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Chance told me about the next two hunts that we were leading. The first was a hunt for an exotic animal called an Oryx. I have to admit, I was pretty excited that Chance wanted me to part of this hunt. The oryx is an African animal, but in 1969 the New Mexico Game and Fish Department released 93 of the animals on White Sands Missile Range as part of a program to introduce exotic animals to the huge desert site. The animals adapted well to the arid desert and, nearly 50 years later, the herd is estimated at 2000 animals. There is a lottery style draw for permits to hunt oryx on the missile range. I read everything Chance recommended to prepare but it still seems surreal to be hunting an African animal on a US missile range. This would also be the first hunt I'd been on where we actually planned to shoot an animal.
The second hunt was for bigfoot in the Valles Caldera west of Santa Fe. There were a lot of bigfoot sightings in the area, and our clients were bigfoot experts. I studied all the recent sighting reports from the area in preparation for the trip.
Chance's flight got into El Paso a few hours before mine, so he'd already checked into our hotel near the airport. When I finished the limited unpacking I planned to do, I walked up behind Chance and leaned over his shoulders. He was checking email on his laptop. "Is there stuff we need to do?" I ask, nuzzling my cheek against his jaw.
He turned around and pulled me into his lab. "Definitely," he said, giving me one of his brain freeze kisses. When rational thought returned, I asked. "What is it we need to do?"
"More of that," he said, standing up and carrying me to the bed. Although we'd be together for the next two weeks, most of those nights would be spent in a tent with his clients in tents nearby. I always enjoyed sleeping snuggled up in Chance's arms, but sometimes it's nice to have a bed and some privacy.
"Everly, it's getting late," Chance said softly. "We should think about dinner. Do you want to go out or order delivery?"
I stretched my arms over my head and tried to wake up. "I don't want to move from this spot," I said, turning to face him and wrapping my arms around his neck.
Just then my stomach growled. He laughed. "I appreciate the sentiment, but we need food."
"I guess we should let the bed cool down a bit," I said, heading for the bathroom.
As we often did when we stayed in hotels, we ordered pizza delivery. It's something we both miss living in such a remote area, so we look forward to it when we're staying in a bigger city. Chance called in our order, while I checked email. "I've got an email here from an attorney. It says it's about Renee Belamy's will."
"Really. That's weird." He bent down to read the screen over my shoulder. "It says to call for more information. I guess that's what you'll have to do in the morning."
"Yeah, I guess. You know the last time I got one of these letters it sort of threw my life into turmoil."
"And brought us together," he said, kissing my cheek.
We both kept busy on our laptops until our pizza arrived. "Have you had a chance to talk to John Robichau?" I asked between bites.
"Yeah. He's interested. He wanted to talk to Jared before giving me a final decision. It sounds like they're expecting some changes at BITES that might make the decision easier." Chance was adamant we needed to make some changes to his guide business so we could be together more. He was hoping to convince John Robichau, a hunter who worked for BITES, to leave them and come to work for us. With John on board, Chance would only guide hunts for long term clients or something that was of special interest to him. I was in El Paso because Chance wanted us to lead more hunts together. This was only my second hunt with Chance. I still wasn't sure how much of this I really wanted to do, but for now I was happy Chance and I could be together.