Point of Contact by Melanie Hansen

Author:Melanie Hansen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-01-18T16:39:14+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

May 2009—One year after

“Hey, Jesse.”

Jesse swung around to see Trevor sitting a few feet away, his hands folded together on top of the bar.

“Hey.” Jesse walked over and leaned his hip against the counter, looking down at him solemnly. “I had a feeling I’d see you tonight.”

“Any chance you can get out of here?” Trevor asked, a relieved expression flitting over his face when Jesse said, “Absolutely. I told my manager I might have to duck out early today. Be right back.”

Jesse headed to the manager’s office to square things away with Karen, easily the coolest boss on the face of the earth.

“He’s here,” he told her, and she nodded.

“Go ahead and take off, then.”

Jesse thanked her and she added, “I do have you on the schedule for tomorrow evening, but if you can’t make it, just call me in the morning, okay?”

“Will do. You’re the best, K.”

Jesse grabbed his keys and wallet out of his locker and headed back to Jelly’s main restaurant area, seeing Trevor hovering by the door. Taking a deep breath, Jesse headed to join him, noticing that Trevor had a red day pack slung over his shoulder.

“I was thinking, could we maybe go back to that trail?” Trevor asked tentatively, glancing down at Jesse’s work jeans and black sneakers. “We can stop by your apartment first.”

“Nah, I’ve got some gym clothes with me.”

Trevor followed Jesse to his truck and climbed into the passenger seat. They drove north in silence, and it was near dusk when Jesse parked in the same dirt lot as last time. Nobody else was around, and Jesse leaned over to grab his duffel from behind his seat before getting out of the truck and yanking his Jelly’s T-shirt over his head.

“Brrr.” It wasn’t super cold, but the late-spring chill pebbled his nipples and caused goose bumps to spring up on his arms, and he quickly pulled his sweatshirt on. He skimmed his jeans off next, wadding them up and tossing them in the back before stepping into a pair of track pants.

As he re-tied his sneakers, he caught a glimpse of Trevor staring straight ahead, his fingers clenched tightly on the red pack.

“You have a flashlight?” he asked, and Trevor jumped, like he’d been completely lost in thought.

“Yeah, and plenty of water. Some for you, too.”

Jesse pulled his own day pack out from behind Trevor’s seat and checked over the contents. “Okay, I’m ready.”

They headed out, Jesse taking the lead, and the pinkish glow in the sky faded, darkness settling over them. The moon was bright enough to see the trail, so Jesse didn’t bother with his flashlight. As he walked he breathed deeply, searching for calm, reminding himself over and over that he was at home in Colorado and not on night patrol in hostile territory.

The trees are different. The sky is different, light pollution from the city instead of a million stars. No monkeys.

Jesse kept cataloging the ways the two forests didn’t compare, and the surge of initial adrenaline finally receded into something more manageable.

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