Jo stared at the girl, her shock turning to disbelief, and then to dismay. She squinted at Dove and Dove lowered her eyes. “Sorry,” she whispered.
“You invited her.” It was an accusation.
“I didn’t think she’d come.”
“Great. I’m going home.”
“Jo—”
Red approached them. “Hey, Jo-Jo, how are ya?” She tousled the hair on the top of Jo’s head.
Jo bit her bottom lip. “It’s just Jo,” she replied, smoothing her hair and trying hard to smile.
“I thought you weren’t going to make it,” Dove said. She hugged Red, giving Jo a sideways glance.
“I got off work early. Told ‘em I was gonna barf.”
“Ahh, nothing creates ambience more than a puking server,” Drew joked. He had returned to the group, acting nonchalant, as if he’d been there all along.
“What ambience? It’s Village Inn!” Red giggled.
The group laughed. Jo made a face to mock Red, bobbling her head, but not so Red could see her.
Ben was still lying on his back. Mike grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. Red put her slender fingers around his mushy arm and sat him down. “I’m sorry, Bennie,” she cooed. “I couldn’t help it. That was too good an entrance to pass up.” She rubbed his shoulder. Ben snuffled. His face turned pink in the flickering yellow light.
April held her hand to her heart. “Red you scared the poop out of me.”
Red smirked. “April, if you’re going to say it, just say it.”
April grinned sheepishly.
“Well, we’re glad you’re here,” Dove said.
“Absolutely.” Mike motioned for Red to sit beside him on the log. He looked happier than he had all day.
Red started walking that way—and caught sight of Galen. The commotion had brought him out from under his tree. Her jade eyes roved up and down his body. “Hi, Galen.” Her voice was smooth and sultry. She sauntered over to him, leaving Mike watching her, looking annoyed. “I didn’t know you’d be here.”
“Hi, Red.” Galen shifted on his feet and folded his arms, shaking his hair back from his face.
“This should be good,” Jo whispered and bumped Dove’s arm with her elbow.
Red slipped her hands into her back pockets, puffing her ample chest forward, stretching the soft purple fabric of her shirt to its limit. “Aren’t you cold, sweetheart?”
“No.”
She pulled her hands out of her pockets and stroked the sides of his arms. “Babe, your arms are freezing. Let me warm them up for you.”
Jo waited in anticipation for him to melt from Red’s beguiling gaze, like all guys did. Surely, he was enticed by her perfect body in those skinny jeans; her hips accentuated by a bejeweled black leather belt that sparkled with firelight; the cleavage showing underneath a shirt with too many buttons undone. Jo was certain Galen could not escape this seduction and she hoped they would wander off together into the night, never to be heard from again.
But Galen regarded the girl with a blank expression and in his usual cold voice told her, “No thanks.” He walked away from her and headed to the cabin.
Jo sighed and mumbled, “Darn,” under her breath.
“Humph.” Red placed her hands on her hips. “Friendly, isn’t he?”
“He’s got issues,” Mike said and his face lit up watching Red return to him.
Red squeezed her lithe frame into the space on the log between Mike and Ben. April offered her a hotdog, which she refused. “So, Mike, tell me about the hike tomorrow.”
“Oh, it’s gonna be great. It’s a day’s trip, but it looks easy, according to the map. There’s a swimming hole on the river. That’s where we’ll stop for a while and have some fun.” He grinned.
“Yeah, baby,” Red replied. She squeezed Mike’s knee.
He blushed in the orangish-yellow light. His eyes gleamed as they wandered over Red’s face.
Jo’s heart was squashed.
“There aren’t any bears in the area, are there?” April asked. “I read about a bear attack in Estes Park last weekend.”
“Bears aren’t the most carnivorous animals up here,” Ben informed them matter-of-factly, while squeezing a marshmallow onto the end of stick. “They eat mostly plant foods in spring and summer. I think the mountain lions would be more of a threat. Or wolves.” He lowered the marshmallow to the edge of a flame.
“Thanks, Ben,” April muttered. “I feel so much better.”
“Don’t worry, April,” Drew said, “I won’t let anything hurt you.”
Jo admired April’s effort to keep a straight face. “I know you wouldn’t,” she told him, graciously.
“Let’s go,” Jo whispered and yanked on Dove’s shirt.
“Where?”
“I need some fresh air.”
Dove laughed softly. “I think we’re already in the fresh air.”
“You know what I mean. Besides, we always walk after dinner.”
“Yeah, but that’s in town—where there’s people and street lights.”
“Come on—just a short one—down the trail Mike was talking about. Ok?” Jo’s grin began to dissolve.
Dove’s blue eyes darkened with guilt. “Ok.”
Jo ran inside the chalet to grab a flashlight, but away from the firelight and lamplight of the cabin, she discovered the land was lit well enough by the half-moon. She didn’t use it, except to find the sign for the trailhead just down the road.
They were quiet for a while, walking. Under their shoes the gravel crunched and insects buzzed and clicked in the knee-high grass on each side of the trail.
“I don’t think we should go very far,” Dove finally spoke. It’s kinda scary out here.”
Jo turned her head to gawk at her friend with raised eyebrows.
“I know, I know—you’re usually the fraidy cat.”
“I guess I’m too preoccupied with self-loathing to care.”
“Jo.” Dove spoke her name in a tone that reprimanded and sympathized with her at the same time.
Jo quickened her pace. When she thought about Mike and Red, her heart hurt and a sickness swirled in her stomach.
