There was a long pause.
“Let’s take a break,” Jake suggested, motioning out the garage door.
She reluctantly nodded and followed him outside and up the steps to the porch where a pitcher of tea waited beside two empty glasses. He took the liberty of pouring and handed her the drink.
As she sank into one of the patio chairs, a tiny smile nipped at the corners of her mouth. “These are pretty nice cushions,” she admitted.
Her comment brought an amused look into Jake’s eyes. “I told you I’m happy to return them.”
“Nah, I decided to keep the set. The furniture is growing on me.” She diverted her gaze. That wasn’t all that was growing on her.
Jake leaned back against his chair. He glanced over to the sawhorse just inside the open garage, eyeing the wood Capri was measuring. “That beam’s a little long, don’t you think?” he said, half-smiling.
Capri rolled her eyes playfully. “I know what I’m doing, thank you very much. I’m no novice to building things. Dick taught me a lot.”
Jake continued to grin. “Fair enough, but just saying, precision matters. Even on a Saturday.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Speaking of Saturday, shouldn’t you be out enjoying it? Most people don’t spend their weekends covered in sawdust. I’m a tough boss, but I’m not known for working people ’round the clock.”
Jake shrugged, giving her a sideways glance. “Could say the same about you. I thought you’d be trekking up some mountain trail, not cooped up here helping me fix up an old cabin.”
Capri smiled slightly. “Trust me, I considered it. But this place needs work, and I like seeing progress. Plus, I’m not exactly the sit-around type.”
Jake grinned. “Yeah, I’ve noticed.”
There was another brief silence before he continued. “I also noticed you teared up when you spotted the toy horse. Wanna talk about it?”
Capri stiffened slightly, her fingers tightening around the glass she was holding. She hadn’t expected him to bring the subject up, and for a moment, she considered brushing it off. But the way Jake asked—calm, without pressing—made her hesitate. She set the glass down and glanced into the open garage door, over at the toolbox where the little toy horse still sat.
“It’s just a reminder,” she said quietly, her voice measured. “Of when things were less complicated. Dick used to make me things like that when I was a kid. Before…well, before he started drinking.”
She paused, feeling the familiar knot tighten in her chest, unsure if she wanted to continue—unsure she wanted to talk about any of this with Jake.
“I’d like to hear about it,” he prompted. “Dick sounds like he was quite a guy.”
“He was,” Capri quickly answered. “He married my mom when I was still fairly young. He was the only dad I ever knew, and, except for the years he was drinking, he treated me like a daughter.” She paused. “I loved him very much.”
Wanting to divert the attention off herself, she directed her gaze at Jake. “What about you?”
“What do you mean?”
“C’mon—spill. You mentioned you grew up in Alabama. What was your childhood like?”
Jake leaned back in his chair, his fingers resting around his glass as he thought for a moment. His expression softened, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
“Well,” he began, “I grew up in a small town in northern Alabama. Not too different from Thunder Mountain in some ways. Tight-knit community, everyone knew each other’s business. My parents had a farm—nothing big, but we grew a little of everything. We sold at local farmers’ markets. It was a simple life.”
He paused, and his gaze grew distant as if he were looking back through time. “I was the youngest of five kids, so I had my fair share of fights and competition growing up. My two brothers were always bigger, stronger. I had to work twice as hard just to keep up. My dad—well, he wasn’t easy. Stubborn as a mule. He had a way of making you feel like no matter what you did, it wasn’t enough.” Jake’s smile faded.
Capri shifted slightly, noticing a flicker of tension cross his face. “Sounds tough.”
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “It was. But it taught me something valuable—how to rely on myself. My brothers left early, went off to do their own things. I stayed on the farm longer, helped my mom after Dad passed. Eventually, she made the decision to sell. But…I knew I wasn’t meant to be there forever. I always had this feeling I was supposed to build something of my own.”
Capri nodded, her eyes softening. “And that brought you here?”
“Eventually, yeah. I went to school, got into architecture, and that’s when things started to make sense. I loved the idea of creating something lasting, something people could live in and feel safe. After a few years of working all over, I ended up in Jackson Hole, fell in love with the mountains. It’s hard to explain, but once I was here, it felt like home in a way Alabama never did.”
Capri felt a strange pull in her chest as Jake spoke, his words weaving together pieces of his life that she hadn’t known before. She could hear the pride in his voice, but there was something else—something deeper. Maybe a touch of loneliness that mirrored her own.
