” she observed.

“Species diversity is a big part of the study too.  Both plant and animal.”

“
Aah.”  She took a swig from her water jug.  The open area seemed dry and hot, she could envision it being mined.  “So how do they do this strip mining in the first place?”

Jamie was scribbling on a chart taken from a locked metal box beside the flume.

He glanced up, and squinted.  “Well, to generalize it, traditional strip mining removed the topsoil and subsoil with large equipment, and then they blasted with dynamite until the underlying coal seam was exposed.  The coal itself was removed with smaller equipment.”

Alex looked around dubiously.  “This area was once blasted wide open?”

Jamie nodded.  “The coal had to be a shallow seam, probably only forty feet deep or so.  Wouldn’t have been profitable if it was buried deeper on these side slopes.”

“Are these bare patches acidic?”

“You’re asking a lot of questions today,” he noted lightly.

At her hurt expression he added, “That’s a good thing, I mean.  You’re rea
lly curious about all this?  I was afraid this all would bore you.”