Page 33 of Fight Or Flight

eight

Ethan pulled up through the gates at Monroe Manor, wondering for the twentieth time that morning whether he was making a mistake. He wanted to do whatever he could to save the snakes. He asked Natalie to go waterfalling because he wanted to lecture her about the importance of the land. But a nagging little voice inside his soul accused him of lying.

By omission, at least.

Maybe, in the back of his mind, he’d thought it would be nice to spend the day with her. She was smart and funny, and as much as he tried to ignore it, she was gorgeous. At least she looked that way. Her attitude about the helpless snakes was less than pretty. But he was determined to change her mind.

And that was his mission today. Change Natalie’s mind about selling to developers while simultaneously ignoring how brightly her eyes sparkled in the sunlight.

“Piece of cake,” he said to himself as he pulled up the driveway. But as he came around the corner to the front of thehouse and saw Natalie sitting on the porch waiting for him, he wasn’t so sure.

She was wearing a plain white T shirt and short black shorts, with acres of tanned legs stretched out in front of her. On her feet were sandals.

He rolled his eyes and stopped the car.

“Morning,” she said, hopping into his car with a heart-stopping smile that took over her face.

Ethan blinked away. “You can’t wear sandals.”

“This is all I have.”

“I thought you might say that.” He reached to the back seat, pulled up a pair of hiking shoes and socks. “I took these from Amy’s this morning. She and Jaclyn left on their honeymoon already, so she won’t be needing them. I hope they fit.”

“Oh. Thanks,” she said, slipping her sandals off her pretty feet and pulling on the socks.

He looked past her at the front porch and saw two metal cages sitting by the door. “What are those?”

Natalie followed his gaze. “Cages.”

“Yeah, I can see that. What are they for?”

She looked at him. “The cats,” she said, then looked back down and muttered, “if I ever find the damn things.”

Horror came to Ethan’s face. “Are you really going to lure them into cages and send them off to be euthanized?”

“Adopted,” she said, then went about ignoring him.

“You know if they can’t find people to adopt them, they euthanize them, right?”

She didn’t respond. Instead, she focused all her attention on tying the shoes, then started pressing buttons on the dash. “I’m going to put on the day song.”

Ethan shook his head as he put the truck into gear and pulled out of the driveway, wondering why he’d invited this heartless woman on a trip. She hadn’t seemed capable ofsomething like that when he was with her at the wedding. She’d said she defended Amy, didn’t enjoy seeing good people taken advantage of. But that didn’t jibe with her carelessness with her grandmother’s defenceless little pets.

Figure her out. Convince her.

He cleared his throat. “What’s a day song?” The more information he had, the better strategy he could develop.

“It’s a song you play every morning on tour. By the third day, people associate the song with their trip. After they go home, whenever they hear the song, they remember all the fun they had.”

“So this is what you do? You’re a tour guide, and you live out of a suitcase?”

She nodded and clicked a few times on her phone, then turned up the volume.

“I chose a song especially for you.”

“For me?”

She nodded, then hit Play. The sound of Michael Bublé’s “It’s a Beautiful Day” filled the truck.

---