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“Contenders? You mean women who’ll marry a stranger and promise not to divorce me before we open next month? Or really any time in the next three months?”
“When you put it like that…”
I sigh, tired just thinking about it. We step out of the meadow and start up a trail that will bring us onto National Park land. It’s cooler under cover of the trees and something in me relaxes. “Gentry wants to set me up with Ellery. Have you met her? She’s the children’s librarian at the library in the center of town.”
“I’ve seen her around.” Daisy’s still staring straight ahead, focused on our run. “She’s beautiful. And really nice.”
Underbrush crunches like something big is stomping through dead leaves. I peer into the forest, looking for a deer or a bear or, more likely, a squirrel. “She’s both beautiful and nice, but I don’t have time to date right now. Plus, I’d feel forced to keep dating her, even if the chemistry’s not there, just so the locals don’t hate me for dumping one of their favorite people.”
Daisy grabs my arm and pulls me to a stop, her eyes bright with excitement. “I have the perfect solution. You should tell everyone we’re dating.”
I stare at her, trying to make sense of her words, but a stick cracks like a gunshot and her gaze shoots over my shoulder and up the trail. She sucks in a gasp, her eyes going wide as she grabs my hand and grips almost painfully tight.
I turn, my heart already thudding. Bigfoot stands on the trail ahead, staring back at us. I wrap an arm around Daisy, pull her tight to my side and take a step back, gaze sharpening on the threat as my adrenaline gears up for a fight.
“How do we tell if he’s getting ready to charge?” I whisper.
“No idea.” Daisy’s words are sharp with fear. “Do we run? Or will that make him think we’re prey?”
Bigfoot stares at us for a moment longer, then raises one over-sized, furry hand in the air, two fingers in a peace sign. He spins and races back into the forest, off the trail, making more noise than three deer and six squirrels in a mosh pit of dead leaves.
“Is Bigfoot a hippie?” Daisy asks. She presses a hand to her chest, her eyes still wide. “I can’t catch my breath.”
I hug her tight. “It’s okay. I’ve got you. He’s gone.”
She melts into me and lets out a sigh that turns into a sob. “That was really fucking scary.”
I kiss the top of her head. “It really fucking was.”
She pulls away and swipes at the tears on her face. “We should get home before he decides to come back and be less peaceful.”
We sprint to the house so fast neither of us has the breath to speak. We get back just as a beat-up red car with a pizza sign on the hood pulls up.
I meet the driver, trade money for pizza, and follow Daisy into the house. I find her in the kitchen, pacing and shaking out her hands. “What if he’d attacked us? What would we have done?”
My heart still racing from the encounter, I set the pizza box on the kitchen table and pull her back into my arms. I can’t stop picturing what Bigfoot could have done to Daisy if he’d decided to hurt us. How helpless I’d have been to save her from a human-sized beast that probably has the strength of a gorilla.
I rub her back. “We’re safe. If he wanted to hurt us, he could have, but he didn’t. He might not even be dangerous.”
She pulls out of my arms, her face dry this time. “I’ve been in some questionable situations in the city, but I know what to expect from a drunk or a kid trying to rip me off and there’s almost always other people around. If Bigfoot wanted to hurt us, there was no one to stop him or even report back to my sisters what happened.”
I’ve lived in New York City long enough to disagree strongly with her assessment of danger, but I don’t argue. She’s a city girl through and through, and it’s not up to me to change her mind. No matter how much I’d like her to stay. “Why don’t we eat? Let’s have some good pizza and forget all about a Bigfoot who somehow knows how to flash a peace sign.”
Daisy grabs a couple of plates and a few napkins and brings them over to the table. Her hands tremble as she sets them down.
I sit across from her and open the pizza box. She holds up her plate and I put a slice on it.
“You didn’t get different toppings for yourself?”
“I like yours well enough,” I say. “Maybe we should have invited Bigfoot over for pizza.”
She gives my poor joke a pity chuckle. “Do you really think he’s peaceful?”
I shrug. “I haven’t heard of any attacks and the forest’s been full of Bigfoot hunters.”
She points at me as she chews. “Unless someone’s covering up the attacks.”
“A government conspiracy?” I nod. “Seems likely.”
