Always in Albuquerque Read online

  “Hiking can be fun.”

  “I like it. Some weekend we’ll drive out to Moab to hike. Could be fun to see you.”

  “Just enjoy the honeymoon first.”

  Alexis grinned, glad her friend couldn’t see her blush. “Oh, I am. Trust me.”

  Four

  When Alexis woke up Saturday morning, she jumped out of bed. She hated mornings, but on hike days she was always excited. She wasn’t what anyone would call athletic, and the only outdoorsy thing she really liked to do was hike, so she was excited to spend the day with Dirk, doing something they both loved.

  She immediately showered and dressed, going out to find him in the dining room, eating a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. She rummaged in the fridge until she found the package of bacon she’d stuck there, and she nuked a few pieces while making herself some toast. A bacon sandwich with cheese sounded just right before a day of hiking.

  She sat down across from him, grinning at him. “I’m excited to hike with you today. I already made our picnic, and it’s in the fridge ready to throw into a back pack.”

  “I usually wear a backpack over my camelback, so that will be just fine for me. I like to keep a first aid kit on hand.”

  “Sounds good.” She could wear one too, but since he offered, she wouldn’t refuse him.

  “Is that what you’re wearing to hike?” he asked, eyeing her jeans and short sleeved shirt.

  She nodded. “I’ll throw on a jacket that I can tie around my waist if I get too hot.”

  “Do you have hiking boots?”

  “Is a beachball round?”

  “I’d like to be ready to leave within an hour if that sounds good to you.”

  “Absolutely.” She smiled. “My best friend, who was also my college roommate, is a ranger at Arches National Park. I’d love to go hike there sometime. We could see her at the same time.”

  “Do you see her often?”

  She nodded. “Four of us have lunch the third Saturday of every month. I guess that’s a week from today. We all drive to the Four Corners and eat there. We each live in one of the four corner states.”

  “That’s odd, but I suppose it works. It’s a very long drive for lunch.”

  “It’s a short drive to get to see my three favorite people in the world,” she countered, taking a big gulp of orange juice. Neither of them was a coffee drinker, which she liked. “Where do you like to hike?”

  “Copper Trailhead is my favorite spot. I can go long, medium or short, depending on my mood.”

  “And your mood today?”

  “Let’s do long.”

  “I would love that. I haven’t been to Copper Trailhead yet, but I’ve heard amazing things about it.” She finished eating, and hurried to throw her trash away, and clean her small mess in the kitchen. “I’m going to grab my camelback and my boots.”

  Ten minutes later, they were out the door, and she could feel her excitement building. Who would have thought something like this would be the one thing they’d found they had in common?

  When they got to the trail, they put on their packs, and started out. She let him choose the trail, because he knew the area better, and went after him.

  They’d been hiking for a little over an hour when he stopped at an overlook, pointing to the city. “Right over there is where we live.” He pointed out other things, such as the university campus. “This is one of my favorite spots in the whole city.” He looked back at her, seeing that her cheeks were flushed from the cold, but she wasn’t out of breath. “You really do hike a lot, don’t you?”

  “As much as I can,” she told him. “I don’t always have time, but I try to go at least once a week.”

  “I’m surprised a meat-eater like you can keep up with me.”

  “Not eating meat doesn’t necessarily mean you’re healthier.” She shook her head at him. He was very much a typical vegetarian in her mind, shoving his food choices down everyone’s throats. “Do you lecture your students on vegetarianism?”

  “Of course not. I lecture my students on marketing and nothing else.” He frowned for a moment. “When I said I was surprised you could keep up with me, I meant it as a compliment, not an insult.”

  “Thank you, then. I’ll try to take it as you meant it.”

  “Ready to go some more?” he asked. “We’re about a fourth of the way to the spot I really want to show you.”

  “Lead the way!” She was glad she’d packed a picnic, because it sounded like he planned an eight-hour hike. It was a good thing she really did like hiking and hadn’t made it up. She would be in serious trouble otherwise.

  They stopped at his spot a few hours later, and she spread out their lunch on a blanket. “There aren’t a lot of people up here,” she said, liking that they were virtually alone.

  “No, most do one of the short or medium hikes. Not a lot come this far.” He reached for one of the sandwiches she’d packed, and took a bite. “Perfect sandwich. So many people get the ratio of peanut butter to jelly all wrong. You did great.”

  “Wow. Two compliments in one day. Be still my heart!”

  He grinned. “I’m not that difficult, am I?”

  Alexis considered his question seriously. “Sometimes you are. I have a hard time knowing if you’re annoyed with me or not. Well, except in bed, and you’re never annoyed with me there.”

  Dirk reached out and took her hand. “How could I be annoyed with a woman who brings me so much pleasure and does it so enthusiastically?”

  “Am I too enthusiastic?” she asked. “I’ve never really done it before, so I’m just going on how I feel.”

  “I haven’t either, so I guess we’re doing it right. Feels right to me.” He leaned over and kissed her. “Don’t try to start something now. We feel isolated, but someone could stumble over us at any minute.”

  “We have a bed for that, right, professor?”

  “That we do.”

