Page 53 of The Sasquatch and the Hairdresser

Knowing the challenges he’s faced and how much he’s overcome makes me admire him even more. “Skylar, you’re a truly remarkable person. You should be so proud of who you are and what you’ve achieved.”

His gaze returns to mine, and his soft smile makes my heart skip a beat.

“Somehow you always know how to say just what I need to hear. That’s a pretty amazing superpower you have there, Hal.”

My chest tightens and I inhale sharply. Somehow, right now, it’s like someone is really seeing who I am—and it’s all that much more powerful that it’s the man I love.

I blush and stammer a little. “I-I just want you to know how special you are. Always.”

Skylar rubs a hand over his heart and gives me a lopsided smile. “Right in the feels, Hal. You’re totally winning at this whole wooing thing, by the way. I’m gonna have to step up my game.”

No, you cannot swoon right here and now, I remind myself.

Akram comes to the rescue and sets our drinks down in front of us, then wanders off again, as if sensing the intimacy of our conversation.

Skylar’s opened up so much to me in the past few days, it’s my turn to do the same. “I understand how tough it can be to forge your own path, especially when you don’t have family support behind it.”

He leans his elbow on the edge of the bar and rests his head in his hand as he studies me with open interest. “Not to probe too deep if you don’t want me to, but you and Astraea have mentioned that you’re different from most sasquatches. You’re the first one I’ve ever known. What’s your life story, babe?”

Oh. My. Goddess. Did he just call me babe?

He did. He totally did.

I cannot wait to tell the forum about this!

It takes me a moment to collect myself like a responsible adult while my heart is still doing cartwheels. This is an important conversation, after all. “Well, I’m kind of the black sheep of my family,” I admit. “Sasquatches prefer a more isolated life in the vast forests of the Pacific Northwest.”

Skylar’s eyes widen. “Is that where you grew up? How’d you end up out here?”

I nod. “My family’s all still there. But when I came of age, I knew I didn’t want to stay.” I chuckle. “If I’m being honest, I knew from early on that I didn’t connect with the lifestyle they, and pretty much everyone else among our kind, prefer to live. I was born just a little bit different than the rest of them.” I can’t help the small sigh that escapes me. “So as soon as I could, I set out to travel across the country in search of a place I could truly call home.”

“That must have been fucking scary.”

“It was hardest when I left behind the concealment of the forest. My kind are not always… well received among humans. Some still regard us as figures from old myths and folklore, but our reality rarely matches what humans have built up in their minds.” My mind wanders back to those terrifying first months alone on the road. “I walked east and just kept going, often traveling at night and sleeping during the day to avoid humans.”

Skylar gapes. “You walked the whole fucking way here?”

I fiddle with the straw in my drink. “I’m too large for most human vehicles, and I don’t know how to drive anyway. Walking is how sasquatches usually get to wherever we’re going, so I just went in a direction most of my kind rarely go. They prefer to travel into the wilds of British Columbia and Alaska, but that’s about it.”

Skylar sips at his drink, brow furrowed in thought. “I bet that was kinda lonesome.”

You have no idea.

“It was. Several times I thought about turning around and going back home. Having a cell phone so I could listen to audiobooks and keep in contact with my family helped me get through the hardest stretches. But I knew if I didn’t see it through, I’d regret it, so I trusted my instincts and kept going.” I smile to myself. “It was worth it because when I arrived in Mystic Hollow, I sensed right away that this was the place I was meant to be, that this was home. I’ve been here ever since.”

Skylar’s eyes shine with excitement as he leans closer. “Same! I’ve never felt anything like it. Sort of electrifying, but also so damn comforting. Wasn’t quite sure it was real at first.”

We share a look of mutual understanding.

“Once I got here, everything happened so fast. Before I knew it, I’d bought the B&B from the previous owner, who wanted to move closer to her daughter’s family, and settled in. For the first time in my life, I made friends and became an active member of the community—I belonged. Now I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”

No matter what my family has to say on the matter.

Skylar sips at his drink and then pops one of my homemade lozenges into his mouth. I now make them fresh for him every week, and he keeps a stash of them in his coat pocket. I try not to smile at the thought. Knowing they help him curb his nicotine cravings fills me with joy.

“Tell me more about your family. Do you miss them?” Skylar says around his lozenge. “What do they think about you living so far away?”

“My mother is Maple and my father is Douglas, as in Douglas fir.”