Page 8 of Midlife Wolf Captured My Heart

“Dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes. Would you like a beer, sweet iced tea, or orange juice?”

“Whatever you’re having is fine,” he said.

She poured him a glass of tea and they sat down at the table.

“The kids loved your presentation. There was almost a stampede of them coming into the library to check out your books. A couple of the kids were already interested in science and planned on majoring in different types of science studies in college. I have one who said he would love to talk to you more about your work and said that it would be great to do what you do, only he’s into bugs.”

“I would love to come in and talk to him, whenever he wants. Set up a time and let me know.”

She flashed a smile at him that melted his heart. “You’re the best.”

“I’m all about inspiring the younger generation. Besides, insects are very important. They are pollinators, decomposers, food for other animals, or they hunt insects. Everything has its place.”

“True enough.”

Throughout dinner, she asked him questions about the different places that he’d been and some of the animals that he’d captured on film. Unlike a lot of people who just wanted to hang out with someone who had been on a national network, she seemed genuinely interested in his stories.

“I would love to see more of the world someday.” Sadie sounded wistful and he could detect a “but” in her statement.

He raised his eyebrows at her, waiting for her to continue.

“It would as I take vacations, a couple weeks at a time. My heart is here in Angel’s Creek.”

Dakota felt a twinge of disappointment at her words. He could almost picture the two of them traveling around and exploring the world.

“Your life sounds so exciting, but there’s something to be said for putting down roots and being a part of the community. Don’t you ever miss that?”

Her question caught him off guard. For years, he thought that his lifestyle was all he could ever want, and he dreaded the time when he would get too old to just go wherever life took him. He didn’t have anything that didn’t fit in his truck. For just a second, the thought of having a permanent place to hang his hat sounded nice. Then, he shook it off. He wasn’t domesticated enough for that and after a while, he would get restless again.

“To be honest, I can’t imagine life that way. I love the idea of being in one part of the world one month and a completely different part the next month.”

“Having a home base wouldn’t be bad though.”

“Maybe.” He finished the last bite on his plate. “This was delicious. If we keep this up, I’ll double my weight while I’m here and I’d never be able to keep up with even a herd of turtles.”

“Don’t you mean a bale of turtles?” Sadie teased.

“That’s exactly what I mean, a dole of turtles.”

After dinner, they went out back to sit on her glass-enclosed deck. The night was clear and Sadie loved looking out into the night.

They talked about philosophy, arguing about whether Jean-Paul Sarte’s tenets of existentialism were valid, and discussed his book,No Exit.Dakota couldn’t remember the last time he had discussed such a deep topic with anyone and found it exciting that she could hold her own in the debate.

Dakota looked deep into her eyes as something stirred inside of him. “You know, I’ve traveled the world, but I’ve never met anyone quite like you.”

She turned toward him a little more. “Is that a good thing?”

“It’s intoxicating.”

He leaned in toward her and Sadie met him halfway. Their lips met with a soft, tentative kiss. The kiss deepened and Dakota felt a surge of emotions he had never experienced before.

Her fingers tangled in his hair and he pulled her closer to him, reveling in the warmth of her body pressed against his.

When the kiss ended, his heart was beating a million miles an hour. He gently tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear and smiled. “You know I never expected this when I came back.”

“Me either, but I’m glad that it happened.”

They spent the evening cuddled together on the couch, talking about everything and nothing, laughing, and kissing. He jumped when he looked at his watch and realized it was midnight.

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