Free Flutter by Gina Linko Page B

the person from the animal shelter would be there soon to get rid of my bat. I was winded and worn, realizing I might have to wait to make another trip to town to go to the library. My stamina had really taken a hit.
    Once I was back at the cabin, I took a deep breath and risked one more trip inside with the bat so that I could grab my laptop.
    I sat on a large rock in the clearing, near my handsome stranger’s fire pit, and powered up my laptop. I got all the way to clicking on my Internet icon before I realized that I wouldn’t have any Wi-Fi out here. I felt like a dope then. What was I thinking? That was why I had wanted to go to the library.
    I shook my head in frustration. It was then that I heardthe unmistakable crunch of boots on snow. I turned toward the evergreen path. I hoped it would be my bat helper, but instead, as I shut my laptop and stood up, I saw that it was the cowboy from last night.
    Every muscle in me instantly tensed. Ugh. I clenched my fists and scowled. I had thought I was rid of him. But now here he was, raising his hand in a wave, swaggering over here. And was that a little smirk on his face?
    “Hello again,” he said as he reached the fire pit.
    “Hi,” I said grumpily. “I’m waiting for—”
    “I’m Ash,” he said. “Asher Clarke.”
    “Oh.” Of course. That was the kind of day I was having. “I’m Emery,” I told him.
    “Jeannette sent me,” he said, shoving his hands in his jacket. “I hear you have a bat in your belfry.”
    He smiled a little crooked smile, but I just rolled my eyes. “Very funny,” I said. “I tried to get it myself. But I have to admit that I’m a little out of my element here. I don’t usually have bats in my shower.”
    “No problem,” he answered. His smirk was gone, his demeanor businesslike. “I’ll have it out in just a minute.”
    As he walked toward the cabin, I thought of something. “Hey, when you were staying here, before I came, was the bat here?”
    “Yeah,” he answered, turning back to me. “I didn’t think of it, or I would’ve warned you.”
    “And didn’t you …”
    “Yes, I took a shower. I just didn’t disturb him.”
    “And you slept with him in there with you?”
    He just shrugged and let himself in the cabin.
    Well, isn’t he smug
, I thought. Oh, how I wished that I could’ve just gotten rid of the bat myself.
I could’ve stuck it down the back of his shirt. That would’ve served him right. Bat in my belfry. Ha-ha
.
    I sat there, miffed, but realized that when I thought of “bat in my belfry,” I started smiling.
    All of a sudden, I heard a racket from the cabin. Loud clanks of something, maybe the broom against furniture. Then I heard a yell. I stifled a laugh.
    He wasn’t such a brave cowboy now, was he?
    The door flew open, and out ran a disheveled Ash, swinging at the air around his head with his cowboy hat in his hand, the bat flying right behind him. I thought I heard it chitter a bit, and then it was gone, to the forest.
    “Quick, close the door!” he barked at me. And I ran up to the cabin and obeyed.
    “Holy shit!” Ash yelled, laughing, bending over to catch his breath, hands on his knees.
    I sauntered back toward him, trying to bite my tongue so I wouldn’t have to say any I-told-you-sos.
    When he looked up at me, laughing, his cheeks flushed from the bat chase, the breath caught in my throat for a moment. His dark eyes, the line of his crooked smile. It was familiar.
    Ash
, I said to myself. And it was like I knew him. Déjà vu. But not déjà vu. Worse than that. Stronger. Better.
    I found myself tongue-tied as Ash composed himself. My mind searched for some lost connection, some way I could know him, something.…
    I realized he was saying his goodbyes now. He tipped his hat at me, gave me a bit of a quizzical look. “You okay?” he asked.
    “Yeah, yeah,” I said, quickly coming back to the real world. “Let me pay you. I have cash.”
    “No,” he answered. “Consider it