Page 15 of Wilderness Daddy

“Wild man’s been up there for years.” Stella wipes up beer from one of the tables with a man slumped on it. She nudges him with her booted foot but he only groans.

“How do you know he just didn’t go missing?” the blonde asks. “Hundreds of people go missing in the mountains every year. Quite a few women have disappeared in just the last six months here.”

“True, plenty of old camps with everything left behind.” A man sitting alone in a dark corner speaks up. “Bears and cougars have been known to make a meal out of city folk.” He picks up his beer and finishes it before continuing. “We relocate predators from human-wildlife conflicts in those mountains all the time.” He stands and I recognize him; Parker Jackson, a local game warden.

“Nah, I’ve seen him a few times since he went up there, but he looks nothing like a man now. When he first went up, he looked like you.” Stella’s thick finger points at me and my brows rise as everyone’s attention turns to me.

“Tall, neatly shaven, and clean—big as an ox. Had gym muscles. But the last time I saw him, he was bulky, bearded, and had hair longer than mine. He looked like an animal with his overgrown reddish-brown hair but I’d recognize his eyes anywhere.”

“Were they unique?” Blondie asks, sitting further forward on her barstool.

“A little, yeah. They were blue or green.” She looks up as if she’s trying to recall. “Light anyway. But it was something in them that made them stand out. Something deep and tortured. Scared the hell out of me. And I’ve faced off hungry bears.” She shivers for effect and the bar patrons remain silent. “He was a man that was running from something. A man that wanted to get lost and never be found.” Stella loads her tray with empty beer mugs, moving around the bar.

All of the talk of wild men and the wilderness gives me a hell of an idea. My shoulders relax for the first time in hours and I smile as I breathe in the smell of yeasty hops and body odor.

I suddenly know how I’m going to save Steed Wilderness Outpost.

And it doesn’t involve marrying someone with multiple personality disorder.

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