standing beside a massive fuzzy figure. I couldn’t tell what the man’s face looked like but his hair appeared to be a brownish color. If I didn’t know he was human, I would have thought it was a bear standing beside my daughter.
My heart was pounding so hard I was sure it was going to crash out of my chest like the Kool-Aid man as I crouched down and pulled Luna into my arms. My mind raced with all the possibilities of what could have happened to her.
I’d only meant to close my eyes for a second, but after driving forty-eight hours straight, I hadn’t been able to stay awake. I had no sense of how long I’d been asleep, I was just so happy to be holding my baby in my arms again.
“Luna what are you doing?!” I asked breathlessly as my brain slowly processed that she was safe. “You know the rule about opening the doors and going outside.”
There was a strict no-opening-the-door policy in our house. One that she’d never broken before.
“I didn’t. The door was open.”
Shit. The screen that was flapping in the wind when I woke up. It must have a broken latch and opened when I fell asleep.
We’d never lived in the country before. Luna knew not to leave our condo in the city. But on the long drive, I’d told her in the country she’d be able to play outside. It had been a pathetic attempt to soften the blow of the abrupt upheaval to her life. I had completely forgotten to add that she could only play outside if I was with her.
I needed to have a serious talk with her and explain to her the rules of living in the country. One of which was not to show up on stranger’s doorsteps.
The past seventy-two hours had been a whirlwind and I had emotional whiplash from it. My life had been flipped, turned upside down, and not in the fun Fresh Prince of Bel-Air way. I’d been holding it together, up until now, but just barely. And this episode had pushed me to my limit.
When I started to feel myself begin to tear up, I sniffed away the emotion. This was not the time or place to have the nervous breakdown I deserved but I feared that I wouldn’t be able to hold it at bay much longer. I needed to thank the Bear-Man, get back to the house, put a movie on for Luna, instruct her not to leave the couch, and then go to the bathroom and have a good cry.
Looking up at the blurry figure, I squinted still not able to clearly see any of the features of the mammoth male specimen before me. All I could make out was an outline. And his outline was ginormous.
I stood up, still holding Luna in my arms and cleared my throat. “I’m so sorry that she bothered you.”
“She was no bother.”
Hearing the deep voice in such close proximity was a much different experience than hearing it from a hundred yards away. It gave me an entirely new appreciation for the phrase up close and personal. This felt personal and potent. So much so that a shiver ran down my spine.
“Are you cold Momma?” Luna asked sweetly as she reached up and patted my cheek.
“What?” It took me a second to realize she must have felt the shiver that ran through me.
“You’re shaking.” Luna demonstrated my shiver and I could feel my cheeks flush with embarrassment.
What must this person, whose face I couldn’t make out, with a voice deep enough to rival Barry White think of me?
I didn’t know much about this town, but I did know that it was small. And if Gilmore Girls had taught me anything about small towns, it was that people talked. Everyone knew everyone’s business. And this was not the impression I wanted to make on my new neighbor.
First a kid shows up on his porch like a lost puppy followed by a hysterical mother who is having a spaz attack in front of him.
Hoping to salvage the embarrassing encounter, I pasted a smile on my face and stuck my hand out toward him. “Hi, I’m Skylar…”
I’d wanted to say more, like my last name and where we were from, but the moment Bear-Man’s large, warm paw enveloped mine my legs turned to wet noodles and every thought in my head evaporated like dry ice in a sauna. It wasn’t just the size of his hand