Starfire(36)

“Peaches, sit down. I’m just joking. I’ve made a few major purchases lately, and I wouldn’t even have the funds available to make someone disappear.”

“Not funny.”

“You don’t have to give me an answer right away, but I’ve tentatively scheduled an appearance together for this coming weekend. If things go well, and the tide of my PR problem turns, it could be the end of your obligation to me.”

“Then what?”

“I don’t know what happens next. Just because I have a plan doesn’t mean I can see the future. All I know is how I feel.” He held his hand over his heart. “I can feel you in my future.”

“As more than an old friend?”

“Yes.”

I stood with my back to the door, my fingertips grazing the cool, metal surface.

“Dalton do you know what I feel in my heart? Blood squishing back and forth, taking oxygen from my lungs and bringing it to my legs, which are going to walk out of here. Blood is still servicing my brain, which is in agreement.”

“Don’t get yourself lost in the forest.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and made a call to Vern, telling him to come pick me up.

“I am sorry about blabbing your secret,” I said. “Which is why I’ll make an appearance with you this weekend. If you think it will help, it’s the least I could do.”

“What about the other thing?”

“Other thing? You mean the pr—” My throat closed off. I couldn’t even say the word.

The proposal.

The ring.

A wedding.

Commitment.

Love.

Love?

It hit me in wave after dizzying wave, so I yanked open the door and took off down the steps. The sun had disappeared, and the woods were tall and foreboding in the dark. I started walking quickly in the direction of the lake.

A few minutes in the cool night air was exactly what I needed to clear my head.

I got to the lake’s edge and thought about walking further, turning right or left, but that would mean making a decision, and my brain wasn’t in a decision-making mood.

An owl hooted, breaking the static of anxiety playing on repeat in my head. The sound of the lake at night rose up around me in the moonlight.

I sat down on the gravel shore, unconcerned about getting my dress dirty.

The owl called to me, a three-hoot call. Another owl, closer to me, answered. Who-who-who.

PLUNK.

Something dropped in the water—something bigger than the first raindrop of a shower. The air was dewy, but the sky was dark and cloudless.

PLUNK.

I squinted at the shimmering surface of the lake. Was that sound made by frogs jumping into the water? Or by ducks submerging?

The owls were answered by other owls, further off in the distance, just barely audible to my human ears.

RIBBIT.

“Holy fuck!” I held my hand over my heart, then laughed at myself for being scared by a frog.

Footfalls sounded behind me, and I took a deep breath of the lakeside air, trying to become one with the serenity.

Dalton sat down a few feet off to the side of me, where he began digging around, clinking pebbles. I knew even before he tossed the first one that he was searching for flat stones, perfect for skipping.

I felt around next to me, located a flat rock, and whipped it out onto the water. My rock made a satisfying smack as it hit the water with torque and then smacked a second time as it sunk.

Dalton tossed his rock, which smacked the water four times before disappearing.

I peeked over to see his teeth glinting in the moonlight, and him looking proud of his stone-skipping.

Searching more carefully this time, I found a bigger, flatter stone, and tossed it out. The stone skipped at least eight times before falling in, its final splashes soft and rapid, blending with the sound of the whatever else was out there, breaking the surface of the water just enough to make me curious.

Dalton tossed the next stone, and then another, not waiting for me to take a turn. He threw the stones harder and harder, grunting with effort, but he couldn’t beat my record of eight.

A vehicle approached on the road behind us, tires crunching on the gravel road. The brief spotlight of the headlights as Vern turned the car around momentarily blinded me, taking my night vision. In the darkness, I got to my feet and started moving toward the waiting car.

Dalton got to his feet and carefully swiped the rocks and dirt from his pants. I could hear his hands swooshing on the fabric. Still, he hadn’t said anything to me.

And what was there to say? Marry me for good publicity? Because you stupidly signed a contract agreeing to do ANYTHING if you blurted out my secrets?

I walked up to the car in silence. Dalton jogged up ahead of me and stood in front of the car door.

“You’ll think about my offer?” he asked.