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He hasn’t hung up the phone on you yet, keep talking!
“Yeah, it’s me. The concussion has worn off, and I’m trying to bribe you to talk to me.” I tried to make my request seem friendly and not psychotic.
A low rumble sounded across the phone, like a laugh had accidentally escaped his chest.
I wanted to make him laugh again.
Please say yes, so I can stop groveling. If you say no, I will start to beg in a way that will make both of us uncomfortable.
“I wish I could meet you for lunch, but I can’t. I’m headed out of town today on a work trip. I have to get some samples in a few separate canyons. They are really strict about who they let into certain passes. It’s time-sensitive since the permit is only for this week. It’s a protected wilderness gorge.”
Just my luck. He was leaving town. I guessed an over-the-phone interrogation would have to do, but I really wanted to see him again.
“Anyways, the permit starts tomorrow, and it’s about a four-hour drive to the site entrance,” he stated gruffly and then sighed. “I’m a little pissed I got the assignment, but the rock formations are pretty unique, like layers of waves in the stone. My boss just let me know. I’m heading out in an hour or so.”
Lines of cherry-red and burnt-orange stone flickered through my mind. Gray Eyes touched me as the fiery waves narrowed down on me. They weren’t waves of fire. They were layers rock sediments… in a deep valley.
Oh no!
Not Logan, please don’t let the next man be Logan.I clenched the phone in horror.
“What do you mean, waves in the rocks?”
“I’ll send you a picture. Basically, the gorge is narrow, but the walls of the cliffs have layers of deposit over thousands of years that make it look like waves in the stones.”
Oh, shit.
A message dinged on my phone, and I clicked on the image. Enlarging the photo, I heard a loud roaring sound, probably all of my hope being sucked out of the room.
I blankly stared at the canyon from last night’s dream. Dark shades of orange and reds made stunning and intricate lines into the rock. This photo was taken during the day, when the sun beat down on the cliff side, and my memory was under the filter of darkness. But there was no denying it. This was where I was last night.
“Are you going alone?” I picked at my nails. Then tore off the skin around it, one hangnail at a time.
“Yeah, everyone from work is on other assignments.”
“Can I go with you?” The words slipped from my tongue before I thought them all the way through.
I seemed to be doing that a lot when it came to Logan.
“What?”
“I have some free time, and I’d like to see the canyon,” I lied enthusiastically. I could wiggle out of some research hours since I was done with my classes. I was just focusing on my thesis now. I didn’t have to teach this semester or the next.
I also would like you to stay alive.
“I know our last encounter doesn’t give you a vote of confidence, but I’m very self-sufficient. I won’t hold you back. I can hike all day and help if you need it, with rock samples and stuff,” I offered as four fingers began bleeding from my incessant picking.
Silence.
I counted the seconds and refocused my attention to my cuticles on the opposite hand.
“Are you sure? You’d be willing to play my assistant? Because that’s the only way I could get you into the restricted park,” he said.
“Yes!”
“What about your leg? And your head?”
“Both feel good, and you can even take a gander if you think I’m lying,” I said.
