35. Forever For a Bigfoot
Bailey
By the time Sacha carries me back to the Solstice gathering, the clearing is almost entirely empty.
“Give me just a minute.” Sacha sets me down beside a tree. My knees wobble slightly, he presses a small kiss to my cheek. “Wait here. I’ll grab our things.”
I giggle, leaning against the tree trunk for support, watching his butt sway as he walks away. My dress and knees are marked with grass stains, my white Keds might be ‘formally’ white, but everything feels light, airy, easy.
It almost feels like love when I look at him. Do I actually know what love feels like? The thought makes my stomach churn. My instincts scream for me to just take his money and run. His money, that’s the sure thing, the rest of this is unpredictable. I’m safer if I leave behind the things I’m not sure of now.
Screw his feelings. Screw his heart.
Screw my own heart.
A large gray hand lands on my shoulder, startling me. I turn to see who it belongs to and bite back a yelp when I find the largest Bigfoot I have ever seen. She’s stooping so much that her knuckles graze the ground and she’s still a full head taller than me. Her long fur is matted in some places, it’s brindled gray and black and covers her entire body.
“Hello, Bailey.” She smiles, showing large sharp teeth, but her green eyes sparkle and her voice is soft and easy. “I am glad our Sacha brought you.”
“Hi. Sorry, I don’t remember your name?” I ask, even though I am sure we haven’t met yet. I’d remember speaking to a Bigfoot this large. She makes an impressive image, with her height and dark hair.
“I am Mimi.” She lowers herself to the ground beside me, with the slow creakiness of an old woman. When she sits we are face-to-face.
“Oh! I’ve heard so much about you!” I feel myself relax a little. “Thanks so much for hosting this party! And letting me come of course.”
“I am always happy to see a new face. I am glad Sacha has someone to bring, he was always special, he deserves a good mate.”
“He is special,” I say guiltily, watching as, across the field, he helps a Bigfoot family gather their two small children. “I hope he gets everything he deserves.”
“He is going to. This is for you.” Mimi speaks with a slow rhythm where each syllable feels carefully thought out. She presses a package into my hands, something wrapped in a linen bag and tied closed with a piece of twine.
“For me?”
“You are Sacha’s mate aren’t you?” Mimi asks.
“I’m not sure.” I tell her. The word has come up before, but never from Sacha himself.
“It’s pretty easy to tell.”
“Is it?”
“We Bigfoot know instantly. Open it now, my dear.” Mimi’s soft green eyes twinkle as she gestures to the package.
I tug open the bag, pulling out a statue carved from white wood. It’s small enough to hold in two hands, a stylized statue of a Bigfoot, holding someone else in its arms, a smaller figure, shaped like a softly curved woman.
Me.
It looks like me.
“It’s beautiful,” I whisper, tracing my fingers across the smooth wood.
“I’m glad you like it.” Mimi leans back against a tree trunk, “I make one every time one of my family members finds their fated-mate.”
“Fated-mate?” I ask. “What is that?”
“It’s forever,” Mimi says simply.
“Forever, as in…what, like marriage?”
“Bigfoots don’t usually do marriage.” She chuckles. “We don’t need it, we just know, as soon as we meet each other.”
“You think he knew if I was his fated-mate right away?” My eyes flick to Sacha, he’s never mentioned this before.
“Of course he did.” She grins. “We know, the second that we smell each other. It’s fate.”
“I’m not sure I believe in fate,” I say without thinking.
“If you don’t believe in fate then blame science. Hormones, pheromones, all the science stuff—” she lets out a low chuckle that ends in a grin full of terrifying teeth, “humans love their science. He already knows you are the one. He’ll love you forever.”
“Forever?” I catch Sacha’s eye from across the field, he passes me a grin as he helps another Bigfoot wrangle a small child and two folding chairs into the back of a Prius. He’s promised me so many things, surely he would have said something. If he knew. If we were meant to be forever.
“My dear Harry and I found each other almost a hundred years ago. I knew he was the one as soon as I sniffed him, but I still made him chase me.” She sighs longingly at the memory. “He’s been gone for almost twenty years. Never even saw the Decrypting. He would have hated it, was never a fan of human society. Probably would have liked you alright. He wouldn’t have tried to eat you, more than once, I’m sure.”
“That’s very…sweet,” I say, but my heart is still thudding loudly in my ears. “There hasn’t been anyone since then?”
“There will never be anyone else. He was my mate. That’s forever for a Bigfoot.” She rests a hand on a tree branch above my head, using it for leverage as she stands. “You two have a good night, it’s time for these old bones to get back into the woods.”
I try to keep my smile pasted on, even though my stomach feels queasy. “Thank you for this, Mimi. I’ll cherish it.”
She nods, heading into the forest. I watch until she disappears, her figure easily fading into the woods.
I move from my resting spot and head for Sacha.
“Sorry for taking so long.” He swoops me into his arms, pressing a kiss to my lips that I can’t seem to rouse the energy to return. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah. I got to talk to Mimi for a moment.”
“I saw, that’s really great!”
“She gave me this.” I hold up the carved figure. His eyes drop to my hands, his face changes subtly, but he doesn’t say anything. I wait for several long breaths that feel like eternity before I start talking again. “Don’t you think it”s pretty?”
“It’s beautiful, my Beast.” He agrees, but lets go of my hand.
“It’s us.” I add quietly.
“That’s lovely,” He says as he climbs into his car.
I slip the figurine back into the linen bag and boost myself into his large car. Sacha glances at me but says nothing as he turns on the engine and pulls out onto the road. I chew on the inside of my lip, waiting for him to mention the meaning, to bring up the fated-mates, to explain.
Maybe he doesn’t know what the figurine represents? Or maybe he just doesn’t want to say I shouldn’t have it? That I’m not his mate? My stomach twists at the thought of him leaving me for another woman.
I’m falling for him, like the idiot I am, wanting him to love me back, when he already knows if I’m the one, or just another stepping stone until he sniffs the right female. He already knows and he hasn’t said anything, probably because I’m not it for him.
I don’t have the energy or the bravery to ask him in the car. Not after our beautiful day together, and the way he made me feel so perfect and wanted in the forest. I should just leave now, take his money. Do it now, before I fall for him any harder.
“Is everything alright?” Sacha asks tentatively as we enter the city.
“I just—I need to stay at my place tonight. I’m tired and I’m out of clean underwear and–”
“No problem,” Sacha assures me, but he can’t hide the trepidation in his voice from me. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yea. Of course you will.” I try to smile, but the turmoil in my stomach won’t let me. I don’t know if I can handle another person I care about walking away from me.