Page 79 of Wolf's Chance

Outside the men’s room, I waited for Willow, and she emerged not long after me. I noticed her face was wet and she was rubbing her hands on her jeans. “Splashed my face to hope I looked less like death warmed over,” she told me as we waited to be seated.

I hadn’t and now I wished I had. “Good call.”

When we were seated, armed with menus, we fell into silence again as we surveyed the menu.

“What’s good here?” Willow asked, looking up. “You’ve been here before. What do you recommend?”

“I always take the all-day breakfast.” I pointed to another dish on the menu. “Or chicken and waffles.”

Her nose wrinkled at the suggestion. “Nope.” She perused the menu for a moment longer, looking up just as the server appeared.

I ordered the breakfast and coffee. Willow ordered an egg white omelet, a side of fresh fruit, and toast. She had her usual pot of tea and asked for a glass of orange juice too.

She saw my look as the waitress walked away, and reaching over, she took a straw from the holder, not meeting my eye. “It’s definitely my turn to pay.”

I wasn’t embarrassed that I didn’t have the means to pay for the food. Money had never really bothered me, but I knew enough about human men that some would be disgruntled that the woman was paying.

Those men, I called stupid. For Willow, I merely dippedmy head in acknowledgment. Let her interpret that as she would.

It didn’t matter what she thought of me. It wasn’t important at all. Because if it did matter…then I was already in too deep.

Andthatkind of danger I couldn’t afford. At all.

TWENTY-ONE

Willow

The air wascrisp and cool, filled with the scent of pine and earth as we made our way through the dense forest. We’d eaten late, and then after that, we hit the road again. Caleb had parked the truck on a side road I would have driven past, never seeing it, it was so concealed.

He’d made a makeshift holder for my art and was carrying it like one of those big pizza delivery carriers. He’d muttered about some of the boxes, and then he made the call to leave them. I knew he wanted to destroy them, but he saw my look and instead flicked through them and left ones behind that he deemed weren’t worthy.

He hadn’t said it, but he kept looking at me as if he was expecting me to fall down at any moment. The fact that I was expecting me to fall down at any moment didn’t help either.

The towering trees loomed above us, their branches casting long shadows that looked like fingers stretching across the ground as the sunlight started to creep across the sky. The mountains above us were a jagged silhouette against thedarkening sky, and the whole place was eerie and throwing off horror movie vibes. Honestly, if I were on the sofa watching this film, I would be screaming at us both for being idiots who deserved to die.

The path that Caleb was following was barely visible. I doubted few hikers used it. It looked more like an animal track than a trail or path.

Caleb moved with a grace that I envied, his movements silent, his body fluid and sure. He looked so comfortable out here, and I didn’t doubt that he was familiar with this land like the back of his hand. He was the exact opposite of me. Where he was one with the scenery, I was crashing through the landscape like a bull in a china shop. Every step I took seemed to reverberate through the still evening. I’d tripped and stumbled so often I knew he knew I was struggling to keep up.

When my foot caught on a hidden root, I fell forward, knowing the impact was going to hurt, and I braced myself for the fall. I didn’t fall, a strong hand caught me, pulling me back into his chest, waiting while I regained my footing.

“Thanks.” I instantly missed the warmth of his hand as he withdrew it, seeing I was steady again.

“Are you doing okay?” Caleb’s voice was low, but I could hear the barely concealed amusement. It was quite obvious I was notdoing okay.

“As we discussed, hiking isn’t my thing,” I offered with a self-deprecating laugh.

I heard his answering low chuckle, and I caught his rueful smile as he met my gaze. “You’re doing better than you think,” he offered, and even though I knew it was bullshit andthat I was doing as badly as I knew I was, his false compliment made me smile.

Instead of calling him a liar, I dipped my head in acknowledgment while trying to shake off the embarrassment of falling over, again.

Caleb’s attention went back to scanning the trees, searching the shadows, and his wariness made my palms clammy once more. He looked casual and relaxed, but I’d come to decipher some of his characteristics, and I could see the tension that he tried so hard to hide from me. He looked so alert, so ready to react tosomething, that I was having a tough time not hyperventilating.

Did he expect us to get attacked at any moment? The idea scared me too much to ask because I didn’t want the confirmation that this was exactly what he was waiting for.

As we walked further, the trees closed in around us. The forest seemed even more foreboding as the tall pines formed a dense canopy above us that blocked out what little light was left in the sky. The climb was gentle, but there was no denying that the air was getting colder, and thinner. The unmistakable smell of pine would put me off Christmas for life, I was sure. A shiver ran through me, and I wrapped my arms around myself, wishing I’d had the sense to take a jacket.

When I’d packed, I hadn’t expected an excursion through nature. I’d stupidly thought Caleb’s friend wasaccessible, and by accessible I thought within an urban area.

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