Natalie gasped. “An orphan!” Maybe that was what he wanted to tell her? Perhaps his family had died tragically. Perhaps he had some emotional scars that inhibited him during intimacy. These seemed a little far-fetched though. Natalie might not know Eric well but she already knew without a doubt that the man would never run from any kind of fear, whether physical or emotional. She knew he would confront them head on and face them. Either way, this was at least some additional information to help her pull away the shroud of mystery around this lone wolf.
“Anyway, Ernest Briggs is here and I’m pretty sure he’s eaten blueberries again,” Nurse Marcia said with a patient sigh. Ernest ran the local market and loved blueberries. He was also quite allergic to them. Natalie had already seen him once this week after he had eaten dried blueberries under the delusion that when dried, they would not cause the same allergic reaction as when fresh.
Natalie coughed to tastefully cover her laughter. “Send him in.” She was determined to see Eric after work today. She would find him and talk to him about last night. She refused to be coy. She lived where the wild things roamed and she’d take a page out of their book and be bold.
Shaking her head clear of all her wandering thoughts and curious questions, she prepared herself to meet Ernest and the rest of her patience with a good and clear head on her shoulders.
***
Grabbing her satchel in one hand and some extra folders and her cellphone in the other, Natalie threw her things into her car, waved off some of the nurses, and then slid into her seat, eager to get to Mitchells Hardware.
It was early and she didn’t know Eric well but she knew she wanted more. There was something special between the two of them and it was worth exploring. But as Natalie turned on her ignition, her cellphone rang. Looking down at the screen, she saw the caller ID picture of Amber, surrounded by flowers, laughing.
The baby! Natalie immediately felt her heart drop. It was too early! Had something happened? She quickly answered the call.
“What’s wrong? What happened? Are you in the hospital? Is it the baby?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Amber said, chuckling a little. “I’m fine. The bun’s still in the oven cooking. Everything’s alright, Dr. Evers, so let’s take it down a notch.”
Natalie sighed in relief then snorted at her friend. “Well, at least you can’t fault me for not being prepared. I was ready to drive all the way down to LA in my ancient truck.”
Amber laughed. “And for such loyalty, I am grateful. How are you doing, Nat? I looked up the weather there. It looks pretty nasty.”
Natalie looked out her car window. It was certainly cold. Natalie could see her breath as she spoke. But it wasn’t windy and it wasn’t raining. And for those two reasons alone, she considered today to be a good day. Natalie chuckled to herself. How quickly her standards had changed. She used to think 60º weather was an igloo. Now, she felt like 50º was a sauna.
“It’s not too bad. A good coat can go a long way here.” Natalie swiped her wipers to break away some of the light frost against her windshield. “So what’s up?” They had been sending regular emails and exchanging weekly phone calls since her move. But the calls usually happened on the weekends at night. Today was a Wednesday.
Amber’s sigh crackled through her phone. “I wanted to call to break some news to you before you heard it elsewhere.”
Natalie looked through the windshield. The clinic’s small parking lot faced the main road. She knew just a few miles down was Eric and his warm hardware store. She had waited the whole day to talk to him and just maybe hoped they would share another kiss. “What news?”
Natalie could feel the awkward pause. What could be making her friend hesitate like this? They had shared their most intimate secrets for years after all.
Amber sighed again. “Okay, I’m just going to say it because I don’t know a better way to tell you than to just say it plain.”
“Okay….What is it then?”
“Michael’s engaged.”
Natalie felt all the noise of her car disappear into a ringing silence for a split second before the roar of disbelief and surprising pain rushed into her. “What?”
“He’s engaged. To Candace. I heard last night. They’re planning to go to Vegas this weekend to do the deed. They’re certainly not wasting time,” Amber added bitterly.
Natalie felt like her chest was caving in. Candace. The giggling blonde from the shower. A flash of Michael on his knees in front of her with a broken expression flew across her mind.
