on by the water. But up here, she was in the forest. A real forest. The driveways were dirt paths leading into darkness that made her feel like she’d travelled through time, or at least a couple hours ahead to when the sun would be setting.
“Second driveway,” Charlotte said after they’d driven a while. Then, “So, that’s all? You met, he was sweet, you screwed it up with a stupid bet?”
So Ashley had to explain about the dinner-that-wasn’t.
Charlotte was mercifully silent for quite a while. The she said, “Jesus, we are getting deep into the back country, here. You don’t think he’s luring us out for some sort of
Deliverance
-style revenge, do you?”
Ashley snorted. “He wouldn’t give me the satisfaction of acknowledging that I’d done anything that deserved revenge,” she said. “He’s made it pretty damn clear. I’m nothing. Just a shallow little Hollywood idiot with my plastic friends and my stupid ambitions.”
“You’ve talked to him about your ambitions?”
Well, that caught Ashley a bit off guard. “No,” she admitted. “I mean . . . not in so many words. But I could tell how he felt, just by the way he looked at me.”
“He does glower pretty well,” Charlotte said. “But maybe you were projecting a little bit, too? Maybe he doesn’t have any feelings about your ambitions at all, but you’ve imagined the most negative reaction you can think of and—”
“Third driveway!” Ashley announced triumphantly. “Also,
two episodes
. You are not a therapist!” She turned the car onto the rutted dirt road. It was like driving through a tunnel of trees, and when she leaned forward to look up through the windshield she could only see occasional glimpses of surprisingly blue sky. It should have felt claustrophobic, probably, but it didn’t. She felt safe, as if the forest were giving her a hug.
“We should be leaving a trail of bread crumbs,” Charlotte grumbled.
But Ashley ignored her and rolled down her window to let the magic of the place wash over her.
* * *
JOSH sat on his front porch with his feet up on the railing and cracked the cap of his second bottle of beer as he watched the car bounce up the driveway. It should have felt like an invasion. In a way, it did. He was nervous, almost jittery, and despite his resolution to only clean the bathroom, he’d ended up taking half the afternoon off so he had time to go over the whole damn house. It wasn’t that big of a place, he told himself. And it had needed it. He was just being polite.
Then she stepped out of the car and his brain lost its ability to form excuses. He could only stare. She was so beautiful, and she was at his home, looking around her as if she liked the place, as if she understood that things didn’thave to be sunny and polished to be beautiful.
This
was the woman from the dock, the woman who’d seemed like a mermaid then but who might be a wood sprite now. He’d thinned the trees around the cabin enough that she was standing in dappled shade; the light filtered through the trees and danced across her face as the wind shifted the leaves. She looked up at the porch and she smiled at him, genuine and open and warm, and he couldn’t stop himself from smiling back at her. For a moment, it was just the two of them, without all the rest of it, and they were perfect.
But then a car door slammed and a horse nickered and Daisy the Demon Dog came barreling in from the forest and charged at the new arrivals with a big show of barking and raised hackles, and the moment was gone. Daisy was a black-and-brown terrier-type with mismatched eyes, one brown and one blue; mismatched ears, one straight up, one folded down; and an innate suspicion of almost all humans. A good dog for a man like Josh to have around, really. Josh made himself look away from the people earning her attention and took a long drink before he kicked his feet down from the porch railing and heaved himself upright. “Settle,
“Second driveway,” Charlotte said after they’d driven a while. Then, “So, that’s all? You met, he was sweet, you screwed it up with a stupid bet?”
So Ashley had to explain about the dinner-that-wasn’t.
Charlotte was mercifully silent for quite a while. The she said, “Jesus, we are getting deep into the back country, here. You don’t think he’s luring us out for some sort of
Deliverance
-style revenge, do you?”
Ashley snorted. “He wouldn’t give me the satisfaction of acknowledging that I’d done anything that deserved revenge,” she said. “He’s made it pretty damn clear. I’m nothing. Just a shallow little Hollywood idiot with my plastic friends and my stupid ambitions.”
“You’ve talked to him about your ambitions?”
Well, that caught Ashley a bit off guard. “No,” she admitted. “I mean . . . not in so many words. But I could tell how he felt, just by the way he looked at me.”
“He does glower pretty well,” Charlotte said. “But maybe you were projecting a little bit, too? Maybe he doesn’t have any feelings about your ambitions at all, but you’ve imagined the most negative reaction you can think of and—”
“Third driveway!” Ashley announced triumphantly. “Also,
two episodes
. You are not a therapist!” She turned the car onto the rutted dirt road. It was like driving through a tunnel of trees, and when she leaned forward to look up through the windshield she could only see occasional glimpses of surprisingly blue sky. It should have felt claustrophobic, probably, but it didn’t. She felt safe, as if the forest were giving her a hug.
“We should be leaving a trail of bread crumbs,” Charlotte grumbled.
But Ashley ignored her and rolled down her window to let the magic of the place wash over her.
* * *
JOSH sat on his front porch with his feet up on the railing and cracked the cap of his second bottle of beer as he watched the car bounce up the driveway. It should have felt like an invasion. In a way, it did. He was nervous, almost jittery, and despite his resolution to only clean the bathroom, he’d ended up taking half the afternoon off so he had time to go over the whole damn house. It wasn’t that big of a place, he told himself. And it had needed it. He was just being polite.
Then she stepped out of the car and his brain lost its ability to form excuses. He could only stare. She was so beautiful, and she was at his home, looking around her as if she liked the place, as if she understood that things didn’thave to be sunny and polished to be beautiful.
This
was the woman from the dock, the woman who’d seemed like a mermaid then but who might be a wood sprite now. He’d thinned the trees around the cabin enough that she was standing in dappled shade; the light filtered through the trees and danced across her face as the wind shifted the leaves. She looked up at the porch and she smiled at him, genuine and open and warm, and he couldn’t stop himself from smiling back at her. For a moment, it was just the two of them, without all the rest of it, and they were perfect.
But then a car door slammed and a horse nickered and Daisy the Demon Dog came barreling in from the forest and charged at the new arrivals with a big show of barking and raised hackles, and the moment was gone. Daisy was a black-and-brown terrier-type with mismatched eyes, one brown and one blue; mismatched ears, one straight up, one folded down; and an innate suspicion of almost all humans. A good dog for a man like Josh to have around, really. Josh made himself look away from the people earning her attention and took a long drink before he kicked his feet down from the porch railing and heaved himself upright. “Settle,
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