“I, like most of the Knights, would pick the unknown man. It’s a common split based on gender. Women tend to pick thebear. Men, the opposite. And if I shared that, say, nine of you chose the bear,some of my brothers won’t understand why.”
“Of course, they won’t.” Rolling my eyes, I stepped over a tree branch and stopped walking. I propped my hands on my hips, donning my bestResting Skeptic Face. “That’s an odd question to ask as you lead me into the woods. Where are you going with this?”
His smile widened. “You’re not the only one who followed up with that, either.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I scoffed. “Women are predictable. We get it.”
“No,” Tristan said quickly, his tone serious as he held my gaze. “Some men are.”
I nodded, the movement slow and careful.
Given Izzy’s feelings for Tristan, and what I’d seen of him, I suspected he was an ally. But I didn’t seize the opportunity to stereotype an entire gender with one of its own.
No matter how nice he seemed or how well he claimed to understand it, he didn’t know what it was like to make a choice like that.
He couldn’t.
So, I redirected.
Gesturing around the woods, I arched my brow. “You were about to answer my question, right? Mansplain it to me. That’llreallydrive the point home.”
When I winked, he laughed. “I see why Izzy likes you.”
My cheeks warmed, grateful since I considered her a friend.
He moved on to the purpose of the lesson. “Now, I’m going to pretend to be a bear, and you can show me what you’d do.” He laughed at the expression that drew out of me. “Just go with it.”
On his firstattack, I threw my arms in the air and roared at him.He paused in his tracks but didn’t run off.
Instead, he eyed me as suspiciously as I eyed him, then sniffed around like he still planned to come after me.
When he turned, I took the opportunity to run.
That wasnotthe correct response.
After that, we acted out different approaches, like climbing the nearest tree or trying to hide, but he had me practice screaming at him until I stopped reining in my voice and really hollered.
Once I’d sufficiently embarrassed myself, he explained that the type of bear I encountered made a difference.
“Sometimes, puffing out your chest, pretending to be big and strong, and making as much noise as possible is the best way to get to safety, but it’s not the only option. With smaller black bears, yes. But with brown bears, it’s best to curl up on the ground and protect your vital organs, hoping they’ll go away. It all depends on the predator. That’s what we’ll explore the rest of the week.”
“So, day three is about polar bears?”
He grimaced. “If you ever encounter a polar bear, just run. That’s what I’d do. You’re dead anyway.”
On that morbid note, he led us out of the woods.
“It’s natural to want to run when we’re scared, but it’s not always recommended to do that. At least, not with the bear. When it’s an unknown man, sometimes that is your safest option.” His expression tightened as he ended the lesson. “Sometimes, it’s the only option.”
I nodded again, but said nothing else, and we both got lost in our thoughts until we said goodbye.
At the end of day two, Max and I played fully clothed poker.
As we sat there quietly, memories of the cabin resurfaced. The hardest part of reliving them was Max’s indifference.Ifhe was also thinking about our time together, he didn’t show it.
He just pushed his chips toward the center of the table and pretended there was nothing to say.
I stared at the terrible cards in my hand, wanting to provoke a response from him.
