“I can pay,” I blurt. “It’s just—here.” I pull Don’s ring from my pocket and walk over to set it on the counter before the clerk. “I need to barter for a ride. North to Crow Lake. It’s all I’ve got, but it’s worth a lot more than some gas and crackers.”
The clerk picks it up and turns it over in her palm. She looks at the man, but he shakes his head. Setting it down, she says, “Sorry, we only take cash money.”
“I can take you,” a deep voice says from behind. I turn to see another man come up behind me. He snatches the crackers from the beer man as he passes and sets them on the counter beside the ring. “That’s a nice ring. Keep it. I’ll pay.”
I quickly grab the ring and put it away, feeling suddenly self-conscious. The man has a six-pack of beer and a bag of chips in one hand that he also sets down.
“You sure?” the cashier asks him.
He meets my eye. “Positive.”
“Suit yourself,” she says with a shrug.
I slide my crackers off the counter as he pays, taking him infrom the corner of my eye. He’s tall with a sandy-colored beard cut close to his jaw and an untucked flannel shirt. His nose has a slightly crooked ridge, the sign of a previous break. His face freckles along the crest of his cheekbones, tawny and worn from the sun. His eyes are gray, but not dull. Something dazzles in them, like colored stones beneath the surface of the water. They remind me of the Cooper River, the taste of mud, the feel of freedom. I want to escape behind them.
When he’s finished, he holds the door for me. “Come on, my truck is just out here.”
I hesitate, then walk briskly outside, anxious to get away from the judgy glare of the cashier. “It’s okay,” I tell him when he follows me out. “I can walk.”
His mouth twitches on one side, and he sets the beer down in the bed of a nearby truck. “Not sure that’s wise,” he tells me. His eyes dart down to my booted foot and back up.
It’s not any wiser to get into a truck with another strange man, attractive though he may be in a wholesome, mountain-grown sort of way. Even if he bought me an armful of crackers. Wasn’t that Don’s excuse after all, that Iowedhim? I squint past him, thinking he will leave me alone if I don’t say anything, but he just stares, waiting.
Finally, he opens his door and says, “Get in. It’s unlocked.”
I pause, wrestling.
He leans across the seat to open the passenger door and I flinch, a reaction he doesn’t miss. Undoing the glove box, he straightens, watching me through the window of his open door. “Come over here,” he says, pointing to the passenger side. “Look inside.”
His voice is low, gentle, and yet I move only in small, wary steps. As I skirt the ajar door, he says, “The glove box.”
I take my eyes off him at the last possible minute and rest them on the open glove compartment, where a blocky handgun is lying on its side.
“Take it,” he tells me.
It feels like a trick. I don’t move.
His hands go up. “I just want to help you. You’ll never make it to Crow Lake on foot, not with that boot, not in these mountains. I can tell you don’t trust me, so take it. It’s already loaded. If I do anything to hurt you, all you have to do is point and pull the trigger. Understand?”
My lips part, the air whistling between them. The gun should alarm me, but it doesn’t. Instead, it is the way he makes himself vulnerable that unnerves me, like a person bowing at my feet. I reach in and close the glove box. “I trust you.”
His whole body sighs. Pressing his lips together, he dips his head and climbs in the truck. “It’ll take less than an hour,” he tells me. “If the roads are clear.”
“The roads?” I echo.
“There was a big storm up that way last night. Might have knocked over some trees. We’ll see.”
I slide into the truck, biting my lip as a fresh wave of pain crackles through my rib cage. I close the door and watch the lake through the window as we back out.
“I’m Regis, by the way,” he says.
“Acacia,” I tell him.
“Where you from?” he asks as we get onto the road.
I turn from the window to give him a tight smile. “Down south.”
“Well then. Welcome to the Adirondacks.” His face lights with a knowing grin. “You ever been in the woods before?”
