Page 93 of Forest Proximity
Her cheeks turn pink. “But Adam. You went sorta viral wearingthat. I did that.” She stops to laugh again and barely gets out the words, “This can’t be real.”
“Stevie—”
She holds up a finger, asking me to wait, her eyes bright with laughter. “My boyfriend is the Bigfoot I saw. The thing I’ve been tracking for weeks—the thing I bet on—isyou.” She could use a dry-erase board and a few Harvard kids to map out this tangled web. She gasps. “The bet.My listeners.” Her eyes go wide. “This is so baaaaad.”
I agree. There are many reasons I didn’t admit the truth sooner.
Her big brown eyes peer up at me. “How are we supposed to tell everyone?”
One word catches my attention, filling me with relief: we. I like that Stevie’s still thinking in terms of “we” and not runningaway screaming, which would be completely valid. I might not deserve that “we,” but I’m accepting it gratefully. I haven’t told her everything, though.
“I may have accidentally told Ike about us.” I confess with a wince.
“You told Ike?” she screeches. “Why? What exactly did you say?”
“I didn’t say anything intentionally.” I sit in the chair beside Stevie. “Last night Sammie was playing with my phone, and—”
She shakes her head, fighting laughter. “Can you take off the Bigfoot costume while we talk? I can’t take you seriously in that thing.”
My face flushes. “Oh, yeah. Sure.” I scramble out of the ghillie suit, which is always a bit of a process. I clear my throat. “It’s meant for hunting and observing wildlife, by the way—”
“It forever is, and always will be, a Bigfoot costume.” She softens her words with an amused smile. Maybe she likes my crazy side?She would.
Tossing the ghillie suit down the hall and out of sight, I take my seat. Stevie is seeing the real me now—the guy who wears a shrubbery suit in his spare time and gets mistaken for Bigfoot. And she’s still here. That’s something.
“So?” Stevie flutters her hand, prodding me along. “Sammie was playing with your phone, and ...”
I nod. “She either called Ike, or she answered a call. Whatever happened, Ikemight’veoverheard a conversation between Ruth and me . ..” He didn’t hang up right away. I know he was listening, but I’m easing Stevie into the fact that Ike knows I’m her boyfriend.
Stevie leans in, her eyes full of alarm. “What were you guys talking about?”
Ruth waltzes in. “He told me you were trying to find evidence of Bigfoot before you fess up about having a boyfriend.” Shemakes herself at home in my fridge. She emerges with a can of Coke, cracking it open and gulping it down. She stops to catch her breath. “My brother said he loves you. It was incriminating stuff.”
Chapter 35
Stevie
Ruth’s confession on Adam’s behalf hangs over us, making my heart thump. I want to snatch her words out of the air, examine them, and bask in them. Instead, I put the words in my pocket like a blank check. I’ll cash it in when the time is right, and that time isn’t when Ruth is eyeing me over a can of Coke. I need to get Adam alone. Plus, I have a disaster on my hands. My heart thumps harder at the thought.
Every now and then I have a recurring nightmare where I can’t run. Sometimes I’m being chased—or I’m trying to reach someone, or my house is flooding—but in every scenario my legs refuse to move. I’m experiencing this terror now, only I’m wide awake.
Ike knows I’m trying to fudge the bet. He knows I’ve lost. Have I been wrong about everything—about what I saw, about the men in my life, about the choices I’ve made? The old, familiar feeling in my Achilles’ heel is more than an ache. It’s throbbing. I want to bolt, but I can’t run. There’s nowhere for me to go. I can’t get away from the mess I’ve made.
Suddenly Sammie isn’t so cute anymore.
The toddler stumbles into the living area, dragging Adam’s Bigfoot costume on the floor behind her. She flops against thecouch, flinging her leg up to the cushion and hoisting herself to sit. She grunts, tugging the heavy suit up beside her. “Unkie Adam,” she whispers, patting her chubby fingers on the thing like it’s a big, ugly teddy bear.
Dang it. The kid’s still cute, and my mess isn’t her fault. I let out a long sigh. I need to track down Ike and clear the air, but I’m not ready. What we need is another Biblical rainstorm like the one we had last night. I could hunker down here and make a plan. Unfortunately, the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and I have to face the music.
Ruth’s words are still sitting in my pocket. I have that, at least.
“Ruth.” He drags his hand down his face.
She ignores him. “You’re a major introvert, Adam.” She sips her drink. “I’m helping.”
He groans. “Being an introvert isn’t a disease you need to cure.”
“True, but you can’t deny that you’re happier now than you were before.”
