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"You're right. If I truly want to explore a relationship with Tom, I need to limit my exposure to Chance," I said, talking with Krista about my day with Chance. "I get it. I do. I just don't seem to be able to actually do it."
"It's still you and Tom going on this next expedition, right?"
"As far as I know."
"Then my advice is for you to limit your Chance time as much as you can until the trip, then concentrate on Tom and see how you feel when you get back."
It was good advice, but I doubted it would be that simple to put into practice.
"And I still think you need to talk to Chance and find out what he wants."
More good advice I probably wouldn't follow.
Yesterday, I managed to divide my time between reading Hairy's journals and going through a few more file cabinet drawers in the lab. It was a quiet day. I traded messages with Chance, Tom, and Laurie, but didn't see any of them. Today wouldn't be that easy. We had our planning meeting this afternoon for the expedition. I was interested to hear about the plans Chance and Tom had been working on. They both mentioned it, but carefully avoided sharing any details. I was pretty sure that meant there was something about the plan they knew I wouldn't like.
XXX
Just before noon I went down to Hairy's, packed up fried chicken, sides, and a pecan pie to take to Chance's. I loaded them into Harry's SUV and headed out with my giant go-cup filled with sweet tea. On the way, I tried to push away thoughts of my relationship and focus on the expedition. I worried that I was getting sucked into this cryptid hunting thing in ways I never intended. Uncle Harry would love it. I was less pleased about that turn of events.
Tom's truck was already parked in front of Chance's A-frame when I pulled in. By the time I opened the back to retrieve the food, Jim had pulled in behind me. Tom came out and greeted me with a hug and a brief kiss. His face was less swollen, but the bruises were that sick green color that appears as the healing progresses.
Over lunch, Jim talked about the information he turned up on Helen. Chance and I had heard it before, but Tom hadn't.
"Is there anything new on Jerry?" I asked.
"Not yet," Jim said.
"If Helen/Dr. Bellamy, was the BITES lab director, who's in charge now?" I asked.
"Good question," Jim said. "I'll look into that."
After dinner, we cleaned up, made coffee and tea, and sat back down at the table which was now covered with a USGS map. "The red dot is the coordinates from the journal. The purple dot is where base camp will be," Chance explained. "We think it's important that we be a little more cautious on this outing."
"Because we expect there are bigfoot in the area?" I asked, happy to finally understand some of their behavior.
"No. We're not worried about the bigfoot," Tom said. "We're worried about Jerry or whoever he's working for."
"See that's what I don't understand. We never seem to be concerned about the giant animals that could kill us," I said. "Why is that again?"
"We've been through this before, City Girl." Chance said.
I swear if he were from the south he'd have added a "Well bless your heart” to his answer.
Chance explained that all four of us were going as far as base camp via ATV or snowmobile depending on the weather. "Aren't you supposed to be taking it easy on your leg?" I asked.
"I'll be careful," Chance answered. "Everly, I know you weren't planning on going back to Georgia for Thanksgiving, so that's when we’re doing this. By doing it over the Thanksgiving holiday, Jim and Tom have a little more freedom with time off."
"Don't any of you have family obligations for the holidays?" I asked.
"Since my mom passed," Jim said, "it's just another dinner out with my dad and brother. I'm good."
"I'm usually on a hunt, so my mom will understand," Chance said. "She probably thought this was the one year I might actually make the family dinner."
"My family does the traditional thing, but there's always a chance I won't be able to make it because of work," Tom said. "I told Mom I needed to help out Chance, and she was good with that."
With lots of interruptions, mainly by me. We got through the gist of the plan. Chance and I would leave at first light the Wednesday morning before Thanksgiving. Tom and Jim would follow as early as they could get away Wednesday afternoon. Chance and I would set up base camp and wait for the others to arrive sometime on Thursday. Tom and I would hike to the location, leaving camp at first light on Friday. The idea was that help would be as close as the base camp.
"We're only going to confirm that the bigfoot are still in the area," Chance said.
"According to the journal, they are living in caves there," Tom said. "Do we need to take along any special gear for the caves?"
"This trip we plan to stay outside and observe them coming or going from the caves," Chance said. "If we don't see any sign of them, we may go back again properly outfitted to explore the caves."
"Wouldn't it be better to go prepared for that possibility this trip," Jim said. "That way we wouldn't have to make another expedition."
"I thought about that but going into the caves is high risk," Chance said. "If we decide to do that, we need to be well armed. I don't want to do that until I can go along. There are a lot of issues that we'd have to be prepared for."
Everyone conceded to Chance's knowledge of the topic, and no one argued the point. Tom said he'd be bringing a set of long-range walkie talkies on the trip that should allow us to communicate between the observation location and base camp.
"If the weather dictates we travel by snowmobile, I'd like to get Everly some driving time on one before we leave, but we'll have to see how the weather goes," Chance said. "I'll put together gear lists for everyone and email them to you."
Chance leaned over and whispered, "You need more shooting practice too."
I just nodded. I wasn't excited about any of this. I wasn't happy that all three of the guys were going, I wasn't happy that we were waiting several more days. I wasn't happy that Chance and I would be at base camp alone overnight. About the only positive I could see in all of this, was that we'd know if my interpretation of Harry's journal was correct. I tried to focus on that one positive until Chance stomped on that too.
"Even if they are in the area, it could take weeks to spot them. We'll need to decide how long you'll stay at the observation point this trip. I'm thinking 24-48 hours. If you haven't spotted anything, we'll go back, in the spring."
When we wrapped up our planning, I got my jacket. "It's been fun, y'all, as always, but I've got a date," I said.
All three male heads turned my direction simultaneously. It was like being surrounded by meerkats.
"Yes, a date with Harry's journals. There's a lot of reading to get through before the expedition."
I swear you could have scraped the relief off their faces and put it on toast.