“And… where did you say can we do that?” He turned to me, eyes wide and eager. “Because I really want to see one.”
I grinned. “Bad enough you’re willing to get up at three in the morning?”
“Oh God. Were you serious about that part?”
“Completely.”
“Ugh. Fine.” He wagged a finger at me. “But Ibettersee one, or you’re getting a one-star review on TripAdvisor!”
“Well, as long as you’re not one-starring my armpit photos.”
Jesse laughed. “I’ll hold out for the nostril porn.”
CHAPTER 12
JESSE
“I swear to God,” I grumbled into my enormous coffee cup, “if we don’t see the biggest fucking moose with the biggest fucking rack…”
From the driver seat, Eric laughed. “Hey, there’s no guarantees. They’re wild animals.”
“It’s three o’clock in the morning and I’m conscious.” I gestured at the windshield with the cup. “Moose—get your asses out where I can see them.”
He just chuckled and kept driving. The streets of Greenville were deserted and the windows in every business, house, and cabin were dark, which made sense given that no sane person would be awake at this hour.
Eric had driven us back into Greenville, and he was now taking us out the other way into the forested hills. Like literally into the forested hills—we were off the pavement now, bumping down a gravel road past signs warning that logging trucks had right of way. I had no idea how he navigated out here, especially once we moved onto what appeared to be a logging road. There were no signs, and the only evidence that other vehicles hadbeen through at all here were somewhat worn tire tracks with tall weeds shooting up between them.
At one point, the dense forest gave way to a broad expanse of treeless darkness; an open field, I assumed. Could’ve been a lake or a basketball court for all I could see, though.
Then Eric turned onto the shoulder. There wasn’t what I would call parking spaces, but he did find a reasonably flat spot so that if someone drove by, we wouldn’t be in their way. Right. Because there were probably dozens of cars driving through here at this hour.
Eric’s headlights illuminated the field briefly, showing sparse bushes and weeds along the gently rolling ground. There were some sapling trees poking up too, and I thought I made out the forest resuming in the distance. The lights went off before I could focus, though.
He shut off the engine, took off his seat belt, and settled back against the driver seat, sipping his own coffee. “And now… we wait.”
I eyed him. “You’re sure about this.”
“Mmhmm.” He tipped his cup toward the field. “There’s probably a couple dozen moose sleeping out there right now. Once the sun comes up, they’ll start getting up.”
“So… why did we have to get out here before the sun comes up?”
“Because by the time they wake up, they’ll have forgotten they heard a vehicle coming into the woods.” He again gestured at the field with his coffee cup. “And once they’re up and moving, they’ll go into the trees and we won’t see shit.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I still think you dragged me out of bed just to troll me.”
He offered me a broad grin. “But you’ll get to see moose, and afterward, you won’t know if I tricked your not, so…” He raised his cup in a toast.
I huffed and took a sip of my own coffee. I was pretty sure he was fucking with me.
The early hour and the quiet took their toll, and I dozed off before long. When I opened my eyes again, the faintest warmth of dawn had begun to creep into the scenery. Rocks and bushes began to take shape. As the light steadily brightened, I made out more and more, including the thick forest forming a dense wall around the perimeter of the field. The clearcut was probably twice the length of a football field—maybe a hundred yards or so across and two hundred end to end.
As the sun breached the horizon, frost sparkled on everything from fern fronds to rocks. A thin mist hung over most of the field, making it otherworldly, especially in the pinkish light.
Beside me, Eric sat up, squinting through the windshield.
“You see something?” I kept my voice soft as if the moose might hear me and spook.
“Maybe,” he murmured. “There’s some steam up there by that little clump of trees.”
