Eagle River (3 page)

“He’s either laughin’ at you or he thinks that you smell funny.”

She began to giggle. Her laughter progressed to guffaws. Galen watched her, smiling himself.
She’s so pretty.

“You better pay attention up there. That’s a wild animal you’re sitting on.”

Jethro gazed at him tolerantly with one enormous, soft caramel-colored eye and proceeded to yawn.

That struck Kjersten as even more hysterical. She leaned over the broad neck of the gentle giant and wrapped her arms around him. She buried her face in that thick, butter colored mess of mane. “He is friendly, isn’t he? And he smells good, too. Dusty, salty sweet, you know what I mean?”

“That’s how all horses smell.”

“He must be old. He’s so big.”

“Age doesn’t have anything to do with how big a horse is. Most horses are finished growing at two or three. Jethro’s a work horse, so big and strong. And he’s also kind of old. He doesn’t work hard anymore, except around Christmas time when Kyle hitches him and James up to a wagon and takes people for drives in the snow at the Christmas tree farm. Jethro loves that kind of stuff. He likes attention.” Galen patted the horse’s face with fond appreciation.

“He’ll let me ride him?”

“Well, to a point.” Galen enjoyed being the one in the know. “Jethro doesn’t like to go fast anywhere. But you can learn the basic stuff on him. All of us kids start on Jethro, just as soon as our legs were long enough so that we could sit up there.”

“How do I get him started?”

Galen saw that some of Kjersten’s fear had thawed. “Give him a kick with both legs, and you’re going to have to keep kicking him. He’s lazy and he’s not a motorcycle. Cluck a little, too.”

She brushed old Jethro with her heels. He swished at a fly with his stump of a tail. She kicked a little harder. Jethro swung his great head to one side, almost dragging Kjersten off with his movement, as she had a death grip on the rein, and began to industriously scratch at his shoulder. Kjersten looked perplexed but unafraid. This time, she belted Jethro one. His head cocked. Galen could see that canny old mind spinning. Jethro began to mosey along while Galen stood still watching, enjoying Kjersten’s excitement.

“I did it! He’s moving. This feels funny. But wait, how do I steer?”

“Pull on one rein or the other.”

Jethro’s head swung left and then right, but he moved inexorably in the same direction, towards the barn.

“How do I stop?” Kjersten’s voice was shrill but not yet panicked.

“Act like you know what you are doing.”

“He knows what he’s doing.”

Galen broke into a jog as the struggling Kjersten disappeared behind the wide opened barn door. He dashed into the barn, expecting the worst, only to find Jethro complacently standing in his stall chomping hay. Kjersten was still sitting on his back, patting the broad shoulders of the beast.

“I guess he’s hungry.”

“That doesn’t make any difference. That was really bad of him.” He walked into the stall and grabbed Jethro’s reins. He struggled to drag the horse’s nose out of the hay.

“He’s tired and hungry.” Kjersten awkwardly slid off of Jethro’s back. The horse studied her with satisfaction. She rubbed the side of his head. Jethro eyed Galen uneasily and then rubbed his great head against Kjersten’s side. Next, he rested his head on her shoulder and blew gently from his nostrils onto the side of her neck.

“He’s telling me to take that thing...”

“The bridle,” Galen supplied.

“Off. He’s itchy. Isn’t he cute?” Jethro was in hog heaven as Kjersten began to scratch him behind his fuzzy ears. “He likes me.”

Galen watched, his irritation at Jethro giving way to enjoyment of the girl’s happiness.
Kjersten was fun to hang out with, almost as good as a boy
,
and she sure was pretty.

Even today, her beauty still made him ache. He didn’t remember when exactly he’d become aware of her as a girl, but he’d gone along with them just being pals more or less successfully until the night of the homecoming dance her junior year. The memories of that night remained so vivid in his mind.

