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My body had apparently already decided to distance itself from Tom, because I woke up on my own side of the tent for once. I woke Tom, and we dressed and packed for the hike. "Coffee's ready," Chance called from outside the tent. I unzipped the flap and handed Chance my backpack before climbing out and grabbing the coffee cup he pushed my way.
Chance and Jim helped us pack up the tent. We ate MRE breakfasts because we wouldn't be able to have a fire when we got to the observation point. "Can I steal you away for a minute?" Chance asked as we prepared to head up the trail.
"Sure," I said. He offered his hand and led me off into the woods out of earshot of Jim and Tom.
"I just wanted to remind you that I'm serious about us. You need to break up with Tom, but don't push him off a cliff. OK?"
"I plan to talk to him today, so we can put it behind us and get on with the expedition."
"Good. Stay safe out there. I'll be here when you get back."
"I have something you can work on while we're gone."
"OK," he said, somewhat suspiciously.
"Plan our first official date. I want a real date, not just dinner. I want a date worthy of the legendary Chance Munroe."
"I can do that."
Looking over my shoulder as I started up the trail with Tom, Chance gave me his lopsided grin. I smiled back and turned my focus to the hike. It was going to be a long day. I spent the first few hours rehearsing my breakup with Tom and letting the doubts creep back in. I wondered if I was being too hasty. I hadn't really given Tom a chance. We only had a couple of dates and each had its issues. Was I crazy to believe Chance really wanted a serious relationship. I knew he was a few years older than me so chronologically that should be what he was looking for, but I'd seen the way younger women reacted to him from Laurie to the women at the bigfoot conference. They turned into giggly school girls around Chance. How was I supposed to compete with that? Why would I even want to?
We set up the tent and settled in to a dinner of cold chicken and granola. "Once we head out in the morning, we'll need to stay quiet and keep an eye out for evidence of bigfoot."
"Have you ever seen one?" I asked.
"No. I think I'm prepared, but I guess you never know how you'll react to something like that until it happens."
"I'm pretty sure I'll scream and run. I know that would be bad, but I'm convinced that's the only appropriate response to seeing something like that."
"I feel bad that Chance couldn't come. I know how much it would mean to him to be part of this. I think that's why he wanted to stay at base camp. I think he needed to get as close as he could."
I felt bad for Chance too but talking about him only reminded me that he was expecting me to break up with Tom before we returned. Snuggled into the tent with Tom, the time had come. "Tom, I'm sorry but..." In a very un-Tom like move, he wrapped his arm around my neck and put his hand over my mouth while he brought the index finger of his other hand to his lips in the universal sign to keep quiet. He mouthed the word listen before removing his hand from my mouth.
I heard the same wood knocking noise I heard before with Chance. I still wasn't convinced I was listening to a bigfoot drum circle, but it did seem like the sounds occurred on one side and then were answered or repeated on the other. This could work to my advantage. I scooted down into my sleeping bag, pulled it up over my head and went to sleep. At some point after the noise stopped, Tom leaned over to my ear and said, "That was awesome." I pretended I was asleep and didn't respond.