Ethan is distant and strange for the rest of the day, and I don’t try to bring him out of it.

I can tell he went too far out on the lake, or at least he thought he did. I can’t stop thinking about what he said. He got involved with bad people when he was starting out, and they probably gave him money to open his lumber business. That explains a lot, since I’ve always wondered where the initial investment came from. His story of working hard and saving up never really made sense.

So he got involved with bad people. What does that have to do with the accident years later? And why is this his self-imposed prison?

These thoughts roll through my head all afternoon. He disappears into his room, and doesn’t come back out until dinnertime. I pass the day watching movies and reading some books that I find in another spare room.

We eat together, but he’s distant. We chat about the movies I saw, but when I try to move onto a more personal subject, he shuts down. Clearly, telling me about his past earlier today is really weighing on him.

As we finish dinner, he stands up. “I’m heading to bed,” he says. “Make yourself at home. See you tomorrow.”

He turns to go. “Ethan, wait,” I say. “Hold on.”

He looks back at me, face blank. “Yeah?”

“Look, about earlier. I won’t write about anything you tell me, okay? It’s just… if you want to talk about something, I’m here for you. Off the record, I swear.”

“Thanks,” he says. “But I’m okay.”

He turns and leaves, disappearing back upstairs. And leaving me with the dishes.

I sigh and clean up. Jones hovers around me, clearly waiting for scraps. I let him lick the plates before I put them into the dishwasher, which seems to satisfy him. Ethan gave him dinner just before we sat down to eat, so I don’t have to worry about that.

The fire’s starting to die down, so I add a log the way Ethan showed me. I reflect for a second that I’ve never added a log to a fire in my whole life, and now I’ve done that plus gone ice fishing in just a few days.

I thought Ethan was going to be different. Part of me expected just another rich guy, living a rich life, but he’s not exactly that. Sure, his house is incredible and expensive, but he also chops his own wood, goes ice fishing, does all his own chores, lives totally cut off from civilization, plus who knows how many other things. There’s nothing lazy about this man. He may be rich, but he’s not just another rich guy paying people to do his laundry for him.

I stay up later than I intended, reading a cheesy romance novel and thinking about what to do next. The snow’s done falling, although the temperatures are still pretty low. I don’t know when it’s going to thaw enough for us to get back into town. Part of me is afraid that it’s going to take a month at least.

But I can’t stay here a month, even if part of me wants to. I don’t have any clothes, for starters, and I’m sure Ethan is ready to get rid of me. I thought we had something, but he’s been distant these last two days, ever since we slept together.

It’s after midnight by the time I finish my book and decide to turn in. Jones has been sitting next to me this whole time, and when I stand up, he jumps up to attention.

“Want to go out?” I ask him, and he wags his tail in response.

I take him out the garage door. It’s cold as hell outside, but he runs out into the darkness. I stand there, worried for a second that I just lost Ethan’s dog, but before I can really start to freak, Jones comes trotting back.

“Good boy,” I say to him, and he licks my hand and lets me pet his head. “Come on, let’s get inside.”

Before we can go in, though, suddenly there’s a noise from outside. I go dead still, and Jones suddenly tenses. He takes a few steps toward the driveway, his tail out straight, ears at attention.

The noise comes again. It’s like a banging toward the side of the house. Jones barks and sprints outside. I hear another bang, and what I swear sounds like a shout, plus more barking.

“Jones!” I yell. “Come back!”

I’m afraid he’s going to get attacked by a bear or something. It must be a wild animal out there, since there aren’t any people for miles. That can’t have been a person yelling, right?

I run inside, sprinting up the steps, heart hammering in my chest. I don’t really think about it, I just burst into Ethan’s room.

I know I’m not supposed to be in here, but I’m terrified. His room is big, bigger than mine. There’s a large bed toward one side, a desk with a laptop against the other wall, and a dresser. It’s pretty sparse, although I spot a few empty whisky bottles on the floor. And there are newspaper clippings hung up over his dresser, and some photographs propped up of people I don’t recognize, and…

“Mia?” Ethan sits up in bed, looking at me. “What the hell are you doing?”