A sophomore, he had finally grown taller than Kjersten. He’d wanted to ask her to go with him to the dance, but hadn’t felt he could. After all, they’d both agreed that they were “just friends,” and she was a junior, besides. He had planned on going to the dance, but with Ben and a couple of the guys from football. He was surprised and more than a little shocked when Kjersten told him that she was going with Jeff Wilson.

“Jeff Wilson?”

“Oh, he’s in my grade,” she answered breezily. “He sits behind me in AP English.”

“He’s that preppy doctor’s kid. I know who you mean.” Jeff Wilson was pretty-boy cute and smart and rich, to boot. It frankly sucked that he was Kjersten’s homecoming date. Then, it all got worse for Galen when he found that Jeff and Kjersten were elected to the homecoming court together.

That night, he saw her come into the gym. Wilson was with her, but Galen’s eyes were on Kjersten. Frankly, he couldn’t take them off of her. She was wearing a strapless silver dress with a short, silver, gum drop-like skirt. Her legs had appeared endlessly long, and her shoulders, back, and the tops of her white breasts had been so lovely and bare when her date took her wrap.

She looks amazing!
She took his breath away.

He watched as she chatted with friends and wandered about oohing and ahing over people’s dresses. Finally, when he didn’t think he could stand waiting any longer, she stepped away from her date and approached the small round table where Galen and Ben sat with some other guys.

“Kjersten,” Galen murmured as he rose to his feet.

“Wow, Kjersten,” Ben remarked, also rising. He took her by the hand and turned her around. “You look really good. Don’t you agree, Galen?” Ben, of course, knew how Galen felt about their childhood friend.

Kjersten smiled at him, and Galen hadn’t been able to speak a word.
Wow.
Galen had thought he looked good, too. Galen was tall, nearly six two now and thin, and Kyle’s dress up shirt, and trousers were loose on him, but Sandra had said he was handsome with his dimples and his sandy blond hair. He’d been happy with his appearance, until he’d seen Wilson in all his bow tied, plaid vested glory.

“Hi Galen,” Kjersten leaned closer to him, her voice was faint over the song booming out over the sound system.

“Kjersten.” He shuffled his feet, staring down at his shoes, then he raised his eyes and met her glance. For a moment, he could barely breathe. “You look nice,” he said, but his eyes devoured her.

“You, too.”

“Where’s your date?” he asked.

“Oh,” she waved her hand. “He’s somewhere. Probably with his friends.”

Then, they stood there staring at each other.

“You wanta dance?” Galen finally managed to ask.

“You mean us? Now?” She glanced over at the dance floor where couples were grinding against each other while Chris deBurgh crooned about a lady in red.

He nodded and took her hand, pulling her out onto the dance floor. Then, he turned her so that they faced each other. For a moment, he felt awkward, unsure of what to do or how to touch her. But then he gazed into her lovely eyes and indecision melted away. For once, he didn’t hesitate. He simply reached out and drew her closer still. It felt right, natural. So, he linked his hands at the base of her back directly where it curved out into her firm, plump butt.

As she curved into him, her eyes fluttered shut, and she inhaled deeply. He became aware that she was wearing a flowery scent. She draped her arms up around his neck. Feeling her fully against him for the first time, Galen became aroused. Suddenly, there was nothing except the music and the girl in his arms.

“What about Jeff?” he whispered by her ear. The feel of the soft skin of her neck against his lips made his heart beat faster.

“Jeff?” she repeated blankly.

“Is he going to be pissed that we’re dancing?”

“Shut up, Galen,” she murmured. “Don’t ruin it.”

He felt rather than heard her chuckle.

Then, he lost himself in the moment, in the rise and fall of the song, in the rich sensory experience of holding a girl that he cared about for the very first time. He never wanted it to end, the moment or the song. But then it did, and still she didn’t let go of him or raise her head. Instead, she’d burrowed closer.

“Hey,” he said, finally stepping back. He reached out and tipped her chin up, gazing searchingly into her eyes.

“What?”

Then, he grinned at her, shattering the moment. “You like me.”

“What?” She retreated from him.

