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"Chance, are you sure about this? Really, really sure?" I asked as he loaded my luggage in the back of his truck.
"Babe, we've been talking about this for a couple of weeks. "I want to meet your mom and Krista and see where you grew up."
"She'll see this as a big deal you know."
"Why shouldn't she? Do you think she'd going to expect us to get married someday?"
"Definitely."
"Isn't that what you want?"
"Yeah, but... You know how much I hate it when you're right."
"I know, Babe. It'll be fine."
I hoped he was right. I couldn't believe I was heading back to Georgia for Christmas. When I moved to the small town of Wilkins' Gap, Idaho a few months ago, my mother was sure I'd only last a couple of weeks, but it feels like home now. I always planned to go home for a visit at Christmas. I just didn't plan on taking Chance Munroe along.
XXX
We stopped at Hairy's Cryptid Cafe on our way out of town. My Uncle Harry left me the cafe when he passed away. That's why I moved to Idaho. "Will you go up and get the bag of gifts I left on the sofa upstairs?" I asked as I got out of the truck.
"Sure. I'll make sure everything's locked up tight. Anything else you need from the apartment?"
"No, just the gifts for Hairy's."
I walked in, and all heads turned my way.
"Hi, Everly," Sally said from her perch behind the register. "You haven't been around much lately. Do you even live here anymore?"
"I'm not sure," I said honestly. It was quite an adjustment for a Southern Belle to learn to love northern Idaho, especially now that it was winter, but I knew that wasn’t what she meant.
"I can't believe it's almost Christmas. It seems like I just moved here a few weeks ago not a few months."
"Yeah, times flies when you're surrounded by the hottest guys in the county," Rita, my other waitress said as she took a tray of dishes back to the kitchen.
"You might as well rent the apartment upstairs. You got it all painted and fixed up, but you seem to be spending all your time at Chance's house."
Chance Munroe, hunter, guide, cryptid hunter, local legend, and now, my boyfriend. "I don't think I'm ready for that kind of commitment just yet. He'll be back to traveling a lot after the holidays. I'm just trying to enjoy him while he's here."
"I suspect you're not finding that too tough a job," Rita quipped.
"Some days are more of a challenge than others."
It was true. Chance was amazing, but he could be irritating as a swarm of skeeters on a summer night in Georgia. He enjoyed pushing me, and sometimes I appreciated it. Other times, I just... well... I did push him off a cliff once. It was an accident, but it started the chain of events that led to where we are today. We've only been dating "officially" for a couple of weeks, but we're also business partners.
"Here you go," Chance said when he walked in. He handed me the cloth bag I'd used to gather up the Christmas gifts for my staff at Hairy's.
I made the rounds, handing out gifts and holiday wishes before we got back in the truck and headed for the airport. It was a long drive, so we had plenty of time to kill. "Did you have fun with Laurie this morning?" Chance asked.
"Yeah. We caught up on things and talked about our holiday plans. Jim's been invited to Christmas dinner with Laurie's parents."
"Sounds serious."
"She hopes it is. I like Jim. You know he's been one of my closest friends since I moved to Wilkins' Gap and Laurie is my BFF so seeing them together is great."
"I can hear a but in your voice?"
"Sometimes I still get the feeling Jim is hiding something?"
"Jim. The guy you convinced me to bring in on all our discussion about the location of the bigfoot family. That Jim?"
"I told you about my concerns before. I trust Jim. It isn't that. Something's just not right with him."
"So, you trust him, but you don't believe him?"
"Something like that."
We talked about the fact that it had been quiet since my kidnapping just after Thanksgiving. "Do you think the situation was resolved somehow?"
"It would be good if that were the case. I just don't know. I wish we had been able to get back to the observation point since I got the cast off, but it just wasn't possible. Remind me when we get to the hotel. I'll go into the calendar and block out time for the four of us to go between hunts. If I don't put it on the calendar, we'll never get there."
The four of us were Jim Stafford, the lawyer who handled my Uncle Harry's estate, Tom Beckett, Laurie's brother who was the local fire chief, and leader of the Wilkins' Gap search and rescue team, Chance and me. Because of some strange provisions in my Uncle's will, the four of us have become involved in something we're still trying to understand.
Our flight out was early in the morning, so we booked a room at an airport hotel for the night. I'd gotten used to spending most all my time at Chance's A-frame, I felt comfortable there, but it was nice to be with Chance away from home.