“You don’t look fine,” Char said softly.
His eyes flickered back to hers before he licked his lips and pointed to the Columbia river. “Did you know that at its deepest, the river can be over twelve hundred feet?”
“That’s um, inter—”
“And.” Jake cleared his throat. “Native Americans believe that a fight between two brothers caused the eruption of Mount St. Helens. You see, they were both in love with the same girl, but when she couldn’t choose, they became angry. Fighting broke out, villages were destroyed, and the father, angry that his sons could not put family ahead of their love for the girl, turned them into mountains.”
Char smiled and looked out at the river. “Which ones?”
“The first son was turned into Mount Hood, with his head lifted in pride toward the sky.” Jake pointed toward Mount Hood. You could see it from here on a clear day, and lucky for them it wasn’t too dark yet. “The other brother was turned into Mount Adams, with his face down toward where his lover fell.”
Char was silent while she looked toward Mount Adams. “What about the girl? What happened to her?”
“She blew up.”
At Char’s sharp intake of breath, Jake laughed, feeling better than he had all day. “No, seriously. Legend says she was turned into Mount St. Helens.”
“So…” Char leaned back on her hands and tilted her head. “You’re telling me two brothers wanted her, she couldn’t chose, and in the end everyone suffered and then she died?”
Yeah, probably not the best story to tell Char at the moment, but he was grasping at straws, trying to keep her from asking him the obvious: what was wrong, and have him blurt his feelings.
“I think I know why you like the story,” she said.
Surprised, Jake snorted. “What? It’s just a story.”
“No.” Char pointed toward the river. “The whole ‘this is how deep the Columbia River is’ fact lesson was just you avoiding pouring out your feelings. The story, however, is your way of doing it.”
“Excuse me?” Since when did she become a shrink?
Char reached for a beer. “Would you have fought for the girl? For your lover, or would you have given up?”
Jake was silent. His eyes flickered to the two mountains in the distance. “I would have done what was easy.”
“And what’s that?”
He shrugge
d, Good God, what was with his shrugging! “I would have walked away.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s what I do, Char. I walk away. I take the easy route. Is that what you want to hear? You want me to tell you that I’m different? That I’m the good guy? The guy that fights for what he wants? Well, I don’t fight for shit. I don’t have to, I’ve never had to.”
Char silently drank her beer, but her hand was shaking as she lifted it to her lips. He sighed and looked away. “I’m not that guy.”
“Says who?” her voice was pleading.
Jake shook his head and looked back toward the house. Laughter floated out of the backyard. “Everybody.”
“Even Grandma?”
“Fine, I have one fan.” Jake cursed.
“Two.” Suddenly Char’s beer was in front of him; she clinked her bottle against his and smiled. “You have two fans.”
Jake laughed. “Says the girl who’s threatened my life how many times in the past week?”
“Hey.” Char didn’t scoot away; instead, she leaned against him. “Fertility dance partners stick together.”