The sun was well up when Jeanie woke to the sound of someone knocking on her door. She had slept in her jeans and sweat shirt from the day before and she was a mess. With a herculean effort she hauled herself up and to her door. Unlocking it she poked her head out. The hallway was empty. Meaning to go back to bed, Jeanie looked down as she closed the door and noticed a small square of card on the carpet. She bent down and picked it up.
Someone had written a message on it in a fine, neat hand.
Ryan Hunt is downstairs waiting for you. It read.
Right, Jeanie thought. We arranged a pick up for the morning to go get the rental.
With sluggish movements that were hampered by her injury, Jeanie managed to get in the shower, wash and then dress herself. She could do nothing promising with her hair and simply piled it all on her head in a ponytail. Then, dressed in a clean pair of jeans and a black hoodie, she went downstairs.
Ryan was sitting in an armchair, dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt. He looked up from his phone and smiled at her. His black hair was messy but his golden eyes shone.
“Morning,” he said. “Are you ready for an adventure?”
“So long as it doesn’t involve any injuries I’m all for it.” She smiled.
They walked out the door and down the path.
“How is the wrist?” Ryan asked.
“Excruciating,” Jeanie said. “Serves me right. Maybe I need new hiking boots. They had no grip on the needles at all.”
“I promise you, you’re in good hands today.”
“And whose would those be?”
“Mine.” He smiled at her. “Coffee? I got you a latte from the Lemon Drop. They also make these amazing cinnamon buns. They are so good. Better than doughnuts.”
She looked at him amazed at his friendliness. “Really? We’ll see about that.”
They climbed into Ryan’s truck and drove out to Sun Valley. The road was wet. It must have rained in the night while Jeanie was dead to the world and the whole place looked clean and fresh. A breeze was blowing again, and though the sun was shining, white clouds were rushing by overhead. Jeanie sipped her latte. She preferred a straight up black coffee but this was a sweet gesture and it wasn’t lost on her. They had both gotten off on the wrong foot the previous day. So it was clean slates all round, thanks to coffee and cinnamon buns.
“Good, right?” Ryan asked after she’d eaten her third little frosting covered sugar bomb.
“Surprisingly,” Jeanie agreed after she’d swallowed. “I could eat the whole box and then keep going. These things are bad!”
“I know, right, you gotta love them,” Ryan said smiling as he bit into another one, frosting sticking to his nose.
They laughed.
“So does this mean we’re friends?” Jeanie asked. “I’m not the big bad monster coming to take your home.”
Ryan shrugged. “I’m hoping that you will learn to see things our way. There’s a lot going on here that I’m pretty sure they didn’t tell you about. But we’ll get to that later. This morning I plan to take you on a guided tour of the forest. That way you’ll be guaranteed to see strange bears galore.”
“Right?” she said not believing him but enjoying the ride.
They took the turn at the T-junction and entered Sun Valley. The place was so pretty with the fallen leaves and the damp soil. Jeanie opened her window and took in lung-fulls of the air.
“I just love that smell,” she confessed. “You know that wet, earthy, mulchy kind of smell. Reminds me of my grandparents’ place in Canada. I know don’t shoot me, I have Canadian relatives.” She held her hands up in mock surrender.
Ryan held his fingers up like a gun and pretended to shoot her. “Actually, I don’t mind Canadians at all.”
“Good.”
The track they were driving on forked ahead and they took the left one, heading deeper into the forest. After a few minutes Ryan stopped the truck.
“Here we are,” he said and got out.
Jeanie had no idea where she was. If he was planning to kill her, then she was as good as a face on the news. There was no way anyone would ever find the body out here. Watching Ryan; the way he moved and spoke, just how he was with her, Jeanie decided that she definitely wasn’t getting the creepy insane vibe from him. It was probably fine to go deep into the woods with this man she only just met yesterday. Famous last words—possibly.
He led her through the trees, her camera slung around her neck. They came to a fallen log and Ryan said to crouch down behind it. It was huge, big enough for Ryan to hide behind.
“Wait here, the bears come by all the time,” he whispered. “You should be able to observe them.”
Jeanie was skeptical but she crouched down and waited. Ten minutes later a bear sauntered into the clearing ahead. It looked around and found a tree. Then it stood on its hind legs and began to rub its back up and down on the trunk.
Jeanie snapped pics. The bear was pulling faces. She was sure of it as it groaned and moaned with pleasure.
“That must be a really good scratching post,” she commented, laughing.
Ryan looked annoyed. “It’s not that good.”
The bear stopped his scratching. Landed back on all four huge paws and sauntered out of the clearing.
A few minutes later two more bears walked into the clearing. They sat down and stared at each other. Then they grunted and groaned, whimpered and snorted as though having a conversation. Jeanie couldn’t believe it. She was no expert but she was sure that bears didn’t behave like that. She finally realized that she was being had when a bear tottered into the clearing and bowed at her. It actually bowed and then smiled pulling back its rubbery lips.
“Okay Ryan, how did you do it?”
“Do what?” Ryan asked exuding innocence.
“How did you train the bears?”