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"Can you take me to Hairy's?" I asked after we left Jim's.
"Sure."
When Chance parked the truck, I turned to him. "Thanks for everything, Chance. I'll come get my stuff tomorrow."
"No."
"What do you mean, no?"
"You aren't staying here by yourself. If I'm right, you're in danger."
"And so are you."
"I can handle it. I want to protect you. Hell, Everly, I need to protect you. We've still got a lot of stuff to figure out. I'm not leaving you here. Since we're here, let's get a start on sorting through the stuff in Harry's lab. We can eat dinner here before heading home."
"Chance, I am home."
"Not gonna happen, City Girl. I'll just wait until you go to sleep and kidnap you."
He grinned, but I knew he wouldn't hesitate to do just that if he thought it was necessary.
We got drinks at the cafe and headed to the Quonset. Chance started the heater and unlocked the lab door. "Any idea how to tackle this?" I asked as I looked around the room again.
"We can't just skim things like we've been doing. We need to read through everything. I've got a month before my first trip. We should concentrate on getting through all of this."
"OK. Let's dive in."
"Do you have any of those lined pads you love so much?" Chance asked.
"Upstairs."
"Let's go get them. Any file we read through we staple one of those pages to the front and write what's inside—either a list or just a short paragraph. We'll go to the cafe and get some more boxes. I think we should box up all the stuff on the tables, so we can use them to organize what we've already reviewed."
With drinks, music, and heat, we spent a pleasant afternoon going through Harry's files. Every once in a while, one of us would make a comment on something we were reading, but mostly we were focused on what was in the folders. We decided we'd tackle one drawer at a time. We got only part way through the first drawer before I got too hungry to continue. "Chance, I need food. I'm starving."
"Let me finish this folder, then we'll quit for today. Grab one of those empty boxes. We'll take the rest of this drawer home with us."
Over dinner we talked about what we read in Harry's files. It was interesting but seemed like the same information that you could find on the various cryptid sites on the web.
As we drove back to the A-frame, I realized cryptids had taken over my life. I wasn't sure how that was possible seeing as I still didn't truly believe they existed.
"Do you want to work tonight or relax?" Chance asked when we were home.
Fudge, I'm starting to think of Chance's A-frame as home. That's not good. "I know we have the files we could go through. What else do we need to work on?"
"It's a long list. Let's talk for a bit then we can put on a movie later."
Settled in on the sofa with my legs across Chance's lap, I said, "I'm wondering how we get back to our normal lives—you know where people aren't following us and trying to kill us."
"Good question. I think we have to figure out what's going on in the woods around here. With what we know now, I think we can make some educated guesses. Want to go up to the office so we can use the whiteboard?"
"You do know the way to this girl's heart," I said, standing up and heading upstairs.
He caught up to me before I got to the stairs. I was treated to a lengthy brain-freeze kiss that made me forget where I was headed or why. When he released me, he took hold of my hand. "We're heading upstairs to plan how to get our lives back."
I flopped down on the sofa in his office. "Fudge, I forgot to bring a pad."
"Prepare to be surprised and amazed," he said, walking to the book shelves and pulling a white lined pad off a stack of them. He stopped by his desk and pulled a pen from the cup on his desk and handed them to me.
"When did you...?"
"I want you to be comfortable here, Everly. That means we have to have the things you use all the time—pads, pens, Earl Grey tea."
I know I was looking at him all sappy and misty eyed, but I couldn't help myself. He bought me white lined pads. How sweet is that? His dimple-grin appeared.
"I told you I wanted to take care of you, Babe."
Chance sat down and took my legs across his lap. "Where do we start?" I asked.
We decided that everything was centered around the secret lab in the woods. Though I still wanted to be skeptical, with everything we'd seen and the information in Helen's letter, it was clear the lab had something to do with cryptids.
I stood up and walked to the whiteboard. Marker in hand, I said, "Let's brainstorm what cryptid-related things could be going on at a government lab.”
"I think we've watched one too many horror movies," I said a few minutes later when I looked at our list which contained things liked—create them, kill them, freeze them, behavior modification, breeding, cloning, genetic modification, create cryptid zoo, weaponize them. We'd even gone so far as to write ALIEN on the list. We hadn't been able to decide if the cryptids were aliens, we're being tested as weapons against aliens, or were being bred with aliens.
Chance wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and pulled me against him. "I think that's enough work for tonight. Let's relax. We'll take a fresh look at it in the morning."
The thought of how awkward things would get at bedtime had crossed my mind a time or two during the day, but now I was faced with the reality. As usual Chance must have read my thoughts. "Worrying about the sleeping arrangements?"
"Curious more than worried, I guess."
"I know nothing between us has happened in the normal way. Personally, I'm OK with that, but I get that you're a little more traditional. You can share my bed. It doesn't have to be anything more than that until you're ready."
Double fudge. Honest, caring, respectful Chance was impossible to resist. Apparently, he didn't realize that, or he might have pushed his case. I went up to bed, while Chance made a final check of the house. I was still awake when he climbed in beside me. He leaned in and gave me a sweet kiss before turning off the light and pulling me into his arms.