His Second Chance

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Then

I knew one day I would die. That the monsters of my nightmares would creep into my days and suddenly I would be taken from this earth. Perhaps the monster would be time itself and I would be old and happy. My family would surround me and I would not be alone.

Or it could be the other nightmare where I was eaten by a bear because my friend wanted to go hiking, and here I was, waiting for a bear to eat me.

“Tell me again why I’m out here in the middle of the forest waiting for a bear to rip my face off. Or perhaps a mountain lion. Or a snake. Or an armadillo.” My voice went a little high-pitched, and my roommate and best friend Claire just looked at me, raising a brow.

“We’re in Colorado, not Texas. You’re not going to be bitten to death by an armadillo. Not that armadillos eat people.” She frowned as she said it, as if not sure she was telling the truth. For all she knew, there were man-eating armadillos that only lived in the mountains of Colorado.

I narrowed my gaze at her, my lips twitching as I held back a laugh. “You don’t know that. Perhaps at night when you think they’re just rummaging around for bugs or whatever in people’s yards, they’re actually looking for ways to infiltrate your house so they can eat your eyes right out of your sockets as you’re sleeping.”

Claire tripped over her own feet and nearly landed face-first on the rocks. She caught herself, hands out, as she looked over her shoulder and glared at me.

“You’re having a waking nightmare about bears, and suddenly you want me to have a weird eye-eating armadillo phobia? Are you serious right now?”

I shuddered even as I thought back to my words and held out my hands to keep Claire steady. “Okay, perhaps that was a little ridiculous, but it’s really not my fault.”

“Just because you say that in a high-pitched voice doesn’t actually absolve you of any responsibility.”

Claire grabbed onto my hand and squeezed and I just laughed, shaking my head.

An older couple walked by, walking sticks in hands, and they glared at the two of us.

I didn’t know if it was because we were holding hands, or that I had just yelled about armadillos trying to eat us.

“There are children here,” the older woman said, and Claire tangled her fingers with mine.

No, Claire and I were not a couple—we had never wanted to be a couple. In fact, neither one of us was attracted to the other. However, if this woman had a problem with us holding hands, we weren’t going to stop.

“Really, speaking of gouging out eyeballs? What would your children think?” The woman clucked her tongue at us and continued to walk, her husband rolling his eyes behind her.

Claire dropped my hand, her shoulders shaking as she held back a laugh.

“Well, at least that disdain was because I’m a monster rather than anything else,” I muttered under my breath.

“Oh, I would fight to the end of the world for you for your rights, but not for your fetish about giving me nightmares.” Claire wiped her hand on her jeans again since she had fallen back on a rock behind about a mile back. Of course, I had fallen right before her, so it wasn’t that she was klutzy, we both were. So going on a hike in the mountains on a public trail where there were countless others watching us be idiots? A totally correct move.

“Okay, let’s continue this monster of a hike,” Claire grumbled and I laughed, releasing her arm as we made our way down the path.

I loved living in Colorado. I loved the sun on my face, the cool breeze from the mountains, and that I always knew where west was. It was a little hard to get lost when the mountains were always to the west. Unless you were in the mountains, and then you never actually knew where you were. Thankfully this was a state park that was embedded next to a national park, so there were plenty of signs. This wasn’t one of those hikes where we needed a full backpack of supplies and tents.

In fact, this “circle” of a trail was only supposed to be three miles, except I hadn’t actually read the intermediate-to-expert level badge on the map until we were already at the second mile marker.

“Three miles one way, but then the circle doesn’t actually end where you began. How is that a circle?” Claire asked, her breath coming in pants just like mine. We were in shape, well at least as in shape as you could be without being an actual athlete. But the high altitude and rocky hills we were climbing weren’t exactly easy. Then again, the older couple hadn’t seemed out of breath. Maybe we weren’t in as good shape as I thought.

“Seriously though, it’s beautiful outside, and I’m really glad we did this.”

I grinned over at my best friend. “It is. I’m happy that we’re out here. Even though I know sitting at our favorite café eating cake would probably be a lot more fun.”

We had two favorite cafés, one in downtown Denver called Taboo, and the other called Latte on the Rocks. Latte on the Rocks was a newer place and was apparently connected to our favorite place in downtown Denver. We hadn’t even realized that until we had been there a few times and then connected the dots. It seemed that we had a favorite for a reason, and now I was craving an oat milk latte with butter pecan flavoring and a cupcake. Any cupcake would do at this point.

“You’re thinking about more cupcakes, aren’t you?” Claire asked, as I put my hand over my stomach.

“You want to take a break over in that seating area with the picnic tables? Eat the lovely trail mix we brought, that is not cupcakes, before we make our way back down the hill for this so-called circle.”

“Technically it is a circle. It just takes the same number of miles to get here as it does to get back. Which is not what the trailhead said.”