“You do, you know you do. You didn’t let go of me when the song ended.” He grinned a cocky little smile at her.

She smoothed her dress and seemed to gather herself. “Don’t flatter yourself, Galen. I just love that song. I’m going to go and find Jeff.”

He watched her as she walked away. His eyes remained fixed on her ass, noticing for the first time the subtle sway of her hips.

“What was with you two?” Ben punched him in the arm. “You getting all hot and heavy out there?”

Galen didn’t respond. Instead, he watched her progress across the floor. He saw Kjersten several more times that evening. Each time, he was aware that there was something different in her eyes when they met his and that she couldn’t hold his gaze for long. Once or twice, he saw her blush and she seemed to laugh a little more loudly.

That was the night that things started to change between them.
From that evening on, after that dance, everything was different between them.

Slowly but surely, they’d gotten together, become a couple. They’d dated for nearly two years, until even after she’d gone off to college. And, it had been good between them, very good. That is, until his mother got sick with breast cancer.
I just couldn’t think straight. I just wanted to crawl into hole, so I wouldn’t have to deal with things.

Galen’s thoughts bounced to that May day of his senior year when Kjersten had surprised him at school. Things had already started to go bad between them because, even though he didn’t mean to, as his mom got weaker and sicker, he found himself shutting down. He just couldn’t deal with anything more emotionally.

He was well aware that he was being cold and distant with Kjersten when they spoke on the phone. It was just hard to talk with her about college and her classes when he was watching his mom die. It wasn’t like Kjersten wasn’t sympathetic, she asked about his mom, but he didn’t want to talk about her, about her physical decline. It just hurt too much. More than once, he’d broken off a phone conversation with Kjersten with “I gotta go.” Of course, Kjersten had known that Jessica Odgers was sick, and, in fact, dying. But on that particular day, she’d hoped that by surprising him at Eagle River High School, she could get past his guard and reconnect with him.

Galen walked out of the front door of the school. He paused for a moment, adjusting his backpack straps and took a deep breath. He was torn. He wanted to go home, but he dreaded what he would find.
Would Mom be worse?

He was headed down the sidewalk toward his bus, when a car pulled up beside him. The passenger door popped open.

“Kjersten, what are you doing here?” The words burst out, unfiltered, because he was surprised, actually shocked to see her. Of course, he’d known that her semester was winding down. But it was only the third week in May and he totally hadn’t expected her on this day. She hadn’t told him that she was coming home yet. Clearly, she’d wanted to surprise him. He registered the instant hurt on her face.

“I just got back this morning, and I wanted to see you right away. Come on. Get in.”

Thinking of his mother and all that awaited him at home, Galen hesitated. He knew that Sandra, Joe, and Kyle were likely to all be there. As for his father, he was likely drunk. The vigil had begun. It was clear that Jessica Odgers didn’t have long to live. “I have to get home,” he offered as he squinted through the rain at her.

Again, she looked wounded.

Galen felt horrible.
I don’t want to hurt her. Why do I keep doing this? She’s going to ask about Mom and I just can’t stand to talk about it anymore. I can’t think about more. I just can’t handle... more.

“They can wait a little while. Come on, get in, Galen. We haven’t seen each other in months. You’ll be home by four. I promise.”

He closed his eyes for a moment. He wanted to spend time with Kjersten, but he also felt like he should be with his family, that he shouldn’t take a break from the misery that was his life at the moment. Still, it was Kjersten. It was good to see her. After a moment, making his decision, he folded his long frame into her silver Camry. His heart was pounding.

“Hey.” She smiled at him.

“Hey,” he answered back with a soft, tentative smile that made him appear younger than his eighteen years.

She reached out and touched a rain drop on his nose, impulsively she touched it to her tongue. The car felt suddenly warm and close, and all of the silliness drained away from the two.

He leaned closer to her. His eyes held hers then, right there in the school parking lot, he leaned towards her, slowly. Then, they were kissing and touching, unable to get close enough.