“It’s Jones,” I say, breathless. “I think he’s being attacked.”

Ethan jumps out of bed without a word. “Go downstairs.”

I do as he says. A minute later he comes barreling down, a gun in his hands, dressed in warm gear. He throws on some boots and runs outside, gun ready.

I follow him to the end of the garage. I hear him whistle and yell for Jones, but I don’t hear barking. I stand there, staring out into the inky blackness of the night, trying to see what’s going on. I don’t have any shoes on, and I’m definitely underdressed, but I can’t go inside before I know that Jones and Ethan are okay.

I look out across the driveway, out toward the tree line. It’s pitch black, with barely a moon to give any light, but I think I can see something. It moves quickly, melding back into the tree line, and I think I must be going crazy. For a second, I think it’s a person out there, but it can’t be. That must be a bear, or just shadows playing tricks on me.

“He’s okay.”

I start suddenly. Ethan comes trudging up toward me, gun resting on his shoulder, Jones dancing around him.

“You found him?”

“Just looking around the shed out back,” he says. “Nothing there, though. He looks totally fine.”

I chew my lip. “I swear, Ethan, we both heard something. And then he went running out after it, and I swear I heard it make this… sound.”

“What kind of sound?” he asks, stopping just in front of me. Jones rubs himself against my legs and I pet him.

“Like… a shout, I guess.”

Ethan frowns, but doesn’t press anymore. “Let’s get inside,” he says.

I follow him in. He stomps off the snow and stores his stuff. He leaves the gun in the laundry room before heading into the living room. He pours himself a whisky and offers me one, and I stupidly decline. He looks at me for a second before putting the bottle away.

“There are a lot of animals out there at night,” he says finally. “Jones likes to chase them.”

“Yeah,” I say. “There was banging.”

He shrugs. “Probably trying to climb the shed. Jones scared it away, whatever it was.”

I nod my head slowly, chewing my lip. “Yeah, sure. Must be it.”

He drinks his whisky, watching me silently. “You broke my rule,” he says finally.

I look up at him. “What?”

“No coming into my room. That was the rule.”

“Oh,” I say. “I’m sorry. I thought… it was an emergency.”

He nods, frowning. “Right.”

I look at him for a second, and suddenly anger wells up inside of me. “Why don’t you trust me?”

He looks a little surprised. “Trust you?”

“You clearly look at me as some… I don’t know, an enemy.”

A little smile comes across his face. “I wasn’t thinking of you that way, but you’re right. You’re the enemy.”

I clench my jaw. “I’m not the enemy. Why would I come all the way out here if I just wanted to… to destroy you?”

“I don’t know,” he says softly, coming toward me. “Why would you?”

“You’re so infuriating,” I say. “You treat me like the only part of me that’s important is the journalist part.”

“I like all of your parts,” he says.

“That’s not what I mean. You’ll fuck me, sure, but you don’t trust me, and I don’t know why.”

He stops, inches away from me, and my heart’s beating so fast. He reaches out and takes my hair, tipping my head back, looking down into my eyes. “You think you’ve earned my trust?” he asks softly.

“Yes,” I say. “I have.”

“You don’t know what you’re asking for. You have no clue how dangerous it is that you’re here.”

“Tell me, then,” I whisper.

I can see something in his eyes, like he’s angry, but it’s not directed at me. It’s directed inward, at whatever internal demon he’s trying to get rid of. Quickly that look dissipates, and he leans forward to kiss me.

I kiss him back, a chill running down my spine. For the first time since I’ve met him, I actually believe what he’s saying. There was something in his eyes that makes me think he really is haunted by something, although I’m not sure what. He pulls me tight against him and kisses me slow and deep, and I want his taste, need his touch so badly it almost hurts.

He pulls back. “You’ll need to work harder if you want my trust,” he says.

He releases me and steps away. He leaves me standing there in the living room, excitement boiling inside of my body. I want him to come back and give me what I desire so badly, but I know he won’t.

I go to bed, lonely and confused, but this time Jones follows me and sleeps in my room.