I shook my head, annoyed with myself for misreading the map, as we hiked our way the few hundred feet to the seating area. There were a couple of families there, though no young children since this hike was a little harder for them. And for us apparently.

I sat down at one of the tables that looked as if it blended directly into the environment and rested my feet against a rock. “This is going to suck going back to the car.”

“Tell me about it,” Claire said as she heaved her small pack onto the table between us.

We each had a small day pack just with snacks and water, but no other provisions. Not the smartest thing in the world, since maybe a first aid kit or a walking stick would’ve been helpful, but it was fine. It was still early in the day, and really, it wasn’t that far of a hike.

We just hadn’t been expecting it to be this challenging.

I pulled out our waters while Claire pulled out the trail mix, and we sat with our backs to the trail, watching the hawks fly overhead and the sun shine over the glistening mountaintops.

“I’m glad we’re not hiking too high.”

I turned to Claire. “I think this is high enough. But you’re right. I’m glad there’s no snow.”

She shuddered. “Once with my roommate from college,” she began, and I cut her off.

“Let’s not discuss Tina, shall we?” I asked, holding back a shudder at the thought of Claire’s former roommate. The woman had been intolerable: never did the dishes, always snuck her laundry into Claire’s, and would have such loud sex at all times during the day and night, that Claire couldn’t focus on anything in her own home. I mean, it was nice for Tina because the woman sounded like she was having fun, but she also had sex all over the house, whether Claire was home or not.

“Anyway, I went on a hike with Tina and her boyfriend at the time, and I brought a guy I was seeing.”

I put my hand to my chest. “Gasp. A guy! Who was he?”

Claire flipped me off and I smiled. I was a little more sarcastic than Claire was, but of all of our friends, we were the two most soft-spoken and shy unless we were together. It was just how we were with each other.

We had been friends for ages, though we hadn’t roomed together in college. We had gone to the downtown university, and while there were some dorms, I had lived with my family to save money, and Claire had a roommate. Now that we were adults though, with adult money and adult problems, we lived together to save some of that adult money.

“Are you going to let me finish this story?” she asked.

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

“Anyway, this guy was like, oh let’s go for a walk, and my guy, though he was only my guy for that afternoon because hello, I have the worst taste in men.”

“I feel like I am worse, but continue,” I said with a laugh.

Claire shook her honey-brown hair before pulling it back into a tight ponytail. As the wind picked up, I pulled my long dirty-blond hair into a tight braid, annoyed with myself for not doing it earlier. Now it was going to be a tangled mess that I would have to deal with at some point.

“Thank you very much, but now I’ve forgotten where I am in the story.”

I winced. “Let me see, the short walk wasn’t too short, and you were with Tina and a couple of guys.”

“Right, and no, the short ‘walk’ ended up with us having to trudge through a freaking tributary where there was snow.”

My eyes widened. “Are you serious? How have you never told me this story?”

Claire blushed. “Because it was so stupid. The guy, well Tina’s guy, gave us trash bags for our feet and we were supposed to just trudge away without getting frostbite.”

“And you did it?” I asked, incredulous. We were not the hardcore hiking type of people—contrary to this morning.

“Yes, and my socks got wet, and everything was gross, and I thought I was going to die, and then we were walking up this mountain in the cold and everything sucked. And it wasn’t even actually winter. It was spring when the snow was melting, but we were so high up it didn’t matter.”

I shuddered. “We really aren’t hiking friends, are we?”

“No. And we should be because we are in Colorado. But we don’t ski or snowboard or do anything of the like.”

“There are things to do in Colorado other than those.”

“Maybe, but I feel like an idiot.”

“Well, I promise not to force you through snow this time.”

“At least this trail has public bathrooms at the end.”

“And we’re here eating decently yummy trail mix sitting on picnic tables on a trail that is well maintained. And we’ve already seen two park rangers walking around. No walking in icy tributaries or lakes.”

“We were wearing tennis shoes.”

I grimaced. “So, you really thought it was a walk.”

“He didn’t say hike, he didn’t say mountains. He said a walk. And it was a nice day so I thought it would be fun. I was an idiot.”

“Did Tina stay with him?”

“They’re married and have two kids. They’re happy, and I bet you they go on hikes where they’re all prepared for whatever comes next.”

“Well, at least we’re wearing the right shoes this time,” I said as I gestured towards our hiking boots.

“I learned my lesson. A little.”

I grinned and popped another cashew into my mouth before rolling up the bag and stuffing it inside Claire’s small backpack.

“I’m ready to head back, are you?”

“As ready as I could possibly be,” she said with a shrug.

“Don’t worry, we can do this.”

She raised a brow.

“If I sound optimistic it’s because I know we’re close to being done.”

“We’re halfway done. Hence the edge of this circle.”

