Page 31 of Squatch Out!
“Please?” I beg.
She lets out an annoyed sigh, probably realizing I’m not going away until I get this information. “What’s her name? I’ll ring her room and let her know that you’re here to see her.”
Relief hits me, and my legs sag. “Thank you! It’s Olivia.”
She pauses typing and looks up at me. “And her last name?”
Uhhhh.Damnit, I have no idea.“Can’t you just use her first name?”
Stepping back from the computer, she reaches over and picks up the phone. Her finger hovers over the number nine. “I think you need to go, or I’m going to call the authorities to make you leave.”
Well, I’m just fucking everything up today, aren’t I? Stepping back, I hold my hands up. “I’m sorry, Susie. I’ll leave. I’m not trying to cause trouble.”
She gives me a look that says,Sure, you’re not.But true to my word, I turn around and leave.
I’m shuffling back to my truck, racking my brain for a way to get in touch with Olivia, when I just happen to look out at the lake and notice a shadow sitting on a park bench. Honestly, if it wasn’t for my preternatural eyesight, I never would have noticed them in the first place. Whoever is sitting there could be anyone, but the way my heart picks up in my chest… I have a feeling that maybe… maybe it’s her.
Changing course, I jog across the parking lot and then across the grass that’s wet with dew and in need of a cut. The closer I get, the more the shape of the shadow starts to resemble Olivia.The way her head is tilted. The color of her hair and how it falls just below her shoulders in a blunt cut. Hope gathers under my ribs just as a gust of wind hits me, and I almost fall to my knees because I’d know that wildflower scent anywhere.
I don’t remember the last few steps that take me to her side, but I’ll never forget the sadness in her eyes when she looks up at me. My heart twists painfully in my chest. Did I put that there?
My legs give out and I drop to my knees in front of her. “Hey, what’s wrong?” I want badly to touch her, but I hold back. For now. It’s dark, and I’m not sure if she can see who I am. Or if she wants a man she only met this morning mauling her.
Panic flickers across her face, and she jumps back from me. But then she stops and leans in. “Sean? What are you doing here?”
“I came to apologize,” I say before she has a chance to run. “Again.”
She stills and cants her head to the side. “Again? For what?” She looks around, squinting into the darkness like she expects someone else. Maybe the guys? But it’s just her and me right now.
“For everything,” I say, gently resting my hand on the armrest of the bench. The cold dew from the grass is soaking through my pants and into my knees as I gaze up at her. “I’m sorry for carrying you off like I did and then leaving you for my brother to rescue.”
“Why did you do that?” she asks softly. “Why did you always leave me?”
My shame leaves a bitter taste in my mouth as I admit, “I couldn’t control my squatch, and… I couldn’t let you see me in both my forms.”
She nods and then turns thoughtful. “And what’s different now?”
I stare up at her as I consider her question. “I don’t know. It feels right that you know my secret, though.”
The corners of her plump lips twitch, but she holds back her smile. “Why didn’t you say goodbye when you left me at the campsite this morning?”
I clench my teeth. Do I tell her the truth? Admit that I wanted to snatch her away from her friends and take her back to my cabin to finish what we started at the trailhead? That seeing her with those men nearly sent me into a jealous rage? How can I be honest with her without sounding like a stalker?
In the end, I only shake my head. “I should have; I’ve felt guilty about it all damn day. You’ve been all I’ve thought about since then.”
“Well, I didn’t say goodbye either,” she says with a soft sigh. “So I guess we’re even.”
It doesn’t feel like we’re even though. “I stopped by your campsite, and they told me you left. Did I–did you leave because of what I did?”
She does a rapid-fire blink and then shakes her head. “No.Yes. It’s… complicated.”
I lean in, so we’re eye to eye. “I’m not usually a complicated guy. Is there a way I can make this right with us?”
“With…us?” her voice goes high-pitched and squeaky at the end. It’s adorable, and I can’t hold back my smile.
“Yeah. I feel like after what happened this morning, we have some unfinished business.” I move my hand so it’s resting on her thigh. When she doesn’t pull away, my next breath comes a little easier. “You left your camping trip early because of me. Right now, you're sad because of me. Telling you ‘I’m sorry’ seems woefully inadequate. I want to fix this—whateverthis thingis between us.”
A heavy silence stretches as she stares at me. Her brown eyes search mine as she takes in everything I just said. I’m startingto worry that she won’t respond at all, when the corner of her mouth turns up into a lopsided smile.