  She grinned, finally feeling like she was starting to understand him. “I’ll do my very best to keep my grimy hands to myself then.”

  When they had finally finished eating, she packed all of the trash from their lunch away in the backpack he was carrying and pulled him down on the blanket before folding it up. “One last kiss?”

  He shook his head. “You are a wanton woman, wife!” But he kissed her until her toes curled. Until they heard voices.

  “Aww…we’re interrupting people making out.”

  Alexis pulled away from Dirk, her face blushing. “Hi.”

  “Hi!” The girl looked college-age and excited to be hiking. “Umm…Dr. Blanton?”

  Dirk sighed. “Hello, Desiree.”

  “I didn’t know you came up here to make out, professor.”

  “I don’t usually, but this is the first time I have brought my wife here.” Dirk was mortified, but he didn’t know what to do but plow forward. It was going to be all over the school that he was making out with women on top of a mountain. “Alexis, this is Desiree, one of my students. Desiree, my wife Alexis.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Blanton.” She looked at her friend, another fresh-faced young woman. “Let’s get out of here and let them make out in private. I think I deserve extra credit for this, professor.” Desiree winked at Dirk and hurried away.

  Dirk groaned. “I cannot believe I just got caught making out with my wife by one of my students.”

  Alexis laughed softly. “Don’t worry, professor. It might just help your reputation.”

  “It will damage my reputation, and we both know it.” He got to his feet angrily. “I’ll be waiting for you over there.” He gestured to a lookout point and walked to it.

  Alexis rolled her eyes as she folded the blanket. “You could have told her we’d only been married a week,” she said softly. “She’d have understood better then.”

  “Married a week or six years. We have a bed for that!” Dirk couldn’t believe she wouldn’t understand how important his reputation was to him.

  She r
efused to let him spoil her fun. This was the first really good day they’d had together. Soon, he’d forget all about running into his student.

  They started back down the mountain, and she kept silent for the first little bit. “I love your trail,” she said after what seemed like forever. “I’d love to come back.”

  “Maybe when you’ve gotten the whole sex kitten thing out of your system. I can’t afford to be caught that way again.”

  “Your reputation,” she said bitterly. The stick up the man’s butt was so big, she wasn’t sure how he was able to walk.

  “Yes. Maybe reputation isn’t important to you, but I’m up for tenure, and I won’t get it if there are rumors floating around about me making out with women on mountains.”

  “I see.” Instead of arguing with him, she stayed silent. They said almost nothing for the rest of their hike.

  Once they got to the car, she buckled herself and stared out the window on her side of the car. She didn’t even want to look at him.

  “Do you want to go out for supper?” he asked.

  “I don’t care.” And she really didn’t. She didn’t want to do anything but scream and yell at him, but she knew it would do no good.

  “I’ll choose the place then.” He couldn’t understand what she had to be angry with him about, but it was obvious she was. He was the one who was going to have his reputation ruined because she couldn’t keep her hands to herself.

  He drove to a Mongolian grill he particularly liked for their good vegetarian protein options. “Does this place work?”

  She just shrugged, getting out of the car. She liked Mongolian grills, and she’d be sure to put as much meat on her plate as she could to gross him out. She hoped they had shrimp, because he seemed to particularly despise seafood.

  Walking through the line, she chose mostly meat, knowing it would get his goat. And then she piled potatoes and rice on top of the meat. It was as unhealthy as she could get at a reasonably healthy place to eat. She knew he’d have something to say about it, and she just wanted him to. She wanted to have a reason to glare at him and maybe kick him under the table.

  He looked at her plate but bit his tongue, realizing she was furious with him. Poking an angry bear just didn’t make sense. Her hand was shaking as she held her fork. He offered her chopsticks, and the look she gave him told him that he was going to draw back a bloody stump if he wasn’t careful. The woman really did have a temper!

  She drank four Cokes with her meal, not even wanting them. She wanted water to drink, but that would make him happy. No, she’d drink Cokes until she vomited. Ugh. The man was way too obsessed with his reputation and position in life. If he were a client of hers, she’d tell him to get a grip.

  Once they were home, she went straight to the bedroom and showered, changing into her favorite pair of pajamas. She hadn’t worn pajamas since they’d gotten married, because really there was no point. He was just going to take them off her anyway. Not tonight, though. She was going to wear them all night, and if he tried to touch her, she’d suggest he sleep on the couch. Of course, he had two perfectly good spare bedrooms, but she didn’t care. As long as he left her alone.

  Instead of joining him in the living room like she usually did, she sat in bed reading her book. It was her new favorite of the mail-order brides, and she wanted to finish it before bed.

  Dirk sat alone in the living room watching documentaries on television. It was the first night since they’d married that Alexis hadn’t joined him, and he found that he missed her. He liked being able to look up while he was working and see her push her hair back over her shoulder, or turn the page on her Kindle.

  He considered going into their bedroom to talk to her, but he didn’t think she’d welcome anything from him but an apology, and he hadn’t done anything wrong. If she thought he had, that was her problem not his.

