Page 1 of Saved By the Lumberjack
Chapter One
Ivy
"So, you believe in these things then?"
The pretty woman across the table from me hands back my tablet after looking through the images I showed her.
I like Phoenix. She's a couple years younger than I am, about my size, but with that gorgeous combination of black hair and blue eyes that makes me feel like the epitome of a plain Jane.
Phoenix owns the bakery up here, sharing space with the local coffee shop
A few months ago, she went viral when she posted to an internet forum dedicated to small town folklore. The story of her sighting of a suspiciously wolf-like creature that was over six feet tall and standing on two legs as it watched her from the shadows of the forest she was hiking spread like wildfire.
Of course, Moonshine Ridge was already well-known in my circles-- and to the cryptozoology community-- as being a hotbed for Sasquatch activity. Phoenix tells me that's why she was on the site to begin with, looking for posts about the area and thinking of ways to use the town's Bigfoot reputation for marketing.
She's done a great job from what I see. Instead of bear claws, there's a tray of absolutely enormous "Squatch claws" in one ofthe display cases. Iced sugar cookies bearing the classic Bigfoot silhouette are stacked on another tray and a basket of "Bigfoot bones" sits on the counter near the register, free for visiting four-legged friends.
But it wasn't Bigfoot that brought me up here.
I shake my head, feeling a little apologetic.
"I'm a folklorist." I tell her. "It doesn't matter if I believe in them or not, it's not my job to prove or disprove they exist. I'm more interested in the universal quality of the mythos and trying to put together how it's all related."
"I'd never heard of dogmen before I saw that post. I didn't know they were a thing. I thought I saw a...." Phoenix shakes her head and laughs. "I knew it was ridiculous, even when I took off running. But--"
She shrugs, a blush creeping into her fair skin that spreads along with the smile across her lips.
"That's how I met Adam; my husband, so I guess it turned out okay."
The bell on the door behind me dings as someone walks in.
"Hi Jake!" She greets the new customer.
"I'll be right back," she tells me, leaving the table to rush back to the kitchen.
A man walks straight to the counter. More likesaunters. Maybestruts. Whatever the right word for his slow, confident gait is, he walks with long strides and moves with purpose and a grace that I haven't noticed in the other men wandering around town.
He stands at the counter with his back to me.
I take advantage of the opportunity to admire the way his worn jeans sit low on his waist, hug a well-sculpted set of glutes and continue on down thickly muscled legs, ending in bunched denim over scuffed work boots.
Phoenix emerges from the kitchen and hands the man half a dozen large boxes across the counter.
"Thanks, Phee, the guys love you." Jake handles the tower of pastry boxes easily, his deep voice melodious the way I imagine a tiger's purr sounds like.
He's all dark grey t-shirt stretched across a broad back, a pair of sporty sunglasses hanging from the collar in back.
When he turns around to head back out, he catches me staring. For half a second, our eyes meet and there's a smile in the olive hue staring back at me that was probably already there-- but it feels like it's just for me.
"So you're going up there?" Phoenix is right back where we left off as she slides back into her chair across the table from me.
Jake keeps walking, and I turn my attention back to Phoenix.
"Later today," I confirm. "I'm just going up for a couple of days. I'd love to talk again before I leave."
Phoenix shudders.
"Maybe there's no such thing as dogmen, but they do think they found wolves up there. Just be careful."
