Page 23 of Spring Breakup
“Fine.” Dean got up and quickly bundled into his winter gear. His coat was damp from the day before, and Tyler felt a twinge of worry.
“Where are you walking?” Tyler asked. “It’s cold out there.” The temperature had dropped back below freezing that morning once the rain showers had passed. The ground was an ice rink.
“Wherever my feet lead me,” Dean said, which sounded like the most irresponsible, woo-woo bullshit Tyler had ever heard.
“Have fun.”
“I will.”
“Say hi to Sarg for me if you see him.”
“I will.” Dean’s voice was clipped.
“Bye.”
Dean didn’t say goodbye but just trudged outside on his own.
It only took thirty seconds for Tyler’s overthinking to catch up with him. What if Dean got lost out there? What if he hurt himself and couldn’t make it back to the cabin and died of hypothermia? What if there was another avalanche? What if Dean saw Sarg in the woods, and they fucked?
Okay, that last worry was less of a worry and more of a fantasy, but Tyler was enough of an anxious mess to not leave it up to chance.
He grabbed his coat, boots, and gloves and followed Dean outside. The sun was peeking through the gray clouds, sending sprays of light across the lake. Dean was nowhere to be seen.
Tyler tromped—carefully because he figured his next big wipeout would result in broken bones—down the driveway.
Dean wasn’t on the road, but he was picking his way along the edge of the lake, heading in the opposite direction of Silverbrite Springs and the site of the avalanche.
“Wait up!” Tyler called down to him, but Dean either ignored him or didn’t hear.
Tyler determined it would be faster to follow the road before heading down the bank to the lake. It didn’t take that long to gain on Dean. The forest grew thicker, encroaching on the road. There were short trees on the lake side of the street. Willows, maybe, but it was hard to tell as they had no leaves.
He spotted Dean through the trees. He had stopped and had his phone out, pointing it at something Tyler couldn’t see.
“What are you looking at?” Tyler whisper-shouted so Dean would hear him.
Dean jumped at his voice and flicked his gaze toward Tyler. Dean was holding himself very still, and alarm bells started ringing in Tyler’s ears.
“Come here,” Dean mouthed, so Tyler carefully pushed his way through an opening in the willows and down onto the bank of the lake. It was slick and rocky, but he made it without breaking a leg.
Once he was within reach, Dean snagged Tyler’s elbow and pulled him into his side. He gently skimmed his fingers over Tyler’s lips to tell him to be quiet, and Tyler’s body lit up like a dance club.
Dean leaned in and whispered in his ear. “She’s beautiful.”
* * *
Tyler’s breathwas coming fast, and Dean tried to ignore the way that conjured up images in his head he should not have been having. He’d pulled Tyler to him, but Tyler had ended up slightly in front. He smelled good, and Dean was so distracted by that he missed the moose lifting her head and stepping to the next tree.
They were about thirty yards from it. He was shocked by how large the animal was. He’d assumed seeing a moose would be similar to spotting a deer in the wild, but it was not at all the same. The moose looked prehistoric and dangerous.
“That’s a bull,” Tyler whispered. “You said, ‘She’s beautiful,’ but that’s a male.”
“It doesn’t have antlers, though.” Dean said, keeping his voice low.
“They fall off in the winter.”
The moose dipped his head to the ground, and Dean saw that Tyler was right. There were circular bare spots above his eyes where antlers had once been.
The moose lumbered three steps closer, paying them no mind. He was solely focused on eating the thin branches of the shrubby trees along the road.
