The mountains surrounding River’s End Ranch were just beginning to turn purple with the dawn as Opal Hamilton peeked out the window. She’d gotten up before the sun to try to get a few shots in before she had to go to work at the gallery. Glancing at the clock, she quickly set the covered plate of scrambled eggs and toast in the refrigerator and bumped the door shut with her backside as she looked around for her camera.

She knew her dad wouldn’t be up for a little while longer, and she wanted to make sure he had his breakfast—something she’d done every morning since her mom died years ago—and she hummed quietly as she pulled on her beanie and gloves, and quietly slipped out the door of the cabin on the ranch that she and her father shared.

The morning was cold on her cheeks, and her exhaled breath spiraled around her. Spring hadn’t quite sprung yet at the ranch and patches of snow dotted the path she trudged along, heading to one of her favorite spots. She looked around as she walked, inhaling deeply and stopping every once in a while to shoot a picture.

She loved this time of day as the mountains were still in shadow, and the colors changed by the second as the sun crept toward the back of the craggy mountains to the east. She only tripped once this time, and laughed a little as she made it to her favorite grove. From a little knoll past the first row of pine trees, she could sit on the big boulder and see the entire valley—the lake sprawling the length of it.

She changed her regular gloves into the fingerless ones she kept in her pocket and flipped off the lens cover to her camera—the one she’d saved up for from the money she’d made working at her father’s hardware store back in Texas. Every time she did, tingles swept through her fingertips at the excitement of what she might find when she looked through it.

Before she did that, she stood and swept her gaze across the valley. She marveled at the color changes while deciding where she might concentrate on this beautiful morning as the sun’s glow approached the top of the mountain and threatened to spill over into the valley.

She lifted the camera and squinted through the viewfinder. She’d chosen a particular area she wanted to focus on, and pointed the lens in that direction. The past several days, she’d seen movement out of the corner of her eye in a certain glade, but hadn’t captured anything unusual in the pictures she’d gone over after work. Even magnifying them the best she could, she hadn’t seen anything but the usual trees, boulders and other magnificent scenery that was her hallmark, but she kept trying.

The slight breeze had pine boughs dancing and since the spot she was focused on was on the other side of the lake—she hadn’t wanted to get too close until she knew exactly what it was—she was having a difficult time seeing anything unusual. If there was anything unusual there at all.

She moved on after a while, taking what she thought would be some good shots of the soaring mountaintops covered with snow. It would be spring soon, and the snow would be gone for the summer, and she wanted to get as many shots as she could before that happened. Having lived her entire life in Texas, this was the first winter she’d spent in the snow, and she tried as much as she could to capture that magic through her lens.

From the corner of her eye, she saw movement—not trees, but some other kind. She turned back to the copse that she’d been focused on for the past few days. She lowered her camera and squinted, but couldn’t see anything different. Back in the copse, behind the first row of trees, the colors blended into dark shadows, but her heart sped as she just had a feeling that there was something in there.

She lifted her camera and snapped as many frames as quickly as she could, hoping that when she had the opportunity to blow up the pictures she might be able to see more.

Her alarm on her phone sounded and she sighed, clipping the lens cover back on her camera and slinging it over her shoulder as she changed her gloves. She’d need to hurry if she wanted to get some breakfast at the cafe before heading to work at the gallery. She thought of her father, and hoped he’d had his breakfast. She’d stopped leaving notes long ago, and he just knew to look for what she’d made. Every day, and she smiled at the thought of it.

She stomped the snow and pine needles from her boots as she reached the porch of Kelsey’s Kafe, inhaling deeply as the scent of bacon tickled her taste buds.

Kelsi Weston looked up and smiled as Opal blew into her hands as she came in from the cold.

“Morning, Opal,” she said as she reached for a coffee mug and filled it. She handed it to Opal, who quickly wrapped her hands around it and headed to the table she’d claimed as her own for breakfast since she’d been coming to the cafe for breakfast almost every day for months.

“The usual?” Kelsi asked as she passed by.

“Yep,” Opal said. She smiled at the petite blond who’d been so kind to her as she’d gotten her bearings in her new home. She hadn’t known a soul except her sister Olivia, but when she and her father came to the wedding and decided to stay, her uncle followed...and of course she knew her new brother-in-law, Fred, and his mother, who was now her aunt-in-law.

She shook her head at all the changes that had come about so quickly and glanced over at Kelsi, who’d been a very kind constant for her as she’d gotten her bearings.

She poured cream and a little sugar into the mug after she’d settled in the booth. Head down, she flipped through the pictures on the digital display her camera had, enlarging the pictures here and there.

She was completely engrossed in trying to find something—anything—in the pictures of the grove where she’d seen something moving that she almost knocked over her coffee when Kelsi spoke from behind her.

“Oh, new pictures?” she said excitedly as she set down Opal’s breakfast along with some hot sauce for her hash browns. She hadn’t left her taste buds in Texas and loved all things spicy, something that Kelsi really appreciated about her.

“Yeah, I was able to see some movement but I’ll be darned...I can’t see anything in the pictures. I think I need to see them bigger than I can even zoom in on my camera.”

Kelsi nudged her over and slid into the booth beside her, and Opal noticed that she did it a little more gingerly than usual, scooting back as far as she could and still barely clearing the table with her belly.

“He’s got to be in there somewhere. You’re the best photographer I know,” Kelsi said quickly before Opal could bring it up.

Opal rolled her eyes. Since the very first day she’d confided in Kelsi that she thought something was out there, Kelsi had sworn it was Bigfoot and that Opal was hot on the trail.

Kelsi leaned on her elbows, closer to the pictures on Opal’s camera, squinting at the images.

“Kelsi, it’s not Bigfoot,” she said as she rolled her eyes. She didn’t know what she expected to find, but she sure was hoping it wasn’t Bigfoot.

Kelsi leaned back in the booth and folded her arms.

“You don’t know that,” she said with a slight pout. “I know he’s out there somewhere, and I’m sure you’ll find him. I haven’t been able to go out searching for a while and I don’t know when I can.” She absently rubbed her tummy before she stood as she spotted another customer at the door and winked at Opal. “Keep trying.”

She finished her breakfast and her coffee, set down the cost of breakfast on the table before tugging on her gloves.

Opal shook her head and turned off her camera after a glance at the last picture. She just knew something was in there. She’d seen it moving, and if she didn’t find anything on the pictures after she could look at them blown up, she’d just have to go try again—Bigfoot or not.

She took in a sharp breath as she looked at the clock and realized she’d be late for work if she didn’t get a move on. She gave Kelsi a quick wave on her way out and laughed as she opened the door to the cafe and heard Kelsi say, “Don’t let me down, Opal.”