“It was all a mistake, babe. I just was so stressed out from work and with you always on call. But it didn’t mean anything. She didn’t mean anything. I swear it!”
“But you slept with her. You were with her. For three weeks you said.” Natalie knew it was medically impossible for her heart to break but it felt like it was certainly trying its damnedest to prove medical truth wrong.
Michael shook his head. “God knows what you must think of me, Nat. But just know it was all just a stupid, godawful mistake! She was so persistent and she kept calling me! But what you and I have is special, babe! I know you are a one in a million kind of girl and I don’t want to lose you. I’m so sorry.”
One in a million. More like a dime a dozen. Because after knowing Candace for less than one of Amber’s trimesters, he had found another ‘one in a million’ girl to propose to and marry.
“Natalie? Are you there? Oh honey, I’m so, so sorry to have to tell you! I really am! But I wanted to make sure you heard it from me than be sidelined by some idiot later.”
Natalie swallowed dryly. “No, no,” she whispered. “You did right.” They had been together four years. Michael had known Candace less than four months and now they were getting married.
“Do you want me to fly up? I can fly up? Honey I know this is big. I don’t want you to be alone,” Amber’s voice pleaded.
Natalie gripped her steering wheel. “No, Amber,” she said, trying to infuse a thread of strength into her voice. “You are in your last trimester. You are not flying out here.”
“But I’m flying to a doctor! It’s not like I’ll be in any harm. I can grab a flight out tonight.”
“Amber, no. If you trust me enough to deliver your baby, then trust me now when I say I’ll be alright. Stay in LA. You need to be near your own doctors.”
Amber made a noise of defeat. She knew it was true. “Then call me anytime. My phone is always by my bed. You call me whenever you want—whether it’s to cry or to bitch out that gutless asshole—whatever! Just call! You’ll do that, right?”
Natalie nodded. Then remembering she was on the phone, she said, “Of course. Thanks for letting me know, Am. You were right. I’d rather have heard it from you than anyone else.”
Hanging up, Natalie tossed the phone into the passenger seat.
A wave of humiliation passed over her. When she and Michael had been engaged, how many times had he been secretly meeting up with Candace? All those distracted, distant looks he had given her….She had assumed they had been because he was too disgusted to touch her. Perhaps that was still true. But perhaps he was also distracted because a slim, leggy blonde was somewhere waiting for him.
Those nights when he would come home late from work….Had he just come from Candace’s? Had he had his fill of the beautiful lover so he could come home and crawl into the bed of his obligation?
“God,” Natalie whispered as a tear trailed down her cold cheek. How many times had that man made her feel the fool? And now she was in a different country and still she felt the rolling pains of shame.
Quickly, she put the car into gear and slid onto the main road. Instead of turning left towards the hardware store, she turned right towards home. She had to be alone. With how cripplingly humiliated she felt, there was no way she could look Eric in the eye.
She drove without seeing the road. All she could see was Michael’s face, wet from the shower, as he looked lovingly down at blonde and beautiful Candace.
***
The steam from the hot cocoa fluttered in the bracing cool night air. It probably wasn’t the healthiest dinner but that was all Natalie felt up for making. Plus, chocolate was a must tonight.
Sitting out on her back porch, wrapped in a thick woolen blanket, Natalie held the mug between her hands, letting the warmth slowly ooze through her. Although she could see her breath hanging frostily in the air, the coldness somehow made her feel better, calmer. Her house sat on a sizable piece of land and her back porch faced a wide lawn that was fringed with thick woods. It was as if her house had been built right up against the edge of wilderness.
Natalie hated herself for reacting the way she had at the clinic. And she hated how upset she still was. She didn’t want to give Michael and her past that much power over her current happiness. And unbelievably, she was happy.
She had grown to enjoy and even love her tiny clinic, her staff, and her patients. It felt surreal to know she now was the proud owner of a dilapidated house in the Canadian countryside. And it was exciting and thrilling to know she had kissed another man besides Michael, made only more thrilling by the fact that the man was Eric. Overall, her life had turned around completely in the last few weeks. She had become happier and more settled than she could’ve ever hoped for when she had hopped on the plane at LAX, heartbroken and humiliated.
