Page 4 of Squatch Out!
“Uh, who’s this?” I glance between him and the tall blond man. He’s definitely not the pink-haired woman I was expecting.
Completely unbothered by—not to mention, ignoring—my question, Brian holds his arms out to hug me. “Livie! I’m so glad to finally get to meet you in person!”
“Brian, where’s Ashley?” I ask again, stepping back instead of leaning in to hug him back.
Brian’s smile slips and turns forced. “I’m sorry, Livie. Ash had an emergency at the last minute and had to call off. There wasn’t time to tell you.” He turns and motions to the man beside him. “This is Darren. Since Ashley couldn’t make it, I invited him.”
I look over at Tony. He has the same guilty expression I noticed when I first saw him. “Did you know he was coming?”
Tony starts to shake his head, but then nods and admits quietly, “Not until he came off the plane with Brian.”
I look back at Darren, who looks like a nice enough guy, but–
“Brian, why didn’t you say something?”
“It was literally last night. There wasn’t even time to cancel.”
“But there was time to invite another person?” I take a deep breath to calm some of the panic building up in my chest, not loving the way this is turning out. “Look, being the only woman camping in the middle of nowhere with three men is not what I was planning. I’m sure Darren is great, but you really should have told me—us—before just taking it upon yourself to change plans like that.”
“Awww, Livie, don’t be like that,” Brian whines.
I grind my molars at being called Livie for the third time, just as Tony steps up beside me. “Olivia is right; you should have said something instead of going behind our back. Inviting someone we don’t know is a pretty dick move.”
Brian hangs his head, and Darren steps forward, sticking his hand out to me, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble. It’s Olivia, right? I’ve seen you and Tony around the boards; it’s nice to meet you.”
He’s handsome, and his smile is lopsided, which gives him a boyish look. He’s dressed for comfort, in loose jeans and a t-shirt. His dirty-blond hair is in need of a trim, and bright blue eyes stare deeply into mine as he talks. It’s slightly unnerving, but not inappropriate exactly. Still, I find myself giving his hand a quick shake before stepping back with a nervous smile.
“It’s nice to meet you too.” When he mentions the boards, I’m able to put his name with his online persona, and some of the stranger-danger eases up a little.
Darren’s been around the boards longer than I have and moderates several chats. However, other than knowing him by name, I don’t know much else about him, and I’m still pissed that Brian switched out Ashley for this guy without a heads-up.
I glance beside me at Tony, who gives me a sympathetic look that says,I’ve got your back, whatever you decide.
With a long sigh, I give Brian a warning look. “Well, we’re already here now.”
Brian brightens up and then claps a hand on Darren’s shoulder, giving him asee, I knew it would be finelook that makes me want to change my mind.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m dying for some real food,” Brian announces as he takes in my casual outfit before stopping at my bare feet. “We are still planning to have dinner together, right? Or did you want to get room service?”
“Shoot!” I look down at what is basically my pajamas. “I totally forgot we were planning dinner together. After the long flight and drive, I couldn’t wait to get comfortable. If you give me a minute, I can change.”
“I need to drop this off in my room, too,” Tony adds, giving his carry-on a spin. “Let’s meet back here in ten.”
We havedinner in the restaurant attached to the lodge. Tony, Brian and I mostly carry the conversation while Darren sits quietly, only speaking up when one of us asks him something directly. Mostly, it’s a lot of the three of us catching up, since we’ve been friends online for so many years.
We start out by talking about what’s been going on in our jobs and lives, but inevitably the conversation turns to the reason we are all here.
Bigfoot.
Or Sasquatch, if you like. Ape Man. Yeti. Menk. Skunk Man. Whatever you want to call it, to us they are merely variations of the same creatures.
“What would you do if you actually came face-to-face with one?” Brian asks around a bite of fettuccine.
Tony takes a moment to consider his question. “I dunno. Maybe try to get a picture of it. With my luck, my camera will break just as I try, though.”
We all laugh, because Tony always runs into tech problems.
“I don’t even care about getting proof or not,” I respond as I dunk a thick French fry into the puddle of ketchup on the edge ofmy plate. “I just want to see one again, to reaffirm that I wasn’t imagining it.”
