Page 45 of Wild in the Woods
Her legs ached from all the walking and her muscles were exhausted. The adrenaline rush from the bear had left her depleted, as if the energy had been wrung right out of her. She could quit. Tell Fox that this had been a mistake and go back to civilization, hop the next flight, and go home.
But then her father would win. Rudd would win. What was new?
“I hate to sound like I’m nitpicking.” Fox’s voice cut through her thoughts. “But I need your attention and focus on your surroundings and not whatever is going on in your head.”
“What?” She blinked, as if coming out of a haze.
“Exactly. You’re a million miles away.”
“Sorry.”
“Want to talk about it? Therapy by Fox is open for business.”
Lulu caught up to him, so they walked side-by-side. “No, but thanks.”
But the wheels kept turning in her head and she felt like she was going to burst. “My father called and demanded that I come home immediately. Can you imagine? I’m a grown woman doing my job, yet he thinks he can tell me to drop everything because he doesn’t like what I’m doing.”
Huh. Voicing it out loud felt good.
“Why doesn’t he like it?”
“This assignment embarrasses him. It’s a pointless article about outdoor adventure in a men’s magazine and not, you know, a paper in a medical journal or a hardcover nonfiction from a New York publisher.”
“I thought you said you’d only told your boss and Olive about coming out here with me.”
“I did, but my boss told Rudd, who is extremely jealous that I’m doing this and not him, and he called my father. They’re tight, even though I broke it off with Rudd six months ago.”
Fox was quiet for a while. She wondered if he was judging her? Probably thought she was pathetic. She was. Letting her family and her ex have this much power over her only displayed how weak she really was.
“Tell me, Lulu, what’s your dream job?”
“What’s that got to do with anything?”
He lightly touched her arm, fingers lingering. “Hear me out. Being a reporter doesn’t seem to feed your soul. I’m sure you’re good at it, and you’re certainly tenacious enough to get the job done. Yet, I get the sense this job isn’t in here.” He put a hand over his heart.
He’d picked up on that, huh? She usually schooled herself so well that people couldn’t tell how dead she really was inside. The only person who knew what had led her to that empty hollowness was Olive. The compulsion to share it with Fox was strong enough that she gave in. Why not? She’d already blabbed about her father, why stop now?
“I changed majors to make my father happy. I was originally a fashion major. I’d promised him I’d earn a dual degree in something more respectable but when I couldn’t make up my mind, he demanded that I drop out of fashion school and go into journalism.” Her body felt heavy from relieving it again. The way he’d looked at her. The sound of his voice. “He said journalism was at the bottom tier of respectable degrees he would accept, then tried to coerce me into medical school saying he only wanted me to be successful.”
Fox didn’t say anything, just nodded as if he understood and kept walking. Suddenly second guessing herself, she wished she hadn’t told him. Who knew what he thought about her now.
They came to the crest of a small hill and began to descend.
“What about your vlog?”
They’d gone so long in silence that his voice startled her. “You know about that?”
“I wanted to know who I was dealing with, so I did a little digging. Your videos are well produced. You seemed to love it. The studio was very professional. And you earned a hell of a following.”
Lulu took a deep breath and looked to the sky. “My grandmother left me a small inheritance. I used it to invest in some good camera equipment and a two-year lease on a studio I really couldn’t afford. I knew if I spent the money, I’d have no choice but to follow through on my plans for the vlog. Once I got started, it just… grew.”
“Because you loved it.”
She nodded, a wan smile on her lips. “Yeah.”
“That was your dream job.”
Lulu glanced at him, and because she couldn’t resist, snagged the outside of his wrist with her fingers. He moved his arm closer, and her hand slid down his until their fingers bumped. His pinky looped around her thumb and slowly, one by one, their fingers entwined.