And yet, hearing the news about Michael’s engagement burned a hole into her healing heart. How could he propose to someone he hardly knew when it had taken them over four years to become engaged? And of all people, it had to be Candace. She closed her eyes and remembered Candace’s surprised wet face when Natalie had walked in on them in the shower. But the surprise had quickly been smothered with a smirk once Candace had gotten a good look at her. She probably thought Natalie would be no competition compared to her beautiful blonde self. And really, wasn’t that true now? It was Candace who had the ring on her finger, not Natalie.
Natalie sighed frustratedly as she threw herself back against the chair. You did have the ring, Evers! You’re the one who walked away! So stop feeling so goddamn sorry for yourself! But heartbreak was logic’s kryptonite and no matter how much her internal self harangued her for her pity party, Natalie couldn’t help but wallow.
Natalie took a sip of her cocoa. As she leaned forward to rest her mug on the porch rail, she saw a distant flash of white against the dark edge of woods. Squinting her eyes, she waited to see if she’d see the flash again. What was that? It was a cloudy night, inhibiting moonlight from spilling across her lawn. There it was again! Except this time, Natalie was positive she had seen what it was. She quickly stood up, almost toppling her mug.
Had she seen right? She was sure she had. She had most definitely just seen Eric’s face and naked torso slip around the trees into the dark woods. Even with the limited moonlight, Eric’s face and chest had gleamed and glowed eerily against the thick trees and brush.
What was he doing here? At this time of night? And whyin heaven’s sake did he not have any clothes on in this chilly weather? Natalie was throwing off the blanket and running barefoot through the freezing grass before she could figure out an answer to the millions of questions flying through her head. It didn’t matter anyway. She would find him and ask them herself.
Chapter Six
It was the lack of silence that struck her the most. When indoors, if she didn’t play music or make noise renovating, the house was completely silent. There was no outside street noise or loud teenagers goofing off by the curbside. It was the mountains. It was silent.
And yet, here in the woods, Natalie was nearly bombarded with sounds. She could hear insects chirping and owls hooting. She heard the soft flutter of wings and the crunching of dead twigs. Everything was buzzing with life and the energy vibrated from tree to tree.
Having been too busy with the interior of the house, Natalie hadn’t yet taken the time to explore the exterior. And coming from LA, she wasn’t the most outdoorsy person. The nurses at the clinic and her patients often talked about bears and wolves roaming along the outskirts of the town and that was enough to keep Natalie safely tucked up in her freezing house.
Natalie tried to step carefully through the thick brush. Her feet were freezing. You couldn’t take a second and put on a pair of shoes, huh, Evers? Natalie sighed, watching her breath puff out in front of her. “Eric?” she called out in a not too loud voice. She wasn’t sure she wanted to announce to the entire forest that a barefooted city girl was traipsing through their land.
It was quite dark. Natalie was able to make out the outlines of the trees surrounding her but she couldn’t see beyond that. But she knew she had seen Eric. She was positive. “Eric?” she called out a little louder.
She went a little deeper into the woods, hoping she’d find Eric before her toes froze off. “Eric, it’s me, Natalie!” she said. She paused, standing still and trying to listen for any response. Nothing. Just a distant hooting and the hum of evening life.
Natalie shivered. “Ok, Evers,” she whispered to herself. “Chasing a ghost into a forest might be your cue for bed.” Perhaps she hadn’t really seen Eric. After all, why would he be walking around the woods half naked in this weather? The more she thought about it, the more foolish she felt. Sniffling from the cold, she turned around and tried to pick her way back home.
It was harder trying to find her way out. She had gone further in to the woods than she had thought. And with her feet so frozen, she was having a harder time gaining proper footing over the exposed tree roots and large rocks.
