Free Lovers of Legend by Mac Flynn Page B

inside and partially closed the entrance.
    Greg spoke in a clipped tone and he sheepishly grinned at me. "It's nothing, just shadows. It's getting really dark out there. Didn't that desk guy say something about a storytelling time about now? What do you say we go to it?" he suggested.
    "Sure, it sounds like fun," I hesitantly agreed. I wasn't much interested in ghost stories.
    "Then we'd better hurry or we'll miss the fun," he told me. He grabbed my hand and whisked us over to the lodge for spooky time.

Chapter 2
     
    We hurried along the front of the cabins and the looming clouds above us spattered rain on our heads. The lodge was already crowded with other cabin tenants, and someone had started a small fire in the fireplace. The warm flames crackled contentedly in the hearth and people milled around talking and laughing. There was a refreshments table near the stairs, and Greg pulled me toward it.
    I pulled loose from his grasp and shook my head. "I'm not hungry, so I'll just grab us a seat by the fire," I told him.
    "Good idea. I'll get some food for both of us," he offered, and hurried over to the table. I didn't believe for a second that he'd share. His appetite was as great as two men, and there wasn't a large enough plate created to satisfy him.
    Only a few older guests sat on the couches and chairs that surrounded the hearth, and they left me alone when I wandered over to lean against the mantel. I gazed into the warm flames and thought about Greg's employee discount, and his talk about that waitress giving him the tip. My natural womanly suspicions told me something wasn't quite right. I glanced at the refreshments table and noticed Greg stood on the far end speaking with a young woman. She wore the same crisp white shirt as the owner of the lodge and in one hand she held a tray of food. I frowned and moved to intercept their conversation, but my foot caught on the roughly-cut stones at the bottom of the hearth.
    I tripped and would have fallen to the hard floor if a pair of strong arms hadn't caught me. They lifted me back onto my feet and I turned to find myself staring into a pair of beautiful blue eyes. The rest of the owner of those eyes was just as handsome with windswept brown hair, a thin but not narrow face, and a build I'd call lithe. He smiled at me and his eyes twinkled.
    "Careful there," he lightly scolded me.
    I reluctantly stepped back from his grasp and blushed. "Sorry about that. I'm a little clumsy," I told him.
    "I think your attention was elsewhere, but no harm done. Just be careful when you go into the woods. Every root will be trying to trip you," he teased.
    "I'll have to make sure there's a tree like you to catch me," I returned.
    "Attention, everyone!" a voice yelled over the clamor of the company. I turned to see it was Mr. Patterson, and he held his hands over his head. "The storytelling will soon begin, so anyone with a story please come up to me and write down your names. Be warned that we do allow scary stories, so anyone with children might want to leave," he warned us.
    I scoffed. "I bet these are just campfire stories. What do you think, Mr.-?" I turned and found my mystery man was gone. My eyes scanned the crowd, but he was nowhere to be seen. I leaned against the hearth and sighed. "Just my luck that he's scared of scary stories," I muttered.
    "Who is?" someone asked me, and I glanced over my shoulder to find Greg standing there with a heaping plate of food.
    I straightened and tried to act natural in my stiff pose. "Oh, nobody." I looked past him and saw the woman, too, had disappeared. "Did you leave any food for anyone else?" I teased him.
    "There's plenty there," he defended himself.
    "All right, there's food left, but let's find a seat before they're all taken," I advised him.
    We found two seats on one of the three couches and were joined by about two dozen other people, among them a lot of nervous and excited kids. Outside I heard the faint sound of raindrops on the windows.