Even though I kept telling myself all the many reasons why I should just walk away and forget about this gorgeous stranger, I couldn’t seem to be able to stop myself from staring at her and being drawn in by her beauty. I suppose my desire to keep looking at her was stronger than my will to go about my fucking business like I knew I should. Because I just kept standing there staring at her and even taking another step closer to see her better, which caused some leaves to rustle under my boots.
“Hey, who’s there?” asked Darren, peeking through the trees to catch a better glimpse of me. I thought that I had been doing a good job of being quiet and still, but thanks to my dumb idea to take a step forward, I had been spotted. It was too late. There was no way that I could slip away undetected now.
“Hello. I’m Darren,” he said, as he approached me. “Sorry we disturbed your hunting.”
He extended his hand, which I stared at for a few moments, not sure if I was going to shake it or not. I realized then that they didn’t recognize me. I guess it wasn’t all that hard to believe, since it had been years since we’d seen each other, and I probably looked like a grizzly bear now compared to then.
I had grown my hair out long and thick, and had a long beard, whereas as a SEAL I had stuck to the regulation military haircut. Of course, I was also older now than I had been then, and the years of sun had weathered my face.
I was kicking myself for missing my chance for a clean exit— all because I had been mesmerized by a pretty face. I glanced over in the direction of the woman at whom I’d been looking and was surprised to find her staring back at me, smiling sweetly. It almost made this awkward moment worth it. Almost.
“My wife, Hope, and I live nearby in a cabin that I built,” continued Darren, taking back his extended hand.
He looked hesitant, as if he’d realized I hadn’t wanted to see him here and was explaining his existence like some kind of stalker. I had heard of this area because many of our fellow SEALs talked about how it was a good place to get a lot of land for cheap after our service was over, so, it wasn’t necessarily all that strange that he had also built a cabin in the same vicinity as I had.
What was coincidental was that somehow, I had wandered so far in my hunting journey, while at the same time he and the Bradford Brothers had meandered so far on their hike, that our paths had connected. “We are having a little get together and a few buddies and their wives came up to join us,” he explained.
I nodded my head as he talked, the whole time debating whether or not I should still take my chances and walk away, leaving them standing there, wondering about the unfriendly stranger that they had stumbled upon. It seemed like a much better alternative than standing there and letting the forgotten years creep back up and come out into the light. The memories of that time were not ones that I was eager to recall.
But, the way that the beautiful woman stood staring at me seemed to keep my feet planted in their spot in the woods. Standing under her gaze felt like taking in the warm rays of the sun. I was spellbound.
Darren seemed to notice my gaze shifting over to the woman, so he stepped back in her direction. Then he looked at Harlow.
“This is Michelle, my childrens’ nanny,” Harlow explained. “My wife Whitney hired her.”
Everyone waited, staring at me.
“Hello,” she said, as if she felt a bit out of place. It was at that moment that I knew I would do some things I hated to do— talk to and just be around other people— just so I could get to know her better.
“Elijah. Nice to meet you,” I said.
The group seemed to let out a collective sigh of relief when I finally spoke.
Befuddled, and staring in disbelief, Darren spoke.
“Wait, Elijah Chase…? Oh, my God, wait. Are you…?” After doing a double take in disbelief, Darren continued. “Hey, bud, how are you? What are you doing way out here?”
Without waiting for an answer, he turned to the rest of the group and said, “Hey, look who it is, it’s Elijah!”
The guys all looked at each other, somewhat stupefied, and then moved toward me and gave me an enthusiastic hug. Harlow gave me a once over and, without saying a word, shook my hand with a strong grasp. His brother Jensen patted me on the back and stared me up and down.
“Looking good man,” Jensen said. “How are you, my friend? Long time no see!”
I shrugged, as the question of how one was doing was always quite a relative one to answer. I was doing much better now that time had passed, thanks in large part to my solitude and self-imposed isolation out here in the woods, but, that wasn’t to say I was fucking “fine.” I didn’t want to give some fake, contrived answer as people normally do. Plus, my concentration was still on Michelle, more than it was focused on this spontaneous and completely unexpected reunion.
“Do you live nearby?” Jensen asked.
I simply nodded and managed to mutter something out.
“Yes, not far,” I said, trying to shift my gaze away from Michelle, but failing miserably.
At this point it was beyond obvious that I was transfixed on one thing and one thing only. Now that I knew her name, I wanted to know everything else about her. Such as where she lived. And how she liked her eggs cooked in the morning.
Staring at her pouty lips and full frame, my mind began to wander. I couldn’t help but think about what she might feel like if I held her in my arms. I wanted to know what her interests were, as well as what I could do to make her smile every day.
I tried to shake such silly thoughts from my head, since this was our first time meeting each other and would be our last. Even though I hoped that I could see her again, I knew that my lack of interest in meeting or being around other people would only serve to distance her from me.
My God, what are these feelings I’m having for someone I have just now met? I couldn’t help but think.
Of all the people that I could run into in the woods, I couldn’t believe that I was running into some of my former fellow SEALs. And even though I was still very much wracked with guilt about the way that things had gone all those years ago, they seemed to welcome me with open arms. I paused and pondered… maybe things had not been as bad as I thought that they had been.
Darren then cleared his throat.
“Elijah? Uhh, are you ok?”
“Yeah, yeah, sure,” I responded.
Living alone for so long had made me forget what it was like to interact with other people. I guess I’d been in my own thoughts and without a companion for so long that I was caught off guard by everything taking place.
“Well, we decided to come out exploring because we had all eaten and drank a little bit too much, so we wanted to walk it off with some of the older kids,” Darren said. “Harlow’s wife, Whitney, and my wife, Hope, stayed behind with the younger kids.”
“This is my wife, Riley,” Jensen interrupted, as I nodded towards the woman who was with Michelle.
“It’s been a happy coincidence running into you out here,” Darren continued. “Say, if you’re up for it, I think that it would be great if you could come up to the house and meet the rest of the family.”
There were very few things that I wanted to do less than being in a more intimate social setting with the last people on earth that I had ever wanted to see again. But, this would give me a chance to learn more about Michelle, so my answer tumbled out of my mouth before I could think better of it.
“Sounds good,” I said.
Why not? I asked myself.
And then I answered myself after it was too late to back out. Maybe because I had no social graces and no clue of what to say to people, especially not to those who knew my history like these people did. But, I couldn’t help but want to take any opportunity to be near the stunning beauty I now knew was named Michelle.
My only hope was that I hadn’t sealed a worse fate for myself than I had already been living.