Chapter 4
Stevie
My feet dangle off the paper-wrapped edge of the exam table, and I swing my hiking boots underneath me.
“Are you saying I have a ‘conk-cussion,’ Doc?” With a snort, I lower my eyelids to ease the ache in my temples.
“Conk. Get it? Because I conked my cabeza.” I can’t stop giggling.
I don’t know what August gave me, but everything is funny right now.
When I open my eyes, I catch my friends making worried eye contact over my head.
August frowns. “Luckily, your CT scan is clear, but yes.” The lines on his forehead deepen.
He’s in doctor mode. “You have a mild conk-cussion. Tylenol will help the headache, and you’re going to want to limit your screen time.
” The corner of his mouth turns up. “Try not to use your brain, if you can avoid it.”
Marlow bites back a grin.
“Shut up,” I tell her, with no heat behind the words.
I’m glad Marlow and Diana came to the hospital, even though Ike was supposed to take them home. I need my friends after this long night, and they seemed to know that. Between the horrendous date with Desmond, the concussion, and the sighting—the sighting!
I gasp. How could I forget? “You guys!”
Marlow, Diana, and August crowd around me, concern all over their faces.
“What’s wrong?” Diana asks, her hand on my shoulder.
“I saw one tonight.” I can’t quite say the word. I’m easing them into this information. I need to give them all the details so they don’t think I’ve lost my mind. I'll tell them what I saw, and they can draw the only logical conclusion. Or they’ll tease me about it, like they usually do.
Of course, they already know my brothers and I used to look for them.
My three older brothers claim to have seen evidence.
My oldest brother, Conor, even says he saw one once, when he was twelve years old and I was six and way too young to be following my brothers through the woods.
Then we grew up, and my brothers stopped looking. They moved away, and I stayed behind.
I’ve never doubted that there could be something unknown living in those thick forests.
This is a big world. Anything is possible.
I’d just given up hope that I’d ever see anything.
And it isn’t like I talk about the existence of this particular cryptid every day.
Until tonight it hasn’t come up in conversation often.
My friends never gave up ragging on me for it, though.
When the opportunity presents itself, they are quick to take it.
Well, they’re about to eat some humble pie.
“After dinner with Desmond I went out to the woods, and I saw one.” My eyes widen, and I whisper the words: “A sasquatch.”
Diana shoots August a questioning look over my head.
Marlow frowns, biting her lip.
I hold up my palms in the universal symbol for I’m not crazy, I just saw Bigfoot. “I know you guys don’t believe this stuff, but trust me. When you see my pictures . . . Aw, crap.”
I finally remember that my phone, along with all of my photographic evidence, is lying on the ground somewhere in the forest.
“Did you see the sasquatch before or after you hit your head?” August murmurs, peering deeply into my eyes like he's checking my pupils again.
“Before.” I bat him away. “Listen to me. I know you think—”
“What did you see?” Diana asks. “Tell us what happened.”
Ever since we were kids taking the shortcut through the woods from her grandparents’ house to my house, she’s known I keep an eye out.
She's never mocked me for it the way Marlow does. Diana has the unique perspective of someone who has had plenty of crap said about her behind her back. She knows how it feels to be made fun of, so she’s more open-minded than these other dum-dums.
While August types something on his laptop, I take a deep breath.
Here goes nothing. “Okay, so I’ve spent a lot of time in the preserve.
I know what’s out there—the usual animals, the usual sounds.
” I run my hands down the short dress I wore on my “date.” How was that date only a few hours ago?
I’ve lived another life since then. “Just before sunset, I was maybe a quarter of a mile into the woods when I saw something from the corner of my eye. I stopped. I looked over, and it was—”
“A black bear?” Marlow guesses.
“This wasn’t a bear. It was walking like a person. Bipedal.” Yes, this is good. Bring some science-y words into it, Stevie.
“Bears can walk on two feet,” Diana says with a tiny wince like she's hesitant to remind me.
