Apache Heart Read Free Page B

are?”  Randi was thrilled, but it was a little crazy to think about running off to the hills with a man she’d barely met. 
                  “I’ll be by at 7am sharp to pick you up.”  Lee pushed his cart on past.
                  “But wait, don’t you need to know where I live?”  Randi called after him.
                  “I know,” he said, without turning around.
                 
    ###
     
                  Randi had fresh coffee on when Lee drove up, and pulled a sheet of hot biscuits out of the oven.  They were the frozen kind, not homemade, but a guy couldn’t expect too much from a girl who’d only moved in the day before.  What she did have, though, was a jar of her mom’s sour cherry preserves. 
                  Lee tapped politely at her door and she went to let him in.  He was fresh scrubbed and shiny, wearing some faded blue jeans that rode low on his hips, lightweight hiking boots, and a dark blue t-shirt that hugged his muscles in all the right places.  “May I come in?” he asked.
                  “Black coffee and biscuits?”  He picked one of the biscuits off the sheet and took a big bite, “I knew you were my kind of person.”
                  “Sit down, I’ll pour you a cup.  And you really do not want to eat that biscuit without some of my mom’s sour cherry jam.”
                  He did as he was instructed, and Randi put a basket of biscuits and a couple of little plates with knives on the table, along with butter and the preserves.  She poured two big mugs of coffee and joined him.  “How’d you know where I lived?”
                  “I told you, this Indian knows everything going on in and around the rez.  I’m a first responder so it’s my job to know what’s up every nook and cranny.” He put a generous smear of the preserves on a biscuit,  “And your landlord is my cousin’s brother-in-law.”  
                  Randi smiled, “So everybody pretty much knows everybody’s business around here?”
                  Lee pressed his lips together and looked at the ceiling, pretending to think as he chewed.  He looked back at Randi as he swallowed, “Yep.  Welcome to the rez.”
                  “So how many people know we’re going fishing?”  Randi probed.
                  Lee ticked them off on his fingers, “My mom, my grandparents, my sister Maggie, my cousin Reggie, and Harold, who runs the gas station.”
                  “And by this evening?”
                  “Oh pretty much everybody.”  He reached for another biscuit as Randi furrowed her brow.  “We don’t really think of it as gossiping.” Lee clarified.  “It’s how we keep tabs on things, and the elders will comment if something isn’t to their liking.”
                  “This is all excellent information.  Makes a girl mind herself.”
                  “Yeah, that’s kind of the point.  Mostly, it’s a good thing.”  Lee took a big drink of his coffee, “Can we take the rest of the biscuits and preserves with us?  Those trout start hiding when it gets hot.”
                  “You bet, and I think somewhere I’ve got a thermos for the coffee.”
                  It didn’t take long before they were winding up the mountain, and it was clear that Lee did know every nook and cranny.  He pointed out different people’s places, landmarks, signs of wildlife, and Randi found that she was seeing the beauty of the countryside through his eyes. It helped her to feel a lot less like a visitor to a foreign land. 
                  They pulled off the road, and Randi could see the narrow river winding through the trees.  Lee popped the cover on his truck bed, and started getting the rods and tackle together.  “You ever