A Hero's Secret

six

..

After lunch, or rather after Dray cleared the plate and ordered a cheeseburger of her own that went down faster than the fries, she convinced Wells to accompany her on another photography walk in the woods. This time she wanted to go farther than the odd tree.

"So, do you work?" she asked a few minutes into their walk. The question found a home in the back of Dray's mind a couple days ago. She knew he was off doing something on all those days they didn't see each other, but he was always readily available when she needed him.

He snorted. "Yeah, gotta pay bills somehow." He looked over at her. They walked side by side. "My parents owned a branch of banks throughout the area—left it to me in their will. I sold most of it, but still help out—IT stuff."

"Explains how you're good with computers," she said. "Is that what you want to do?"

Wells scratched the back of his neck. "It's what my dad did, so I learned from him as a kid. Thought is was really awesome at the time. Now, it allows me to work from home and not full time, which is nice." He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "I like writing stuff, though. That blog thing you do, I think that would be cool."

Dray grinned. "Well, I do not like writing stuff, so maybe we could collaborate. It would save me the headache."

A smile slid onto his face, a real full-teeth, chubby-cheek smile. It surprised Dray because she'd never seen it before, but more so because she really liked it.

Unfortunately, the moment didn't last. As they neared the tree, a runner caught their attention.

"Oh hi, Dray!" The man waved with his entire arm, but dropped it sharp upon getting close enough to notice Wells. "Weldon."

"Porter."

Dray fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. The way the men stared at each other gnawed at her anxiety. The two looked like overly aggressive teenagers.

"Porter!" she said a little too enthusiastically after the longest moment of her life. "How are you?" The pitch of her voice heightened as the words tumbled out.

Porter wiped sweat from his brow and turned to Dray. His smile grew too large for his face. "Dray, I'm doing really great. Thank you for asking." He stood straighter when looking at her and fixed his shirt. His pale gray athletic outfit stuck out like a sore thumb in the dark forest.

Dray pursed her lips together, rocking back and forth on her heels. She assumed he would further the conversation with a question or two—she surely wasn't going to—but when it became clear he would rather stay silent with a smug expression on his face, she spoke again.

"Right. Well, nice seeing you again, Porter, but I've actually got to get some photos today." She grabbed Wells' arm and pulled him along.

Porter jumped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, have you heard about the block party tonight?"