As she lifted her foot over what looked like a fallen branch, she felt her other foot catch in a tree root. With a cry, Natalie fell forward with a hard thud. She winced as she tried to roll to her side, the wind completely knocked out of her. This is probably why shoes are so handy, Natalie thought with a twitch of self-deprecating humor. She gave herself a few seconds to gather her wits before she heaved herself up into a seated position.
Right into the face of a wolf.
Natalie’s body instinctively broke out into a cold sweat before she had even mentally grasped the situation. Right in front of her, just a step behind the sneaky tree root, stood the most enormous wolf Natalie had ever seen. She’d been to museums and had seen stuffed ones but even those were no comparison to the one that stood before her now. Its head probably stood close to her shoulder and its chest was as broad as her entire body. It was a light gray wolf with a streak of black fur down its head and snout. Natalie’s breathing became shallow and rapid. She gulped as she looked into the large dark eyes of the wolf. They were brown, almost black, yet they had an eerie glow to them. They seemed to radiate some kind of mysterious force that seemed beyond animal, beyond even human.
What was it you were supposed to do when confronted with a wolf? She had grown up with skyscrapers and traffic. The most strenuous hike she had ever done was through the Hollywood Hills.
Feeling her heart beating in her throat, Natalie quickly rifled through her mind for any survival tips. Didn’t they say to play dead? Wait, no, that was for bears. Natalie looked at the hulking wolf before her. She felt like she could safely bet that this wolf was probably close to the size of most bears. So is that what she should do? Play dead?
The wolf gazed at her steadily, not blinking. He wasn’t growling but he certainly didn’t seem like a passive animal. Natalie had a sneaking suspicion this wolf might be too smart to fall for the old possum trick. God, what was she supposed to do?
Natalie could feel her blood racing through her veins, pumping her muscles full of adrenaline. Run. It was a dumb idea. A wolf as large as this would have no problem catching up with her and yet the instinct to flee and run was deep and alluring. Slowly, Natalie brought herself up into a squat. The wolf stood still, not taking its eyes off her yet making no other movements than a swish of his bushy tail.
Closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath, Natalie threw out a prayer to the heavens. Then without another moment of hesita
tion, she jumped up and ran as fast as she could back towards the house.
The air ripped through her lungs as she ran as fast as she’d ever run before. She could hardly feel the ground beneath her feet as she tried to navigate her way through hanging branches or clinging bushes without losing speed.
There! Less than fifty feet away was the little opening between two bent trees that Natalie had taken to follow Eric. Maybe she could make it. Her lungs burned from the exertion. She was so close. Before she could stop herself, Natalie turned around, unable to quench her curiosity. The wolf surely could’ve caught up to her by now. But instead of seeing a large wolf chasing after her, she saw a…form.
The form looked like the wolf she had seen, yet it was slowly changing. The snout was receding while the limbs grew longer. Natalie felt her pulse beating in her ears as she watched in silence the body of man slowly emerging from the shifting form. The body of a running man. Run! Natalie turned around and ran for all she was worth. She didn’t know who or what that was but she knew she didn’t want to find out.
Suddenly the large form closed in around her, wrapping a massive arm around her chest, bringing her down. Natalie screamed as she felt herself pulled down. But instead of landing on the cold ground, she landed on her back on top of her captor, the nameless form taking the brunt of the fall. Before she could try and scramble away, the heavy form rolled over, pinning Natalie onto the cold ground.
“Little rabbit.”
Natalie looked up, her eyes wide in shock, unable to believe she was hearing his voice. “Eric?” she croaked, too shaken to find relief in seeing someone familiar.
She was completely pinned under him, her face cradled between his warm hands. Although the ground was wet and cold, his body was like a furnace. She immediately felt her shivering body thawing against him. Looking up, she could see Eric searching her face. His expression was completely indiscernible. Natalie breathed slowly. Eric was the…form? He was the shifting wolf? What in the hell was he?
Run: Beginnings Page 4
