Page 84 of Play With Me

My daughter let go of Lola’s hand and ran to me and threw her arms around my legs. I lifted her up into my arms and felt her snuggle into my neck.

“Thank you, Daddy,” she whispered into my ear. I was so proud of her as a father for caring about the cub and listening to her biased little instinct. The sad part was that I couldn’t even tell her that. A new pinch of guilt pierced my heart. When I looked up, for the first time since our adventure in the woods, I saw a question in Lola’s eyes I wasn’t ready to answer, and I was certain that it was because I felt ashamed of what I’d done. I wanted to fix it, but at this moment, I wasn’t sure how to do so. I set Sophie down and cleared my throat. “I’ll get some more spring water for the way.”

“I’ll get dressed.” Lola’s voice was low as she looked from me to Sophie and back to me again. She then turned around and went back inside the tent.

“Your clothes are dry,” I called out.

“Thank you.”

Yet her voice was devoid of emotion. An hour and a half later, after we’d eaten and cleaned up the campsite, I began wondering whether Lola still had frostbite on her brain. As we began our trek, she wouldn’t leave Sophie’s side, which my daughter didn’t mind at all, but Lola continued asking her questions about school and home, and I had a suspicion that she was suspicious. A leery Lola could be dangerous. Was she investigating me?

Two hours into our walk, the two of them were still yapping, with Anna chuckling along. Sophie didn’t miss a beat. She answered Lola’s questions as if Jax were her father, and it was beginning to sicken me.

“So, tell me again why your dad won’t let you have a puppy? You obviously love animals and they take to you. If I were your father, I’d get you a puppy.”

“That’s funny, Lola. You can’t be my father. You’re a woman.”

“Well, obviously.”

“I already told you. You could be my mommy.”

I stumbled over my feet. Lola, Sophie, and Anna all stopped ahead and turned around, aiming all sorts of questions at me.

“You okay there, Brook?” Lola asked, coyness floating on her voice.

Was she smirking?

“Keep going. I’m fine. It was a stupid rock.”

Anna shrugged and braced her walking stick forward between the rocks, Sophie and Lola followed, and I lowered my head before I continued behind them. A few feet to our right, the cub had been following us since we left, but that was probably because Lola and Sophie had been feeding it every few miles. As much as I wished the two of them would get along, I hadn’t expected them to get along this well.

“No, you said you wished I were your second mommy, which we agreed couldn’t happen because I sort of like your Uncle Brook a little more than your daddy.”

What? When did this happen?

“Right. Then you could be my favorite auntie if you married Uncle Brook.”

This conversation was quickly breaching my level of comfort. Sophie had almost slipped up, and if I knew Lola, she’d caught on to the fable as well. Playing the role of an uncle was beginning to nauseate me as well. Sophie wasmydaughter. She wasmyblood. Nothing was worth denying the fact. I should have never lied about her being mine.

“You two better be quiet; we’re getting closer to the fork. The crossing isn’t far now.”

For the next fifteen minutes, we followed Lola as she led us toward the canyon. The nice thing about a woman like Lola was that you could depend on her. She knew what had to be done and not much swayed her attention from the goal. I missed having someone I could count on that way. Lola filled that void without fail.

The wind died, and the forest fell silent. Lola crouched to the ground, hovering in a squat. Anna did the same behind her and Sophie followed, all without making a sound. It was as if the three of them had been trained by the same scout leader.

I lowered my body to the ground too and waited for Lola’s next sign. The bear had vanished into the forest as well, as if sensing the danger near our passage to the north. Lola slowly made her way toward me, whispering something to both Anna and Sophie on the way.

“What’s the word?” I whispered.

“Two armed guards down in the canyon. Their rifles are set aside. Looks like they’re bored, because they’re playing cards. I think I can take out their weapons. It’s the safest bet.”

“Isn’t it safer to cross quietly?”

“You and I might be able to do that, but I’m not sure about Sophie and Anna. I can’t risk their lives.”

“Look, we just can’t panic—”

Branches cracked to our right, and we watched as Boo jumped out onto the narrow path and headed toward Sophie and Anna.

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