“We both know that this geometry doesn’t make any sense,” I grumbled, before we stretched a bit and made our way down the path.

We walked past couple after couple, watching as they leaned on each other, laughing and stopping to take photos. When one couple asked me to take a photo of them, I did, with the perfect backdrop, and I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of envy at the love in their eyes. Oh, it might not be the big L for them, or maybe it was. I couldn’t tell.

I was the absolute worst with men, perhaps only second to Claire.

I knew there were plenty of men out there, I saw them all the time. And they were always married, douchebags, or only wanted sex. While I liked sex, sex was fun. But I would like some dinner and conversation along with the sex. Or maybe someone to just hang out with. Maybe someone to go on a hike with. No, scratch that, no more hiking for a long time.

I just wanted to be with someone.

“You’re thinking hard,” Claire said as we hiked our way down the path.

“I’m just a little in my feels.”

“There are so many couples on this path.”

I loved when our minds were on the same page without discussing it. “Right? I hate it. I mean, I shouldn’t hate it, because it’s just jealousy asking to be slapped in the face. But it’d be nice to actually have a long-term relationship.”

“We are both catches, how come we can’t make it work?”

“Because everything sucks, and we suck?” I asked, and Claire rolled her eyes.

“Really?”

“Okay, we don’t suck. Well, I could make a dirty joke there but I won’t.”

Claire snickered.

“I just want to be happy. And to find a nice, rugged man who can hold me against the wall as he pounds into me.”

Claire burst out laughing as another couple walked by. Thankfully they hadn’t seemed to hear what I said, and I counted that as a win. “Well, maybe we can get back on the dating apps, and we can add that into your bio. Looking for a man to rail me into a wall.”

An elderly couple walked by and glared at Claire. I held my laughter in until they walked away, laughing so loudly that Claire just flipped me off again.

“How come you get people overhearing you talking about eye-eating armadillos, and I get that?”

“Because life is funny that way. And I don’t know if I want to do a dating app again. I just want to find someone organically.”

“And how are you going to do that when your job is literally helping couples design their dream homes?”

I winced, but she wasn’t far off. I was an interior designer, and tended to help couples who had the means to hire an interior designer. Or I helped bachelors with too much money that didn’t want anything to do with someone working for them. Which I totally understood, but still, it would be nice to meet a man who didn’t treat me like a servant or some plaything.

“My job isn’t much better,” Claire continued. “I’m a party planner who usually deals with parties for couples or for work events where I’m so busy I don’t get to breathe. And don’t even get me started on the weddings I help with. No single men for me.”

“And we’re not the bar hopping crowd.”

“When did we get old?” Claire asked, and I held back a snort.

“We’re still in our early twenties, dear. Don’t call me old. You know my siblings will kick us in the teeth for that.”

I had four older siblings—three older sisters and an older brother, and I was the baby. Always the baby. It wasn’t usually a big deal, and I was used to the way they treated me, always caring, always making sure I was okay.

“Maybe we should go bar hopping,” I said, slightly determined.

Claire nearly tripped over another rock. “Are you serious?”

“We should get out there. The perfect man isn’t going to just show up at our doorsteps or on this trail. We should go meet people. Not at work, and not at a coffee shop.”

“Maybe at a coffee shop; there are some really hot tattooed guys that come in and out of that place.”

I blushed at that, thinking of a few I had seen. “Most of them are married and work either at the security company or the tattoo shop next door.” Our favorite new local establishment, Latte on the Rocks, was in the same strip mall with a few other businesses all in one building. There was even an art exhibit and studio in the end unit. Of course, I hadn’t ventured into anything except for the coffee shop. I was nervous about getting a tattoo, and I didn’t really have time to look at art, nor the money to pay for it. While my family was well off enough, I was trying to get out of student loan debt and trying not to rely on my family money to make life work.

And, thankfully, we hadn’t had to use the security company at the other end of the building. Though I wasn’t quite sure what kind of security they did. For all I knew they were bodyguards for celebrities, and that I was not.

“Are you saying you want to get out and go meet a man at a bar so we can actually be happy and find someone, or just to annoy your older sister?” Claire asked, and I narrowed my gaze at her.

“How do you know things before I even think them?” I asked.

“Because I love Isabella, but she is always on your case. More than your mom.”

“Isabella likes to control everyone, because that’s what big sisters do.” I loved my older sister. She was fierce, amazing, and always fought for us when sometimes my mom couldn’t. Oh, I loved my mother, her free spirit and how she made the world a better place, but she also never stood up for herself, only for her kids. Isabella tended to do all of that and more.

And that meant that whoever I wanted to go on a date with in high school, Isabella rather than my mom had been giving him the stink eye. Kyler, of course, my brother, also tried to step in as the big brother who took over the world and everything else. But Isabella was the one in charge.