  When he went to bed, she was on her side of the bed with her back turned toward the middle. He could tell she wasn’t sleeping, but when he put his hand on her back, she shrugged him off. She was obviously too annoyed to even talk, let alone make love. Well, that was just fine with him. He wasn’t the one running around trying to get into her pants all the time.

  He lay on his back and stared up at the ceiling. If she wanted to be a brat about everything, then she could do just that. He couldn’t imagine how someone so immature could possibly be a life counselor.

  When Dirk tried to talk to Alexis the following day, he was met with icy silence. She had no desire to talk to him.

  After breakfast, she put her dishes in the dishwasher, ignoring his. “I’m going to run to the grocery store. I’ll be back when I’m back.”

  “I need more oatmeal.”

  “Then I guess you can go to the grocery store,” she said, slamming the door after her. When she got into the car, she rested her head against the steering wheel. Yes, she was angry, but she didn’t have to be childish about it. She’d get his oatmeal. She already knew his favorite brand.

  As she walked through the store, she bumped into the girl from the mountain the day before. Desiree grinned at her. “Small world, isn’t it?”

  Alexis nodded. “Sure is.” She took a deep breath. “Dr. Blanton is going to be mortified if you tell anyone what you saw yesterday. We’ve only been married a week, and…well, I started things. He didn’t.”

  Desiree nodded. “I wouldn’t tell anyone! It was just funny to see him blush like that. He always seems so in control, if that makes sense.”

  “Oh, it makes perfect sense. He’s not the kind of man to let anyone see him with his defenses down.”

  “He’s a great teacher, though. I have learned so much in his class. Maybe I’ll stay after class tomorrow and ask him for extra credit to keep my mouth shut.”

  Alexis laughed. “I wouldn’t. He’s still pretty upset about the whole thing.”

  “Well, he shouldn’t be! What’s wrong with being human? You’re beautiful, and you’ve only been married a week! I’m surprised he let you out of the bedroom long enough to get caught kissing on a mountain.”

  “Good point!” Raising her hand in a wave, Alexis moved onto the next aisle. Even his students noticed how uptight he was. Maybe Dirk needed to lighten up, but she wasn’t sure she could be the one to help him do it.

  She got everything she needed to make taco salad for supper. They could each put their meals together, and she could have tons of meat and no lettuce or tomatoes, and he could have…well, he could have the boring stuff. It was time she stopped acting childish and started acting like the professional she was. She knew she would never allow a client to keep acting like a child, and here she was doing it.

  When she got home, she held up the oatmeal so he could see that she’d gotten it, and he smiled. He’d obviously taken the peace offering exactly as she’d meant it.

  “I’m going to make taco salad for supper. I figure we can both put whatever we want on the salad, so we’ll both be happy.”

  “What will you put on yours?”

  “Beans, meat, and cheese, of course.”

  “I hope you got lettuce, tomatoes, and guacamole for me.”

  “Yup. You get all the gross stuff, and I’ll eat the good stuff.” She walked into the kitchen and put the groceries away. She was just putting the last of the perishables away when he came into the kitchen.

  “Are we all right?” he asked softly.

  She nodded. “I’d rather not be yelled at again, but I forgive you, and we’ll move on.”

  She’d forgive him? Whatever. He wasn’t going to argue with her. “Good. I missed talking to you.”

  She laughed. “That’s all you missed?”

  He grinned. “Well, there was something else I missed a lot, too.” With those words, he swung her up into his arms and carried her to their bedroom, laying her gently on the bed. “I really like being married to you.”

  “You like the sex. You haven’t figured out if you like me yet.” The grin on her face told him she didn
’t mind.

  “You like the sex, too.” He quickly stripped and got onto the bed with her. “I noticed.”

  “Well, praise God that your eyes were open for long enough for you to notice that I was enjoying myself, too.”

  “You wouldn’t be constantly starting things if you didn’t like it.” He looked down into her eyes. “Let’s not fight like that again. When you’re angry with me, we’ll talk it out.”

  “I tried that, and you wouldn’t let me.”

  “I needed time to cool off, but by the time I was cooled off, you were too angry to talk.”

  “I guess my anger is slower to boil, but once it gets there it stays. Yours is quick boil but it’s over fast. We’ll have to remember that about each other.”

  “Yes, we will. But for now…” He leaned down and kissed her, doing everything he could to make up for their previous night.

  Five

  Dirk was already awake when Alexis got up on Monday morning. She realized they’d never discussed their weekday schedules, because this was the first workday since their marriage. “What time is your first class?”

  “Seven. I like early classes.”

  “Do your students stay awake?” she asked with a yawn. She hadn’t been able to take any classes at eight during her college career. She’d always ended up dropping them after missing the first half of them.

  “They do. I’m a very interesting teacher.”

  She studied him warily, not really believing him after talking to Desiree. “All right.”

  “You should come sit in on one of my classes and see.”

  “I have to work,” she said with a yawn.

  “What time do you have to be there?” he asked.

  “Not til nine, but I need that long to wake up. I’m not a morning person.” She sat down with him, her orange juice and bacon sandwich in front of her.

  “How late will you work?”

  “I am usually done by three. I don’t have a super-long work day. I do host a group in my office on Thursday nights.”