Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots(13)
Author: Abby McDonald

I take my hand off the car door. “You’re right — it can’t get me in here. Can it?” I hit the all-locks button. “What do I do?”

“Just drive around it.” She still sounds amused.

“I can’t,” I bite back. “It’s right in the middle of the road. And anyway, what if it charges at me?” I slowly peer up over the steering wheel. It’s still there, standing idly just ten feet from the truck.

“I doubt it will. But you could try scaring it out of your way,” Livvy suggests.

“With what?” My purse contains many things, but weaponry doesn’t really figure on my list. “I can’t really walk over with my iPod and play it the last Katy Perry single!”

She giggles. “Then use the horn.”

“What if that just makes it mad?”

“You’ve got to do something,” Livvy points out. “Or are you going to sit there all day?”

“You’re right.” I brace myself. “I’m trying the horn.” Gingerly, I hit the steering wheel. The sound bellows out on the quiet road.

“Well?”

I peer up again. “Nothing. It’s not moving.” I try again, but the moose just swishes its tail at me. “Maybe it’s deaf.”

Livvy laughs. “So what’s your next plan?”

“I don’t know. Wait! I think it’s moving!” Slowly, the thing looks from side to side and takes a tentative step forward. “That’s right,” I tell it. “Keep going; go frolic in the forest with all your moosey pals.”

It takes another step.

“Come on, just a little farther . . .” I hold my breath, willing it to go.

“Is it working?”

“Almost . . . almost . . . gone!” I shout in triumph as the creature plods slowly into the woods. I exhale a long breath of relief.

“Man, Cash isn’t going to believe this.” Livvy sighs. “Your second day, and you get to see a moose.”

I shudder. “Next thing, I’ll be torn apart by wolves.”

“There are wolves?”

“Uh-huh.” I ignore her enthusiasm.

“That’s so awesome. Oh, hey, I’ve got to go pack. I leave tomorrow, but I’ll call as soon as I’m settled in!”

“Miss you,” I tell her with a pang.

“Bye, hon.”

9

Having triumphed over stick shift and a disgruntled moose, I barely give a thought to the Stillwater boys as I browse the dusty hardware-store aisles. It’s not until I arrive at the front counter to find Grady slouched over the cluttered desk that I remember my not-so-warm welcome.

“Hi,” I say, smiling brightly. “Can you help me out?”

Grady doesn’t even look up from his car magazine. A blue baseball cap is pulled low over his eyes, emblazoned with some kind of sports insignia of an evil-looking whale. “I’m busy.”

I blink. The store is empty, nothing but faded linoleum and stands of old fishing bait. “Umm, I was wondering if you carried energy-saving bulbs, because —”

He leaves.

Seriously. Just picks up his magazine and ambles past me out of the store. I stare after him in disbelief.

His brother, Ethan, emerges from the back room. He’s wearing a blue plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up, his arms full of bug spray. He dumps the cans on the counter, sending some of them clattering onto the floor. “Don’t mind him.”

“What . . . ? I mean . . .” I look around, mystified. “What did I even do?”

“Besides have a major freak-out last night?” Ethan shoots me a knowing look, hair falling in his eyes. “I don’t know, maybe call us all dumb-ass hicks with no sense of humor . . .”

“I did not! And he wasn’t even there!”

He gives a lazy shrug. “Doesn’t matter anyway. Grady gets like that all the time. What did you need?”

I pass over the list. “I didn’t say those things,” I insist again, worried. “I wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, but you’d think them.” Ethan seems unconcerned. “We’ve got these up front, I think.” He ambles toward the other end of the store. “All this stuff’s for Susie, right?”

“Yup.” Suddenly, I realize that his tone is actually friendly. I hurry after him.

“She’s in here all the time these days.” He drags a ladder over. “Practically keeps us in business.”

“I was wondering about that.” I pause, looking out of the smudged windows at the quiet expanse of street. “It’s summer, but . . . where is everyone?”

“Last night wasn’t enough excitement for you?”

I narrow my eyes, but he seems to be just teasing.

“It used to be busy. Well, busier,” he corrects himself, climbing up to pass the first paint can down. “But the mill closed down a couple of years ago; that pretty much sucked most of the trade out of town. We settled down again, but then that luxury resort out on Blue Ridge opened last year, and everything just dropped off. They’ll come off the highway for gas on their way out, but that’s about all.”

“Luxury resort,” I repeat. My heart sinks. I don’t like the sound of that. Susie could make her B and B as charming as possible, but it would still be a big old house on a dusty back road.

“Spa, gourmet cooking, the works.” Ethan climbs down. “This is all we’ve got. I could put an order in for more, but your best bet is probably just to drive down to Kamloops and stock up.” He names a town I remember passing through on the bus — hours away.

“Thanks.” I look back at the list. “Say, you don’t have any green brands, do you?”

He shakes his head. “Only the colors you see right there. Maybe I saw some beige out back . . .”

I smile. “No, I meant, nontoxic, biodegradeable . . .” I trail off. “Never mind.” A trip to the city it is. “Does Susie know about this?” I ask, following him to the cash register. “About the serious lack of visitors, I mean.”

He looks awkward. “Yeah, but she thinks she can turn it around. Single-handedly make Stillwater a vacation spot, that kind of thing.”

“Sounds like Susie,” I agree.

“We all hope she’s right,” he adds quickly, ringing up some paint rollers. “But, well, you should see the Blue Ridge place. Even their website looks like a million bucks.”