“Not like this.” I shake my head, and the movement aches. “Besides that, it was shaped like—”
“Like Homo sapiens?” August guesses. “Like a human?” he asks, like I don’t know what Homo sapiens means. This guy.
I need Ike here. He’d at least humor me. He doesn’t necessarily believe in Bigfoot, but he’s open-minded. He just wants proof. And this time I have some, but it’s on my phone—which has likely been dragged into a raccoon’s den by now.
“It wasn’t a person. It was way too tall to be human.” I remember not to shake my head this time. “It wasn’t a bear or a person. I’m telling you, it was huge.”
“Was it hairy?” Marlow bites her lip. “Did it have a family with the last name Henderson?”
I groan, but I’m choosing to pretend my friend isn’t razzing me. “Yeah, it was hairy.” I slide down from the examination table but regret it quickly when the room spins around me. I stumble back a step. “How long am I going to be dizzy like this, August? This sucks.”
It’s convenient that this concussion didn’t happen during the school year when I’m on my feet for nine hours a day. This would never work. It would give my choir students way too much material to work with. Teenagers are ruthless.
Luckily, I only have a few shifts at Marlow’s Diner this week.
I have plenty of time to get over the vertigo and back out in the woods.
I’m determined to find whatever I saw. I can’t believe it was out there tonight—right there, barely out of reach.
And unless that sasquatch was just passing through, it’s still here somewhere.
I need to tell my brothers, and I can’t do that until I find my phone.
That’s item number one on the agenda, right after I walk across this room without running into a wall.
August guides me back onto the exam table.
“It’s hard to say how long the dizziness will last. It could be gone tomorrow.
It could be a few days, or weeks.” He thinks I can’t see him checking out my pupils again.
“But until it clears up, you shouldn’t operate a car.
No driving. You need to rest and let your brain heal,” he repeats gently.
He knows exactly what’s going on in my head.
“I’m serious about that. No bright screens.
None of your crossword puzzles. No hunting for Bigfoot. ” He almost keeps a straight face.
He’s a good man. Marlow is lucky. Men like August are a rare breed. But August is crazy if he thinks I’m going to sit at home doing nothing when there’s a sasquatch nearby.
“I’ll be honest, August.” I brace myself before I stand. I’m prepared for the spinning this time, but my head still thumps with the movement. “I’m going to ignore your advice.”
He purses his lips and shakes his head in defeat.
Marlow sighs. “Why?”
“Because I know what I saw, and I want to find it again before it moves on.”
Diana’s eyes turn serious. “It’s like gambling. She got a small payoff, and now she’s going back for more,” she says to Marlow.
That’s exactly how this feels, actually. I’m itching to get back into the preserve and look around. It drives me nuts when my friends are right.
Marlow is over there nodding with a smug grin. “You know what?” she asks Diana.
“What?” I ask because I sense the mockery is about to intensify, and I’m not letting them talk around me. They’re annoying tonight. Or maybe that’s the conk-cussion talking.
“Maybe she’s onto something.” Marlow is still looking at Diana instead of me. “The odds of Stevie finding Bigfoot are higher than the odds of us finding a man who she thinks is good enough for her.”
She’s just mad that the date with Desmond didn’t work out. On the drive to the hospital I found out that my friends had a bet going. Marlow lost money tonight, plus she owes August pancakes every Saturday for a month.
I scrunch my face, tipping my head to the side. I’m certain I can find that sasquatch. A decent man? Not likely.
“Two mythical creatures.” Diana snorts. “Bigfoot and a man who’s good enough for Stevie Sullivan.”
“One mythical creature,” I clarify. Bigfoot exists.
Marlow rolls her eyes. “There are plenty of good men out there, but your bar is in the clouds.”
“Ha!” The short laugh shoots from my mouth like a bullet. This conversation is taking a turn from lighthearted teasing to hitting multiple nerves. They sound like my mom. I press my fingers to my temple. “And that’s a bad thing?”
