Page 2 of Trees Take the Long View

"Sure, drop me off at the gym."

"I think I saw it on the way in here. BodyBulge, right?"

I smiled a little, to hear that name said out loud, taken seriously. "Yup." It was the only gym around here. They were heavy into body building, mostly male, and as far as I could tell, mostly straight. Which was a shame, not that I'd been looking for anyone up till now. Like I said, mostly I used it to shower and shave. Between landscaping and running in the woods, I didn't need an extra workout routine.

It had been different when I worked with the cops. I got so pent up at the end of the day I needed to burn a lot of energy as hard as I could. I was kind of rough on the machines at my gym then, although I hadn't meant to be.

I slid into his car and tried not to breathe deeply or sigh at the smell of warm man and hay. "Were you waiting for me?" I tried to keep myself from looking at him. I needed to play it cool; I definitely shouldn't smile at him. He might think I was encouraging him, and, well, I just didn't want to give anything away right now.

"Maybe." Damn it, there was a smile in his voice, sure enough. A hint of teasing, too.

I tried to get comfortable in the passenger seat as I buckled up, and he drove on. I still didn't look at him.

"So you work out a lot?" he said, making conversation. I could hear the genuine curiosity in his voice, though.

I hesitated. I shouldn't share too much about my living situation, because one fact would unravel the whole thing, and I didn't know how much he was going to try to dig out of me, and consequently how much I should try to keep private. He might think that living in a tent was pathetic, and might try to use that angle as a pry bar to get me back into the shifters and partners program.

I wasn't one to stay in one area for a long time, and lately even the bother of renting a place seemed unnecessary.

Many people, I guessed, would think it was pitiable. But they probably weren't shifters, who sometimes just need to be around nature. As a wolf, I didn't feel the cold as badly as a non-shifter would have. Not that it was cold right now; but even in the winter, I might not bother to move anywhere indoors. It would depend on how I felt at the time. I could sleep perfectly warm in my fur.

I shrugged. "It's okay."

"Well, when you're ready to eat, let me know. Do you have a preference?"

"Somewhere with meat."

That shouldn't sound as dirty as it did.

He chuckled. I hoped it hadn't sounded dirty to him. Or if it did, that it would sound like I'd meant it in a light, sophisticated, teasing way. Honestly, where was my mind going lately? I wasn't usually like this—so self-conscious and tongue-tied and feeling like everything I said might be mistaken for innuendo. Honestly.

"I wasn't going to take you to a vegetarian-only restaurant," he promised.

"Good, because there isn't one in town," I parried witlessly. I turned slowly to look at him, wondering if he'd notice my face was getting red. Felt like a bright cherry tomato. Hopefully he wouldn't see.

He was looking at the road. Good.

I turned away slowly again to look out the window, my heart pounding. I needed to not be weird and self-conscious here.Remember, you don't care what this guy thinks of you. It's just a meal...

"I'll bow to your culinary knowledge of the area," he said, in the same sort of tone.

I snorted. Half laugh, half grumpy noise.Stop being weird, stop being weird!

"Not that I have anything against vegetarian meals. I'm just hungry for protein today."

"Sure. I get it. You've been working hard."

I had been. I suddenly wanted to share things with him, and I wished that feeling would go away. Maybe I'd gotten lonely, in my months of retreat. Maybe I'd missed having anyone to talk to, to listen to me.

"In the forest, there's fruit trees. I eat there sometimes, a whole meal. Don't even need to catch any rabbits. I just don't eat like that all the time. I'm not a fruitarian."

I looked at him, thinking of the tangled undergrowth reclaiming part of what had once been an old farm—the building was mostly gone, but there were reminders of what had once been, including a few overgrown and gone-feral fruits: apple, plum, tangled raspberry thickets. It was a good place to fill up on fresh food. It tasted real in a way that grocery store food often didn't to me.

"Fruit in the forest? Really?" He gave me an encouraging smile, and of course, I fell for it. I began telling him about the fruit trees that had gone wild, left behind and still feeding whatever wanted the fruit, even though the humans were gone.

"I wouldn't mind seeing that. It sounds inspiring."

"Inspiring? Really?"