Page 72 of Trapped: Until The Darkest Of Night

“So, what do you think about this evening?” I ask, bothered by the jittery feeling in my chest. I forcefully try to suppress it, but I suppose I’d make more progress ordering a grizzly to give me his salmon.

Lou looks at me warily as if trying to figure out what’s going on inside me. “Only if you don’t put the chain on me,” she suddenly blurts. “Um, I mean…because it’s been two days, and…” she stammers, and a faint blush covers the hectic spots. “And you said two days…”

I can only stare at her, thinking how cute she looks. Her cheeks glow and her tousled blonde hair sticks out in all directions due to the short night. Her clothes are sweaty and wrinkled, she even has a chocolate stain on her chin probably from the donuts.

She’s miles away from the Lou in the photos, but I don’t care. I would like to pull her into my arms and hug her so that she feels close to someone else and knows that she is not alone. And…well…I’d like to kiss her.

It is incredibly difficult for me to only shrug.

“I was planning on leaving them off during the day anyway,” I hear myself saying and wonder which part of me is taking over at the moment. “At least while Grey needs to be fed. After that, we’ll see.”

Now she’s finally gotten you to cave, Brendan Connor. Fuckin’ hell—you’re a naive dumbass. She will flee as soon as she has the opportunity.

She won’t!

Yes, she will!

No, she won’t! She’s starting to trust me!

My stupid heart just won’t stop hoping!

Chapter

Nineteen

With a lot of concentration, I manage to get my work done and still know exactly where Lou is. I retrieved reserve water for the tanks, chlorinated it, and put the canisters in the storage area. I postpone other tasks such as washing clothes at the lake for a later time.

Lou is busy with Grey all afternoon. I collect birch bark and firewood in the vicinity and occasionally peek through the windows into the RV. Lou doesn’t even notice. She is usually boiling water or washing dishes, sometimes she is sitting on the bench stroking Grey’s wooly fur.

The sun is barely above the dark green treetops when we agree on making Lou’s favorite dinner that evening. In fact, she proposes it and I mark it as another milestone in our history.

“You know what I think?” she asks when I pause between two loads of firewood. She sits cross-legged on the bench, scratching Grey’s neck. I wipe the sweat from my forehead and shake my head.

“I think this wolf has grown four inches in the last few hours!” She looks at me so seriously, like it’s a big damn deal. “Honestly!”

She pats Grey’s head and I smile. I don’t know what’s going on, but something is happening. With me. With Lou. With us.

In the evening, I collect a gigantic supply of firewood, which I neatly pile up behind the RV. There is not enough storage space, so I am considering building a low shed in the next few days to store the wood in a dry place for when it rains. I’m stuffing the birch bark in the gaps between the stacked wood when I hear Lou cursing and laughing at the same time from inside. It is a strange sequence of noises, sounding a bit like a mixture of howling and snorting into water mixed with the wild ringing of bells.

“Bren!”

“What is it?” I straighten up and walk around the RV. Lou comes through the side door and points almost reproachfully at Grey’s little head, of which I can only see the tiny ears.

“I don’t know if this little guy is mistaking me for a tree, but he’s peed on me three times already!” Lou says, glaring at Grey.

I raise my eyebrows. “Didn’t you pad the towel with cloths?”

“Yes, but they’re soaked.” Lou nods to a stack of damp terry cloth towels on the side of the stairs. “And he got a spot on the sling, too.”

The pee spot is no larger than the palm of a hand. “Let’s go to the lake and wash them out. If you only rinse the spot, you can put him directly back in.”

Lou purses her lips. “Well, he shouldn’t have done it. I take him on walks day after day, spoil him from head to toe, and what does he do…” She falls silent as if noticing how casually she is talking to me.

“You wanted to keep him,” I say quickly so she doesn’t think about it any longer. “By the way, wolves don’t mark their territory at this age. That comes later.”

Lou looks down at Grey. “Well, let’s hope Grey won’t keep on peeing in the RV.”

“Sometimes they defecate too.”

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