Page 8 of B is for Beast of Dean

The question caught me off guard. "You want to?"

"I think I do," she said, sounding almost surprised by her own words. "If you don't mind."

Mind? I would have laughed if the situation were not so absurd. This lovely, kind woman was asking if I minded whether she wanted to see me again.

"I'm often in the forest near the far pasture," I said carefully. "If you ever need... assistance."

It was not an invitation, but it was not a refusal either. Alice smiled, the first real smile I had seen from her, and it transformed her entire face.

"Good night, Heath," she said softly.

"Good night, Alice."

I watched until she was safely within sight of the farm buildings before melting back into the forest shadows. Only then did I allow myself to consider the impossibility of what had just happened.

She wanted to see me again.

For the first time in years, I found myself looking forward to tomorrow.