Chapter Eight #2
Jimbo chooses that moment to bring our cinnamon roll, which he’s helpfully cut in half and put onto two plates.
There goes my daydream of sharing a delectable, sweet treat with Darien from the same plate as we gaze into each other’s eyes, our forks moving ever closer to the center where they’ll meet and…
I shake my head to pull myself from my lust-addled stupor. Clearly, I’m losing my mind.
The conversation pauses as we each take a few bites. Mmmm…warm and melty….
“Wow.” Darien nods. “This is amazing. I’ll be back for this again.”
He will? I wipe the stupid grin off my face and clear my throat. “I get them delivered from the bakery in Hot Springs. They also supply the pies. The next time you’re here, you should definitely try the mulberry. If you’ve never had mulberries, then you don’t know what you’re missing.”
Darien regards me with hopeful eyes. My normally keen senses are jumbled, thanks to my pesky attraction to him. I want to believe his expression means he can’t wait to come back. Or, maybe I’m reading my personal agenda into every minuscule movement he makes.
“I’d like that.”
He gives me a small smile. My dick firms up and I conjure up unsexy things in my mind to distract me. I guess my imagination isn’t very good, because it isn’t working.
We each took a few more bites, then after a sip of coffee, Darien put his fork down.
“This probably isn’t news to you, but from what I gather, there have been sightings of a beast called the Ozark Howler over the years.
The guy I work for at Folksy Foods Natural Market told me some blood curdling stories about it last night.
” He leans forward, folding his hands on the table.
“What I find interesting, though, is that those reports have almost disappeared in the past couple of decades. There’re some theories that either they’ve died out, or it was all a bunch of hogwash, that the modern world has provided logical explanations for the sightings. ”
So that was the lucky guy who’d nabbed Darien as an employee.
“Err…” I shift uncomfortably. “Yeah, of course I’ve heard about the Howler, everyone in these parts has. He’s not as famous as Bigfoot, of course. But he’s helped add to the mystique of the mountains.”
“He? Singular?” Darien narrowed his eyes. “Do you have firsthand knowledge of these Howlers? Because that’s obviously what I saw. I looked up artist drawings, and even though not all are the same, the basic attributes are there.”
“It’s just a tourist legend, nothing more. Heh heh heh.” I reinforce my statement that it’s all so silly with a terrible impression of a derisive laugh.
“See?” he points a finger at me. “You’re hiding something. That’s why you don’t want to report it to the rangers. What do you know? I’m dying of curiosity.”
I glance around the room. At this point, the other two diners have left. Jimbo is in the back somewhere, so we have the room to ourselves.
If nothing else, Darien is relentless. Denying knowledge isn’t going to get me anywhere.
I lock gazes with him. “So, you believe in that kind of stuff?”
“I believe in what I can see with my own eyes,” Darien says.
“I’ve always suspected that extraterrestrials are real.
Once I saw a UFO way out in the California desert, and it reinforced my belief that there’s more to the universe than some would have us believe.
” He chuckles. “In this case, it’s the other way around.
I saw the Howler, then researched it.” He narrows his eyes.
“It’s real, isn’t it? There’s no other explanation. ”
I sigh. Darien’s mind is made up, and I’m screwed.
“I don’t suppose the theory that it was a mutant bear would alter your conclusion?”
Darien shakes his head.
“Hallucination from being knocked unconscious?”
He purses his lips. “I went unconscious after I saw it.”
I snap my fingers. “Right.”
Darien arches his eyebrows. “Well?”
My stomach twists, and I grip my mug so hard I’m sure it’ll implode. Beads of sweat form at my nape.
What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?
“Okay. Hypothetical situation.” I pluck a napkin from the dispenser and wipe the back of my neck dry. “What if the Howler is real? Then what? Would you want him hunted down and destroyed? Kept in a cage and experimented on?
Darien gasps, his shoulders straightening.
”No! Of course not!” He winces. “What a horrible thought. I realize you don’t know me, but I love nature.
I’m a big supporter of environmental causes and care about all wildlife, whether mammal, avian, or cryptid, and everything else.
I would never want something like that to happen to it. ”
I flinch. “Could we please stop referring to him as an it? I think he would find that offensive.”
Darien presses his lips together and nods. “You’re right. Sorry.”
I smile. “Don’t you think twice about it. But if that’s the case and you don’t want to see him harmed, then why go after him? Wouldn’t it be better to leave him alone?”
Darien chews on his lower lip again, which is about to drive me insane.
“Well…” He pushes his half-eaten roll aside. “You have a good point. I guess my curiosity is clouding my judgment. I suppose if I could only see him again, knowing what I know now, I could let it go. I won’t even try to snap a pic. The knowledge would be only for me.”
My heart picks up a quicker pace. Should I…? I swallow hard. Bad idea. Really, really bad idea.
“Well, now that you live here, maybe you’ll spot him again sometime.
” I attempt a casual smile. “In the meantime, I wouldn’t worry about it.
” My mind scrambles to come up with a logical subject change.
“So, you like to hike, huh? I love it. I can show you the best trails sometime if you’re fixin’ to head out and explore soon. ”
What the fuck am I even talking about?
“Oh.” Darien’s eyes widen, and he starts fiddling with his fork. Then his cheeks flush, and he rubs the back of his neck as if I’ve said something wildly inappropriate. “Just the two of us?”
“Uh…” Shit. He’s either scared of me for some reason, or he thinks I’m hitting on him. Yup. Definitely straight. “If you have a girlfriend, you can bring her along too.”
Even though he’s a new arrival, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he’s already found himself a new squeeze. There aren’t a lot of young single men available around here, so I figure he’s probably been scooped up already by one of the local gals.
Darien lets out an uneasy chuckle. “No… No girlfriend.” He looks away, his features clouding as if he’s about to say something else, as if an inner battle is waging in his mind. At last, he peers up at me. “Sure. That would be great.”
“More coffee?”
We both jump at the sound of Jimbo’s voice, me clutching my chest as Darien lets out a small squeak.
Jimbo laughs. “Boy, you two must be in one doozy of a conversation. I ain’t gonna hit you over the head with the pot, just thought you might want a topper.”
Darien and I both laugh it off with Jimbo. I’m also glad that Darien accepts Jimbo’s offer instead of using the interruption as an excuse to make a hasty exit.
Once Jimbo heads back to the kitchen, I find myself overcome by the same awkwardness I felt when I first sat down. Darien doesn’t seem to be faring much better. After a few moments of sipping coffee in silence, I make a determination.
“What’s your schedule like at the market? Seeing as I’m the boss, I can take time off whenever I want.” I chuckle. “For the most part.”
“My days off are Wednesdays and Thursdays, so whatever works for you.”
We discuss the details of our planned excursion, and by the time we share goodbyes, I’m teetering on the edge of giddy.
I need someone to talk me down before I get in too deep. I need Boone.