Page 103 of The Promise Of You

No more “baby or sweetie,” I guess. Oh well, that had to happen.

“Is it gone?” I ask, my voice coarse.

Justin scoots away from me, kneels, and arms his rifle. “Looks like it. But just to be sure,” he adds and shoots up in the air.

“Ouch! That was loud!” I plop my hands on my ears. Moose whines and tucks his head between his paws.

“That was loud? Babe, did you hear yourself?”

Babe? Hmmm.

“You were going to kill a bear. I had to do something.”

He opens his rifle and removes the casing. “I wasn’t going to kill it. Just scare it away.”

“Scare it how?”

He chuckles. “With the sound of the gunshot. You beat me to it.”

Oh. “Are we safe?” I bring my knees to my chest and wrap my arms around them.

“Oh yeah. That bear’s not coming back. Plus, they’re harmless.” He stashes his rifle back into the box and snatches it shut.

They’re harmless? “Um… are you sure? It’s a bear.”

“Yeah, little black bear.” He pats the space next to him.

“Still. A bear!”

“Bears around here don’t attack humans. Not unless it’s a mama bear and you’re messing with her cubs.”

“So why did it come here?”

He considers me for a beat. “Probably looking for food.”

“But we don’t have food! Ergo, we are the food.”

“You might have a point there,” he says playfully.

Playfully! “Are you serious?” My eyes dart all around us, as if a bear was waiting to lunge at us.

“They have a strong sense of smell.”

“And? We don’t have food.”

“And… you’re a messy eater.”

“What?” I say on an exhale, remembering how juicy the burger was and how I licked my fingers and washed my hands before but not after dinner.

“Probably smelled that burger on you,” he continues.

What?

He chuckles. Again.

I speak between clenched teeth. “Just what I said. We are the food.”

“Not what you said.” And in the night, I can make out his smile, the white of his teeth.

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