Page 9 of Ashes to Ashes

Five

"So,that small mouth-shaped opening is the exit for how manybats?"

Denni scrubbed her shoes back and forth in the dirt to get a better purchase on the small hill we'd parked our bottoms on for the bat show. There were a few other groups milling about the cave, some with tripods and some just there to experience the action firsthand and not from behind alens.

"The Redmond Cave has one of the densest populations of Mexican free-tailed bats. There could be as many as one million of them living inside that cave at any onetime."

I grinned over at her and pushed a curl back behind her ear. "You know your bat shit, lady."

Denni nodded with pride. "Maybe I should have been a chiropterologist."

"You should have because that sounds really sexy when you sayit."

Denni opened the bag of potato chips she'd brought along for the show. We sat and nibbled and watched the cave like two people waiting for a movie to start.

"I hope the previews are good." I pushed a chip into my mouth.

Denni laughed and wrapped her arm around mine. Her head dropped against my shoulder. "Luke, this might sound weird, but I feel like I've known you a longtime."

"Doesn't sound weird to me. I was thinking the same thing."

She lifted her head and looked at me. "Oh my gosh, maybe we knew each other in a past life. Bonnie and Clyde. No wait, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton."

"Really? Those are your go to couples from a pastlife?"

"Romeo and Juliet?" she asked with the cutest lift of her smooth eyebrows.

"Uh, pretty sure that's a fictional couple."

Her shoulders dropped back down. "Yeah, you're right. And they kind of end up dead, so probably not the best example."

The man who had set up an impressive bunch of camera equipment seemed to know that something was about to happen. He moved closer to his tripod.

"Look!" Denni cried. "I see the firstbats."

"I think we should count them to see if there are really a million ofthem."

Denni elbowed me with a laugh, then grabbed her knees to her and propped her chin on them to watch.

A few minutes later, a few fluttery flying mammals became a loud, black swirling cloud of wings. They came out of the cave in a corkscrew pattern before eventually trailing into a long parade of bats. I could feel the excitement radiating off of Denni's body as she watched the critters leave their cave. A million was not an over-exaggeration. It was truly an incredible sight to see. Almost as incredible as the enthusiastic expression on the beautiful girl sitting next tome.

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