Bigfoot

10.

"Randy, I'm sorry I didn't think of it sooner."

Randy spit in a soda bottle and closed the top. "Hell Roger, you didn't know." He eyed the aging barber as he washed his hands and threw the towel over his shoulder.

Roger turned back to Randy and offered him a weak smile. "She had been darting in and out of that forest for such a long time, I thought she was just taking another one of her trips."

He had no idea his Azzalea had been going into the forest and then to find out she had been doing it for months, blew his mind. The old man spoke and brought Randy back from his wandering mind.

"What did she do in that forest? She always had something with her. A bag, cans, but this last time her hands were empty. I figured she was feeding a fox or something."

Randy shook his head and slapped his hand on his thigh. He looked down to his dirty jeans. He hadn't had his clothes washed since Azzalea took off. "I don't know." He spit in his bottle again.

The little bell on the barbershop door did it little ding. Roger waved to his customer and looked back to the man racking his brain for answers. He slapped him on the shoulder. "Randy, just let it be. She's gone and probably for the best. I know it's not my place," Roger put a hand on his chest, "but ya'll didn't have the rightest relationship in town."

Randy locked eyes with the barber. He nodded and stood up. He walked quickly from the shop/

"Leave it be Randy, you're asking for more trouble!" Roger called after him before the barbershop door shut itself.

~~~~

River lazily opened his eyes. He had slept and he had slept good. He glanced down to the still naked female tucked up against his hard body. Taking his hand, he gently ran his fingers across her face. Her soft skin felt foreign under his callouses.

"My Fawn, how did I get so lucky."

Azzalea's eyes blinked open as she heard her Sasquatch growl. She looked up to him and he was looking down to her. They smiled at one another. She nuzzled her head under his chin. An overwhelming feeling jumped on Azzalea's chest. Tears played at the corner of her eyes. She sniffled and searched the feeling.

River frowned. "Azzalea?" He pushed her back and searched her face. She looked upset, but not upset at the same time. Tears came from her eyes, but her face held a smile.

They both sat up. River watched the fur slip from his Azzalea's body and pooled around her hips. The soft glow of the almost burnt out embers, played against her pale flesh.

"I think I'm in love with you." She confessed to him.

Azzalea's chest burned as she spoke her truth. She had read it, watched it on movies, and seen it in public, but never experienced such. Her father didn't love her because he sold her to Randy. Randy didn't love her because he allowed his brothers to hurt her and he would beat her himself.

River put his hand against her face and watched her speak to him again. He felt like his lungs were expanding bigger and bigger. "Love?" He grunted the question. He knew the word. River recalled his parents saying it to each other once a year in the spring. They would speak it to him in the fall.

It gave him the same lung expanding feeling then as it does now. He felt like he could take on the biggest baddest bear in the forest. He felt like he could climb the highest peak, swim the most dangerous waters, and walk across the hottest fires. 

Azzalea watched his face. He searched his mind, but when his eyes came back to hers and they connected, sparks hit them both.

"I love you, Azzalea." The low smooth voice said to her. "River and Azzalea."