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“Puppy dog.” She rolled her eyes and slipped back under his arm, passing him a tea towel.
Eve grinned. “Good to see nothing much changes. I think Sienna is heading back home."
“You mean up the damn mountain. In the dark.” Travis braced his forearms on the bench behind me.
I twisted around to stare at him. "In the dark," I repeated.
"She’ll go anyway, regardless of what I say." He shrugged, peeling the label from his beer.
“Yeah, right." I mused over the thought as she stood from the sofa, cast a glance our way through her hair and darted through the door.
“She’s fast,” Jude said helpfully.
Place my beer on the bench to Travis. "Thanks for dinner.”
"You gonna follow her? "
"Wasn’t that the point?" I returned his hard stare.
"Yeah. But if you hurt her–"
“You’ll castrate me and hang my innards from the nearest tree," I finished for him. Teasing the rancher was too easy.
Appreciative laughter followed me out of the kitchen as I started across the open space with large steps and out the door to find my jacket and my boots.
The night air had a cold edge to it, summer’s last grip on fall releasing suddenly. I scanned the landscape, but she was nowhere to be seen. Swearing softly, I jammed my feet into my boots, and took the short flight of steps to the yard three at a time, jumping the last yard. Gravel crunched beneath my soles as I twisted in the darkness, unsure which way to turn.
She’ll head back up the mountain.
Recalling the direction I saw her leave last time, I headed into the trees beyond the bunkhouse hoping to God I found her, and not a bear.
My mind cast back to the bruises all over her arms where somebody grabbed her as I walked. And the fact Travis wasn’t doing anything other than letting her on his land and feeding her. I liked the man, even called him friend, but that crossed a line I wasn't sure I was comfortable with.
I almost caught up with her, tracking the rare flash of white as she wound her way beneath the tree when she took a turn, sprinting straight through the forest, her pale form disappearing in the night like a spirit.
"Sienna," I called out, my voice tight as I chased her, hoping to God I'd be able to find my way back to the house eventually.
This girl.
My jacket offered a little protection, twigs snapping off as I danced around the underbrush as I charged through in what I hoped was the direction she headed. All too soon I came across the river and stopped.
She was nowhere in sight.
"Sienna!" I swiped the back of my hand across my forehead. Jesus, she was fast. Maybe she wasn't here at all, and I’d totally lost her.
And got lost myself.
I peered through the darkness and hoped I wasn't chasing a mountain line or some shit that was going to eat me for breakfast tomorrow. Trav would have a fine laugh over that. I skirted the water where it bubbled merrily, the river widening out to a large, deep pool, where a waterfall plummeted from the mountain’s mouth higher up. Spray splashed me in a mist, drenching me with frigid water.
I climbed over a pile of small, black boulders, made of slippery, cold granite, and stopped. Panting. There, at the brink of the waterfall, stood the girl in a white dress that fluttered around her still form like she’d emerged from the mountain itself.
She turned back, glancing over her shoulder once. Her pale skin reflected in the moonlight. A small smile fixed on her face as she stared at me where I clung to my boulder and prayed I didn't fall into the damn pond.
I blinked and she disappeared into the white water, a sliver of a ghost who was there one moment and not the next.
I shouted her name, the sound lost beneath the waterfall, where she jumped. Not a single extra ripple marred the pool’s surface as I searched the water, but she wasn't there.
"Hang on." I wasn’t sure if I was talking to myself, or to her. I unbuttoned my jacket, but the surface remained unbroken.