“Okay, I’ll go bar hopping with you if you actually do it. But we both know that we’re both very much chickenshit.”

I laughed at Claire’s words, because they were absolutely true.

By the time we finished the walk, plans for our crawl were made, though I knew it wouldn’t amount to anything but a long night, and perhaps some fun.

My legs hurt, I was thirsty even though we had a little bit of water left in our bottles, and I was ready to go home.

“What do you say to cupcakes and coffee at Latte on the Rocks?” Claire asked as we made our way to the final part of the trail, the parking lot in sight.

“That sounds perfect.”

Claire pointed towards the bathroom to the side. “I’m going to head in there, do you want to join?”

I raised a brow, and Claire blushed.

“I meant do you want to go stand in line with me.”

“No, I’m okay. You’re the one with a bladder the size of a pea.”

She rolled her eyes and went inside. I stayed on the side of the trail, the trees at my back, enjoying the view of the mountains to the west.

We were still around five hundred feet from the parking lot, and I was in the forest, and everything felt exhausting and thrilling at the same time. The hike hadn’t been planned, but I was glad we had done it. I felt good.

And then I heard the crunch of twigs behind me.

I froze, nervous, and I tried to turn without looking like I was turning. I thought maybe it was just a man, some guy walking through the forest, or perhaps it was a serial killer, but not the very large black ball that I saw out of the corner of my eye.

My eyes widening, I turned and, off in the distance but far closer than it should have been, one of the nightmares from my dreams filled my vision, and it wasn’t an armadillo.

“Bear,” I whispered, barely a sound coming out as my mouth moved.

“Bear!” I said a bit more loudly.

The bear didn’t look toward me, it just scratched its black body against a tree.

All thoughts of what I was supposed to do if I saw a bear fled my mind. Was I supposed to act big, was I supposed to stand still like a Tyrannosaurus rex? No, this wasn’t a T-Rex, they could see movement, or they could see you even if you were standing still. This wasn’t a brown bear, so they weren’t as dangerous. Black bears were cuddly. But as I watched that claw dig into the side of the tree, I swallowed hard and took a tentative step back, and then another.

I was a few hundred feet from the parking lot, and the bathroom, but as somebody screamed behind me and slammed the bathroom door shut, I realized I hadn’t been the only one to see the bear, and there was no way they were going to let me in.

So, I did the only thing that I thought I could do, because I was not a fight person, I was apparently a flight person.

This was probably the wrong thing to do in this situation, but I hadn’t paid attention when they told you what to do if you saw a bear.

I ran.

I ran towards the parking lot, but our car was on the other end, and I could hear crunching and scuffling behind me. I had no idea if the bear was following me or if it even saw me. But it could probably outrun me. And it could kill me with a single bite.

Why couldn’t it have been an armadillo that happened to migrate to Colorado?

Without thinking, I ran to the nearest car, even though it wasn’t my own, and prayed it was unlocked. And when the handle moved I let out a relieved breath, nearly crying as I jumped into the passenger-side seat and slammed the door behind me.

The bear moved through the trees, then over the picnic area, as people scrambled away, some using their phones to take video, others being smart and getting away. The bear didn’t seem to mind, and it calmly walked through the trees again, going unseen.

I didn’t realize my breaths were coming in pants, and my hands were shaking, until someone cleared their throat beside me.

That’s when I remembered that this wasn’t my car.

I turned to see a large man in a beat-up bomber jacket and bushy beard looking at me as if I’d lost my mind by getting in his car without asking. I was a stranger after all, and had probably set myself up for not only humiliation, but being tied up and thrown in the back of his SUV.

The bearded man with blue eyes smiled at me and raised a brow.

Well, either I had jumped into a stranger’s car and he was now laughing at me after I had run from a bear, or this was the second part of my nightmare.

I had just gotten into a car with a serial killer.

And yet, the serial killer felt like better odds than the bear.

“Well, that’s one way to meet someone. You doing okay? The bear is gone. I’m Kane.”

Would serial killers introduce themselves like that?

I cleared my throat. “Phoebe. Phoebe.”

“Hello, Phoebe Phoebe.”

I shook my head, then ran my hands over my face. “I’m just Phoebe. And thank you for saving me from the bear.”

He shook his head, still smiling. “I didn’t do a damn thing. But I’m glad I kept the door unlocked. You okay though? I didn’t realize that the bears came so close up here.”

“Neither did I.” I ran my hand over my chest. “My friend is trapped in a bathroom. I should probably go check on her.”

Kane looked at me and smiled. I swallowed hard, wondering why that smile did things to me.

He had to be a serial killer.

“Let’s go check on your friend. And mine, since he’s trapped in the other bathroom. Come on, Phoebe Phoebe. I’m glad you’re okay.”

I hoped he wasn’t a serial killer—though it was still better odds than the bear.

Right?