Love Fool (One Night Only Season 2: Hunter's Story)

Chapter Two

The girl fixes her gaze on me. I'm positive we haven't crossed paths before, and yet her sea-blue eyes remind me of something I can't place.

"Hey," she replies.

She isn't sizing me up, exactly, but she appears to be making her mind up about something. I brush a leaf from my hair and pretend I don't notice.

"You aren't from here, right?" I ask.

"What do you mean?" She swipes at a strand of her dark brown hair that escaped from its topknot, and then glances at her dog.

I take a step closer before considering this might alarm her. Here I am, some guy she doesn't know who just walked out of the woods. None of my friends would describe me as intimidating, but she's alone, I'm a stranger, and I tower over her at six feet tall. I stop where I am.

"I'm pretty sure I know everyone at this lake, and I've never seen you before. Did you walk over from Loon?"

"Loon?" she repeats.

"Loon Lake." I watch her for a sign that she knows what or where Loon Lake is. She notices and stares back at me, saying nothing.

"I'll take that as no," I continue. "Are you visiting someone here?"

So much for trying not to send up a red flag. My questions must make me sound like a creeper, but she has me curious. Almost everyone at this lake has known me for most of my life. It's refreshing to talk to someone new who won't ask how my school year was, or why I'm not with Trinity, Landon, or the other friends we all used to hang out with.

"No. My mom and I are staying at a cottage here." If I've given her cause for concern, then her voice and body language don't reveal it.

"Cottage." I fight back a smile. She just told me she's from out of town and I'm sure she has no idea.

"What about it?"

"We call it a camp around here. You 'cottage' people automatically give away not being from this part of the province."

She puts a hand on her hip. "Oh really? Where do you think I'm from?"

This mystery girl might be tiny in size, but I sense she's a force to be reckoned with just from how she's challenging me right now and her overall energy.

It's attractive as hell.

I pause and do my best to act as though I'm studying her while contemplating the question. What I'm really doing is recovering from my surprise at how drawn to her I am when we've only been talking for a couple of minutes. I don't even know her name. The rush of feeling is unexpected, because I haven't been attracted to anyone or felt anything but numb for months.

I give myself a mental shake. There's a question I'm supposed to be answering right now. What was it again? Oh right. Where I think she's from.

"Back east or down south," I finally reply. "Probably the GTA, though."

"What's the GTA?" She seems puzzled.

"Greater Toronto Area," I explain. "So I'll guess that means you're from out west."

"You could say that."

"B.C.?"

"Nope."

She seems amused, and I suspect this is a game to her now. It's one I'll gladly play if it means I can keep talking to her.

"Alberta?" I ask.

"Do you always interrogate people like this?"

"Only people who seem interesting and worth the time." I might be giving myself away, but I'm being truthful. "Am I right about Alberta?"