Free Stay With Me by Carolyn Astfalk

minutes he had been gone. Their new neighbors had apparently
set up and then left. A soft glow from the campfire lit the area around the
fire pit, and Chris took the big stick he kept by the campfire and pushed
around the ashes until the glow subsided and only a little smoke rose from the
heated coals.
    He returned his things to the bear box, and as he
stepped toward the tent, a light shone through the ceiling.
    “Chris?” Rebecca’s voice sounded tentative.
    “It’s just me.” He slipped off his boots outside
the tent, unzipped the door, and stepped inside.
    Rebecca smiled, then bit her lower lip as she sat
on top of her bag with her knees bent and her arms wrapped around them.
    “Everything okay?”
    “Yes. I’m glad you’re back.”
    Had the loud guys setting up their stuff given her
a hard time? “Did something happen?”
    “No. It got dark. And quiet. And lonely. And I’ve
never been out in the woods alone at night before.”
    Oh. Just a little scared. He had been camping since
he could walk, and he hadn’t thought how it might be frightening to Rebecca. He
zipped the door closed and sat on his sleeping bag. He’d play the role of her
protector if that’s what she wanted.
    “There are no locks on this thing.” She looked from
one side of the tent to the other where Chris had unzipped the windows to let
in the cool evening air.
    “No, but we won’t need them. It’s safe. I promise
you.”
    “But anybody could walk up and—”
    Before she could dream up some kind of Blair Witch
Project scenario, he said, “No one has any reason to be back here.”
    “But you said the Appalachian Trail runs—” She
gestured in the opposite direction of the trail, but Chris didn’t correct her.
    “Rebecca, no one’s going to bother us.”
    “What about bears? Did we leave out any trash?”
    “I put it in the dumpster on my way to the
restroom. All our food is locked up in the bear box, and we didn’t bring anything
like that in the tent.”
    “What about. . .us? Don’t we smell like food to
bears?”
    “We bagged all our toiletries, and you didn’t use
any perfume or lotion tonight, did you?’
    She shook her head. He had told her to leave all
that stuff at home.
    “Then there’s no need to worry.” She must have been
suffering some serious anxiety while he was gone.
    “But what about if I’m…well, if it’s that time…”
Her cheeks were getting pink.
    Chris wrinkled his brow and tried to figure out why
she was being so reticent. “What time?”
    She let out a breath and allowed her head to fall
down against her knees. When she spoke it was no louder than the whisper of the
wind through the trees.
    “What if I’m menstruating?”
    He hadn’t seen that one coming. “Uh, the
bears won’t mind.” Awkward .
    She peeked out from under her folded arms. “But I
heard bears were attracted to . . .”
    He knew what people said, and he had Googled it
once. “No, not black bears, and that’s what’s here in the park. The research
only shows that polar bears may be attracted to…to that scent.”
    “You’re sure?”
    She really was scared. He wanted to gather her up
in his arms and offer to hold her all night long. “Yes, I’m sure.”
    After studying his face a few more seconds she
dropped her knees and readjusted herself in her bag. “Okay. You’re the expert.
If you say we’re safe, I’m going to trust you.”
    “Thank you.” He switched off his head lamp before
breaking into a smile and sliding down into his bag. Rebecca turned her light
off, too, and as he lay on his back, he peered through the skylight panel at
the top of the tent. There was no moonlight, and the stars shone brilliantly.
    A loud screech rang out in the distance and grew
louder as it passed directly over their heads.
    Rebecca shot up from her bag. “Chris, what was
that?”
    Talk about bad timing. If she weren’t scared she
would probably realize how cool that had been. “An owl. Probably a barred owl.”
As if