ALMOST HEAVEN

Chapter 24

Saturday morning Laurel was just thinking about waking up when Clyde got back into the bed after taking a shower. He pulled her close and then rubbed his cheek against hers. "What do you think?" he whispered.

"About what?" Laurel asked sleepily. Something seemed different but she wasn't fully awake.

Clyde rubbed his cheek against hers again. "About that. Feel different?"

Laurel opened her eyes. Clyde had shaved off both the mustache and the beard. She studied him carefully.

"Your face looks a little naked but damn, Clyde, no matter what, you're a beautiful man. Let me feel." She ran her hand over his cheek. "It feels so smooth."

"You like it?"

"Of course I do, love."

"Better than with the beard and mustache?"

"It's so early for these type of questions, Clyde. I haven't even gotten used to it yet. I love you no matter what, Clyde. I liked your beard and mustache. I like you clean shaven, too. I'll take you anyway I can get you, to be honest."

After lunch on Monday, Laurel headed into the barn to pick up a couple shovels to put in the back of the work vehicle. She was headed out with Jim and Pam to do some work in one of the picnic areas. Once in the barn, she realized that Jason was also in the barn getting equipment for his work. He looked up when he heard someone else in the barn.

"Oh, hi, Laurel," he said casually. "What are you doing this afternoon?"

"Working with Jim and Pam," she said quickly.

"Oh, well, have a good afternoon."

Laurel nodded and she grabbed the shovels that she needed.

"You need help with those? It looks awkward trying to hold three shovels," Jason said with a smile.

"I'm good."

"Okay then."

Laurel turned to leave. Jason cleared his throat.

"Hey, Laurel, I'm sorry about what happened up at Shenandoah. I was just in a bad place, you know."

"That's fine," Laurel said as she started towards the door.

"Clyde tell you we talked?"

"He did."

"I guess you're not supposed to talk to me, are you? He seems like the jealous type."

Laurel told herself not to raise to the bait but couldn't stop herself. "Clyde isn't the type of man to tell someone who they can or cannot talk to and he's not jealous about you."

"No? It didn't seem like that to me."

"Maybe you should have another talk with him then." Laurel walked out of the barn and refused to look back.

Jason watched her as she walked away. "Trust me, I plan to," he said quietly.

"Oh shit," Ray said as the truck began to swerve a little. He took his foot off the gas and guided the truck to the side of the road. "It feels like a flat tire."

Laurel got out of the truck first and walked around to the back of the truck. The right rear tire was completely flat. "Good thing we weren't going fast. The tires seemed fine when we got in."

Ray knelt down to take a look at the tire. "Damn, there's a nail in the tire, look at that." He pointed out the nail in the side of the tire. "I bet it happened when we were rebuilding that shelter down at Stone Cliff campground. Billy was pretty careless with the supplies."