Just Over The Mountain Read Online Free PDF Page A

Williams, Nat King Cole, Mel Torme, Johnny Mathis. All were like drifting across a lake in a lolling rowboat.
    She heard the jingle of Sadie’s collar and the click of her nails against the kitchen floor. Sadie flopped down beside her, but Jim came on silent feet and sat behind her on the floor, his long legs on either side of hers. His arms encircled her and he kissed the back of her neck.
    “There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you,” she said. “But only if you think you want a future with me. Not that I accept, I just want to know what your expectations are.”
    “I want you forever,” he said.
    “You think so?”
    “So far. But I’m sure you could do better if you applied yourself.”
    “Applied myself to getting a man?”
    “Never mind. What was I thinking.”
    “Okay, what I’ve been meaning to tell you is, I’m pretty sure I can’t have children. How do you feel about that?”
    She felt him sit up a bit straighter, withdraw slightly.
    “Ah,” she said. “You weren’t planning to have children?”
    “June, we’re not kids. I didn’t think you’d be interested. You’re pretty busy, after all. You take care of the whole damn town.”
    “I am interested,” she said. “But I don’t think I can.”
    “Why is that?”
    “The last couple of times you were here, I forgot the diaphragm. But nothing happened. And if I’m honest with myself, I’ve always been a little sloppy about birth control.” She turned and looked over her shoulder at him. “Funny thing for a doctor to admit, huh? It’s the thing I absolutely harangue my patients about.”
    “If you think that, why’d you remember the diaphragm last night?”
    “On the off chance I’m wrong. Though I have been wanting a baby.”
    “If you’re wanting a—”
    “Oh, I wouldn’t do that to you! I wouldn’t do that to any unsuspecting man. If I decided, seriously, to try to have a baby, I’d use an anonymous donor.”
    Frank Sinatra began to sing “New York, New York.”
    “Women are very strange,” he observed. “Right down to their taste in music.”
    “Would you be wanting children?” she asked.
    He laughed softly. “I’m very flexible.”
    “Well, then would you be willing to have your adenoids removed?”
     
    In the morning, without the benefit of much sleep, June showered, dressed and kissed the sleepy agent goodbye. “I like this, kissing you goodbye in the morning.”
    “Oh, it won’t be long before you’re complaining that I don’t have your breakfast ready on time.”
    “I have to go to the hospital at least twice today, since Charlotte’s there, but I have an idea. After you’ve had a leisurely morning, why not drive over to Westport. There’s a small inn near the sea. It’s connected to a mediocre steak house and you can hear the surf. We could spend the night there. It’s pretty close to the hospital.”
    “Are you allowed to do that?” he asked.
    “Uh-huh. If I lie.”
    “Oh, I see.”
    “Well, that’s your doing. Your job thing.”
    “Not for too much longer.”
    He hadn’t said yet how much longer, nor had he given her other details about this next mission or early retirement. She’d had her wish, they’d done things other than talk. “Maybe we can talk about all that tonight, while we listen to the surf. That way you won’t have to stay invisible here at the house.”
    “Good idea. Just ask for Dr. Stump.”
    “Can you come up with a new alias? It sounds so…I don’t know…awful…”
    “I’ll specify that I’m an orthopedist. How’s that?”
    She stroked his beard, ignoring his crudity. “It’s interesting, this beard. Are you keeping it for a while?”
    “I’m taking it to the Ozarks. I’ll probably have to shave it then. Why?”
    “It hides your face. Makes you so mysterious.”
    “It hides the scars. Remember?”
    “Too well,” she said.
    After his mission in the Trinity Alps had been completed and the marijuana camp busted up, Jim had had to run for