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Chapter 13
Tucker watched Wynonawalk into the woods, feeling strangely protective of her. She was a wildlife biologist who had grown up in rural South Dakota. Obviously, she could manage a quick trip into the dark woods for some privacy, but that logic did not thwart his concern, which only grew the longer she was out of sight. How deeply into the woods had she gone? It was dark out. She didn’t need to go that far off the trail. Was she paranoid about being out here in the woods with three men? If so, he couldn’t really blame her.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he took it out to see a notification from Date Out. Alone in the darkness, his cheeks grew warm. He tapped the notification to see a note from May. “At work. But I just wanted to say hi. Hope you’re having a peaceful evening.” He smiled despite himself. Good, so theycouldkeep chatting until they could meet up in real life.
The sound of snapping twigs made him look up quickly to see Wynona emerging from the trees. Not wanting to get caught on his phone while on the clock, he hurriedly shoved it back into his pocket. He felt bad he hadn’t gotten to answer May, but he would explain when he could.
Wynona stopped and stared at the light. “There aren’t as many insects as I had hoped for. I was worried about that.”
Martin drifted toward them. “You’re hoping the toad will come out to eat the insects?”
“That’s the plan,” Wynona said. “There’s a lot for a toad to eat in this forest. I was hoping to attract a bunch of food to one place so that he’ll come for it. The bonus is that we’ll be able to see him in the light.” She looked at Tucker and lowered her voice. “It might not be the best plan, but it’s the best I could come up with.”
Tucker nodded. “It’s a good plan. We just need more eyeballs.” And probably more lights. This was such a wild goose chase. He’d spent how much time out here in these hills? And he’d never once seen a scarlet-striped toad. Of course, he wasn’t often out here at night, and he wasn’t usually looking for a toad, but still, they were never going to find this thing.
“I know. I’m working on that.”
“Why, if this is so important, did they only send three people out here?”
It took her a while to answer. “I’m not sure. My guess is funding constraints.”
Tucker chuckled dryly. “You work for the Federal Government. Last I knew, they had lots of money.”
“That may be the case, but I don’t think they send much of it toward U.S. Fish and Wildlife.”
He didn’t know what to think, but he still couldn’t believe they were expecting three people to find one toad in a million acres.
Wynona looked up at the sky, which looked creamy with stars. “The temperature is sure dropping fast.”
Tucker stepped closer to her. “Too bad it’s not raining. I mean, it’d be miserable, but we’d have a better chance.” He didn’t know a lot about toads, but he knew he saw them more often when it was wet outside.
“I thought of that too,” she said. “And there’s no rain in the forecast for ten days. And by then we could have snow.” She was kidding, but it wasn’t impossible. She looked into the darkness, where the trail stretched uphill. “The higher we go, the more likely that it’s to happen.”
“If it snows,” Martin said, “won’t the toads go underground?”
“That depends ...” Wynona said thoughtfully.
After a few seconds, Martin said, “On what?”
“The toad,” Wynona said.
Despite himself, Tucker laughed. “Well, maybe we should look into doing a rain dance.”