I stand by my preferences. Between my dad and my brothers, the bar is high. It isn’t unreasonable, though. The fact that no man will ever live up to the other men in my life is unfortunate, but what can a girl do?
And who is Marlow to be critical? She has August. He’s perfect. Diana found Ike, another ideal man. I’m not allowed to have standards, though? Marlow has activated my feisty Irish genes.
“You know what?” My eyes tighten at my annoying friends.
I’ll love them again tomorrow when I’ve slept and my head isn’t pounding.
Right now I want to fight. “I’ll find a sasquatch—again—before you two find the perfect man for me.
” My lip curls. “Not even a perfect man. I’ll make it easy.
You can’t find a Good Enough man before I find another sasquatch. ”
“Want to put your money where your mouth is?” Marlow grins. “A little wager?”
I laugh. “I’m a public school teacher. I don’t have money.” If I did, I wouldn’t take whatever shifts she’ll give me at the diner during the busy summer months. I’d be hiking in the woods every day.
Marlow gives Diana a knowing look. “Not money, then. Just a friendly bet, because I say you’re wrong.” The corners of her mouth curl. “You can’t find a sasquatch before we find the perfect man for you—and we will find the perfect man. Not just good enough. Let us set you up—”
“No.” I shake my stupid head again, and my brain feels loose, like it’s bumping around in a spiky cage. “No more dates.”
“You’ll never find a man without going on some dates,” Diana cuts in with a snort. “You aren’t going to run into him in the woods, Stevie.”
Shirtless Adam’s face flashes in my mind.
It’s an easy image to summon—it’s been popping into my head since we left the preserve.
He was even prettier up close with that longish hair, the tan skin, and those huge dark eyes.
But I reject the thought immediately. He’s not the one.
The One won’t need to be told to wear a shirt in public, and he’ll know not to abduct unconscious women.
I didn’t need to date the guy to figure that out—not that Adam would go out with me, anyway. The guy is a hermit.
“She won’t do it, because she knows she’s wrong,” Marlow needles.
I see through her. She knows my Achilles’ heel, and she takes advantage of it. My friends know I hate to be wrong.
The click of keys fills the silence that follows. August, wisely, has worked on his laptop through this whole ridiculous exchange. The gleam in his eyes tells me he’s enjoying every bit of this, but he’s smart enough to keep himself far from the fray.
My friends are nuts. I’m not crazy; they are.
Marlow is the one who’s wrong. An irritating ache builds in my Achilles’ heel, and I fear the only way to get rid of it will be to agree to this dumb bet.
If I don’t, Marlow will think it’s because I’m doubting myself.
I’m not. I know what I saw out there tonight.
They aren’t going to find the mythical Good Enough man, but I can find a sasquatch again. Plus, it’ll be fun to prove I’m right. I need to start that podcast. I already have a catchy premise: Can Stevie Sullivan find a sasquatch before her friends find a Good Enough man?
My wheels are turning.
“I’m in,” I announce. I’m strangely giddy about this. I have an excuse to hunt for Bigfoot all summer. My brothers are going to love this.
August looks up in shock. “You’re doing it? You know they’re going to send you on even more dates.”
I shrug like it’s no big thing. It totally is, but if I don’t think about it, I can’t psych myself out.
Marlow grins like a cat, and I swear a canary feather pokes out between her teeth. “We’ll find you a man before the end of the summer, but you can’t be a pain in the butt about it. You’ll go on dates with an open mind—”
“And you’ll accept my sasquatch evidence with an open mind.”
Marlow and Diana nod.
“Deal,” Marlow adds with a grin. “And if we win, you admit to everyone that you were wrong about Bigfoot.”
There’s an inexplicable tightness in my chest. “And if I win, you admit that I’m right.” That’s all the motivation I need, honestly.
Marlow and Diana nod.
“You know that you women are crazy, right? Like, actually insane. Every one of you.” Lines form between August’s eyebrows. “And I was worried this would be a boring summer.”