shook his head at her. “You want to talk about hurting? How do you think I feel, Moira? Shit, it’s my birthday, and you won’t even let me hold your goddamn hand.”
She started to walk away, but then stopped and turned toward him. “Well, if I’m such an emasculating bitch and your friend thinks I’m an embarrassment, why the hell did you invite me here for the weekend? Why are you even walking with me right now?”
“I’m wondering the same damn thing,” Leo shot back.
“Fine, then just leave me alone,” Moira retorted, tears in her eyes. She turned and stomped away, deeper into the forest.
“Okay, listen, listen,” she heard him groan. “I’m sorry, Moira. I didn’t mean to make you cry—”
“I mean it, leave me the fuck alone!” she screamed. Her voice seemed to echo through the trees. She started running up the forest trail, swatting at stray branches in her path. She almost stumbled over the roots of a tall cedar and grabbed on to the trunk to keep from falling.
Moira caught her breath and wiped the tears away. Gazing back at the trail snaking through the thick forest, she saw no sign of Leo. She heard leaves rustling in the distance, but the sound seemed to be fading.
Then, closer, some twigs snapped.
“Leo?” she called. “I’m serious. I need you to leave me alone!”
Glancing at all the trees and bushes looming around her, Moira tried to spot where her friend might be hiding.
“Leo?” she called out once more.
No response.
She stood by the towering cedar for another few moments. Part of her wanted to find Leo and smooth things over. But how could she explain it to him? I didn’t want to hold your hand, because that would have been leading you on, and then you’d think I was a tease. I can’t help it if I’m not attracted to you that way. And yes, I like your best friend. I can’t help that either….
What did it matter? Leo was furious at her, and Jordan found her interest in him embarrassing.
She had a weird thought about how sorry they’d be if she got lost in these woods and was missing for hours and hours. It was such a juvenile notion—like when she was a kid running away from home, mostly to worry her parents.
Yet a part of her truly wanted to disappear for a while—to shut out everything and everyone else.
Moira gazed at the path she’d been taking—the one that led back to the cabin.
Then she started walking in the opposite direction.
“All right, Ms. Blanchette,” the sheriff said on the other end of the line. “You stay put there at Rosie’s, and I’ll be by in about five minutes. Over and out.”
Susan heard a click. “Okay, thanks,” she said to no one. Then she hung up the receiver and slid the desk phone closer to the clerk’s side of the counter at Rosie’s Roadside Sundries.
One elbow resting on top of the lottery ticket machine, Rosie was watching Mattie in the small play area near the back door. She glanced over her shoulder at Susan. “The sheriff on his way?” she asked.
Susan nodded. “Thanks for letting me use the phone—and watching Mattie. I owe you big-time.”
“Oh, it’s my pleasure looking after this one,” she replied, with a nod toward Mattie. “Y’know, I bet you had a wayward hunter poking around your backyard earlier, that’s all. Some of these guys are absolutely nuts. They start chasing after a deer, and totally forget where the heck they are. You want anything?”
Susan shook her head. “No, thanks.” She moved down to the end of the counter, closer to Rosie. She could see Mattie on the multicolored plastic jungle gym in the little play area. “Sheriff Fischer said he’d be here in five minutes.”
“If Stuart Fischer tells you five minutes, you can expect him in ten,” Rosie said out of one side of her mouth. “Unless it’s a major emergency, which I haven’t seen in my seven years working here—with one notable exception—the sheriff always takes his sweet time. So…get comfortable, honey.”
Susan nervously drummed her fingers on the counter. “The one notable exception,” she said. “Was that the missing person case last year?”
“Oh, then you heard about that,” Rosie said soberly. She nodded. “They never did find her, the poor thing. I was the last one to see her before she disappeared, a very sweet girl, too. She stopped into the store on a Friday afternoon, and the sheriff came across her abandoned car that