Page 75 of Wanting a Family Man

Just like that, it was gone, but the idea took firm root in her mind that her sister was here, watching over her.

Cloe stopped being scared. Not of the woods and the isolation, or Trystan’s rejection, or even the sense of abandonment that had been clawing at her insides since forever.

For most of her life, she’d had this horrible sense that she was alone in this world. Her father was a mystery, and her mother hadn’t had the capacity to nurture or bolster her. Tiffany had been there, but not always. She’d had her selfish moments. She had chased her own dreams and wound up in a remote place, making a life with a man twice her age, seemingly forgetting about her kid sister.

Friends had come and gone, thanks to Ivan, and he had turned out to be a rat.

For months, Cloe had obsessed that sheneededto have Storm in her life. She had to be important to her sister’s baby because the alternative was that she was inconsequential. Unnecessary.

That wasn’t true. She was here, alive and among the other creatures on the planet. Living life was all shehadto do. Yes, she was uncomfortable right now. Her foot ached and her legs were roasting on one side, cold on the other. She wished she was somewhere dryer and warmer with a hamburger in her hand.

But if she hadn’t had these worries and discomforts, other ones would take their place. She would be stressing about where she would work and how she would make rent and was caffeine really that bad for you?

Life was never comfortable and perfect. Happily Ever After was a myth.

Thiswas what life was. Existing. If you were lucky, you had someone to share it with.

She looked for the raven, but it was long gone. She was curious now what it had retrieved from under the tree, though. A pine cone? A nut?

She approached the place it had landed and spotted the biggest slug she had ever seen, crawling its way along a fallen branch beneath the drape of some ferns. The creature was the size and color of an overripe banana, kind of mesmerizing in its slow, slimy travel.

“You’re the biggest, juiciest worm I’ve ever seen. And dude, if Trystan were here, he would roast you like a hot dog.”

Should she try it? Just to prove she could feed herself if she had to?

As she pondered exactly how badly she wanted to impress no one at all, she realized the branch it was creeping along was a good length and thickness to make a crutch. It even had a Y shape on one end.

“Sorry, dude. I need your highway.” She used a smaller stick to knock the slug away, then kept the small stick to use as a crosspiece. She lifted the branch from the fallen needles and moss, then tested the arms of the Y. They seemed flexible enough to pull toward the main stalk without breaking, but how would she secure a crosspiece to support under her arm or brace her hand?Hmm.

Figuring it out would give her something to do, at least.

“Thanks, raven,” she said aloud and turned to hop back toward her fire.

That’s when a haunting sound floated through the trees, one that made her hair stand on end.

It was the howl of a wolf.

Chapter Seventeen

Trystan had hadtwo hours to ponder exactly how he would handle this, but his normally clear mind was bouncing panicked thoughts off the inside walls of his skull.

Cloe would be fine. It was only a few hours. Animal attacks were actually very rare. It was a wet day, but well above zero. Toddlers wandered into the woods and came out alive. She was an adult with a good head on her shoulders.

She had been scared, though. She’d beenmad. She was hurt and feeling scorned and had talked about trying to walk out on her own, which could turn to disaster very quickly.

Stay where I put you, he mentally shouted at her. A lost hiker was in a hell of a lot more danger than a stranded one.

He walked through the back door into the marina offices and climbed the stairs, accidentally letting the bottom door slam, which woke Storm.

She’d been grumpy for the first hour, then dead weight on his back. Now she began to wiggle and register her displeasure at having been stuck for so many hours in the pack.

Neither Sophie nor Logan was in the marina office, but thanks to their recent renovation, Trystan didn’t have to go downstairs, walk around, and come up into the resort office through the main stairs. He walked through the new door and down the hall, pausing when he came to the open plan area behind a public-facing counter. Umi sat at her desk, but the other two were empty. She was the one he needed, though. Along with being their head bean counter, she was their health and safety coordinator.

“Hello, stranger. Haven’t seen you for a while.” She smiled in welcome.

“Can you see if any of the local SARs are available for an extraction out of Caution Cove?” Trystan began unbuckling the backpack. “Cloe hurt her ankle. Boat is fine. We don’t need the chopper. We can wait until morning if necessary.”

The helicopter was in Bella Coola and this wasn’t life and death. Even so, it was bad enough he didn’t want to waste time getting back to her.

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