“Jo, slow down,” Dove pleaded. “Listen, I didn’t think she’d show up. She overheard me and April talking about this getaway and I felt I had to include her. She needs our friendship. Just like Galen.”
Jo contemplated her friend in the scarce light. It was like Dove to take in the wounded and needy. That’s why she chose me. “She hates me.”
“She doesn’t.”
“She hates me, she wants Mike, she’s gorgeous and athletic—everything he could possibly desire.”
“No, not everything,” Dove argued.
“Oh, right, she doesn’t know the Lord. That really seems to be slowing him down.”
“They’re just good friends. They belong to the same climbing and kayaking groups—and all that stuff. They have a lot in common. But he’s never asked her out. I think he just enjoys her company and…”
“And he doesn’t have anything to talk about with me. This weekend keeps getting better and better. I humiliated myself at dinner. I have no chance with Mike. That Galen has some kind of vendetta against me.” Jo focused her eyes on the trail, with the moon’s pale glow leading them.
“Jo, none of those things are true.”
Jo eyes narrowed on Dove’s face.
“Ok…maybe one of them is true. But look, tomorrow will be better. No one will remember anything about tonight.”
“And then we’ll swim, right?”
“You could try it,” she ventured.
“No, I couldn’t.”
“Well—” Dove stopped in her tracks. She grabbed Jo’s arm and yanked it.
Jo joined her in a hunched position. Started, she scanned the shadows under the trees. “What is it?”
“Shhh. Look.” Dove pointed off the path.
Under the overlapping branches, a dark figure materialized into the form of a man. He was on h
is knees, sitting back on his calves. His head was bowed and he was as silent and as still as a rock.
“Who’s that?” Jo whispered.
“I don’t know.”
Jo started to click on the flashlight.
“No, don’t. Let’s get out of here.”
Jo nodded. They turned and took short, quick steps back down the path. Behind them, tree branches fluttered and rustled together. Jo latched onto Dove’s sweatshirt. Neither girl looked back.
“It could be one of the guys trying to scare us,” Jo offered in whispered words.
“It’s working,” Dove whispered back.
“Faster.” They quickened their pace.
Jo’s heart pounded. She turned her head to look back at the trail.
The trail was empty. The trees were colorless, and motionless—except for one. Its branches mysteriously bobbed up and down. A tingle spread across Jo’s shoulders. Back in the shadowy, tangle of limbs, two small round objects were glowing blue—and moving forward. Her eyes widened. She sucked in a breath. “Dove, run!”
The girls sprinted down the path. Jo’s heart beat madly. Before she could react, something appeared in the middle of the trail. She couldn’t stop fast enough and slammed hard into a solid wall. She bounced off it and fell back on the ground. The flashlight rolled away. Dove snatched it up and turned it on, pointing the white shaft of light at a grey object.
“Galen! Oh, my gosh!” Dove bent over to catch her breath.
“Are you guys Ok?” He reached his hand out to Jo, but she got to her feet by herself. She huffed and puffed for air while she swept off her backside. Her jaw ached from the collision.
“We heard a noise,” Dove started to explain.
“Let’s get back to the cabin.” He gently pushed the girls ahead of him. Jo bristled at his touch.
“There’s something back there,” Jo tried to tell him, glancing back at him.
“You’ll be Ok.”
“Yeah, thanks for warning us that you were standing there,” she said angrily, moving her aching jaw around.
“Watch where you’re going next time.”
“I could have broken my neck.”
“Don’t be so dramatic.”
She opened her mouth, but caught Dove’s warning expression.
They reached the cabin and Galen pulled back the screen door and opened the cabin door for them. Dove entered first. Jo took a step forward, but Galen gripped her elbow. She stopped and looked up at him. He bent his head down. His bangs hung away from his forehead and the light grey of his eyes darkened. She had never seen his face this close. His skin was smooth and clean-shaven, ivory and rosy—not a mark on it. His silky hair lapped against his cheeks in pitch-black waves. His plum-pink lips were full. Whatever deodorant he used gave off a faintly sweet aroma. He distinctly pronounced his next words, quietly, yet harshly. “That was a stupid thing to do.” His tone was sharp, such a contrast to the softness in his face.
Jo jerked her arm from his grip. “I can take care of myself.”
“Apparently not.”
She pressed her lips together in a tight pink line. Her mind scrambled for an argument, an insult, anything to put him in his place. He placed his fingertips on top of her shoulders, turned her, and pushed her through the doorway.
“Good night, Jo.”
She whirled around, but he was striding off the porch and into the darkness.
“Galen!”
He stopped and faced her.
“We did see something.” Though Jo was seething, she kept the tone of her voice under control. “It might not be safe out there.”
“I’ll be fine.” He turned and headed into the trees.
“Sweet dreams,” she said scornfully under her breath. It took all her strength to not slam the door. When she turned around, a chocolate chip cookie was staring her in the face.
“Thought you could use one of these.” Dove held the appeasement out.
Jo took it and bit into it savagely.
April was watching Galen out the front window before closing the curtains. “Maybe I should take him a blanket. He’s going to freeze out there.”
The corners of Jo’s lips turned up.
“Tough guy,” grunted Mike on his way to the kitchen.
Ben and Drew hunched their shoulders simultaneously and went back to their chess game. Low, twisting flames flickered inside the stone fireplace, glinting on the silver chess pieces.
“Such an odd duck,” April said. She gasped and her hands flew up to cover her mouth. She faced the room with saucer-wide eyes.
Everyone laughed. Except Jo.
Chapter 8