Page 48 of Big & Lily

“Nice try, but you’ve got to go back. You have some things to sort out. And whatever it is”—I take a pause, giving her a moment to change her mind about telling me, which she doesn’t do—“we’ll tackle it together.”

“Fine.” She stands up and brushes off her pants. “Let’s go start having fun Big’s way. I hope I don’t fall asleep from the boredom.”

“Very funny. Now, pull me up.” I reach up my hand to Lily, but she ignores me.

“Um,” she says, pointing back in the direction we came from, her mouth hanging open. “I think we have a problem.”

I turn around slowly to see a moose and her calf standing in a patch of ferns. And they are close. Too close. I can see flies buzzing around their twitching ears and smell an old-rug smell coming from their shaggy hides. The baby is oblivious to us, but the mother is staring us down.

“Don’t move, Lily. Brick said they are aggressive when they think you are threatening their calves.”

Believe me, you do not want to be trampled by a pissed-off fourteen-hundred-pound animal. Their hooves are the size of a man’s head.

“I heard the same speech. And I have no intention of threatening anyone,” she whispers to me. “Shit, we gotta get out of here and they are blocking the way.”

“Can we wait it out?” I whisper, grabbing Lily’s sleeve, backing up slowly. “It could get bored and just... go?”

“This is Eric’s fault. One hundred percent.” Lily and I finally agree on something this week. “If I live through this, he’s going to pay.”

“I like your thinking,” I say. “First, we need to avoid being stomped to death. Then revenge.” It’s a staring contest right now, and I don’t know how long this can go on. “Wait, Xavier has service. Let me google moose encounters and find out what we should do.”

“I’m not sure we have time for a whole research project right now.”

I ignore her and slowly pull my phone out of my pocket, not making any sudden moves. Before I can type inhow to survive a moose attack, it rings and a photo of a curly-headed woman with cat-eye sunglasses and hot-pink lipstick comes up on the caller ID. “It’s Mom.”

“Decline!” Lily hisses.

“What if something is wrong at home?”

“Something is wrong here, Big. You want to tell her we’re being held hostage in the woods by a killer moose?”

“I’ll tell her now is not a good time. Then she won’t keep calling back.”

“What the hell. No.”

“Yes, Mother?” I say in a dramatic whisper. “We’re kind of in the middle of something. I’ll call you later.”

“Hang up,” hisses Lily.

“Is that your sister?” demands my mother. “Is she why you haven’t called me? You’re in Alaska, not on the moon. I know they have phones there. I know how the World Wide Web works. And, for all you know, I could be dead right now.”

“That makes three of us,” I mumble.

“What? What is your sister doing to you?”

“Mom, I’m glad you’re not dead. But now is just not a good time. I’ll call you later, I promise.” I hope I can keep that promise.

Before she can answer I hang up quickly. I can tell from her face Lily thinks I’m insane. Which I might be. She shakes her head. “You have to stop running scared from that woman.”

“I’m not. I am responsible for her. And she’s probably driving Tim crazy.”

“Sure, fine, but right now there is literally two tons of moose blocking our way back to civilization. You can’t help Mom if you’re flat as a pancake.”

She’s right. I got a little panicky when I saw the call. Or I was misplacing my anxiety.Focus, Bridget.“All right, let me google how to—”

Not waiting for me to finish scrolling, the moose snorts and shakes her head, and we freeze. Lily digs her nails into my arm. “I think we should run.”

“No, that’s not right. Aren’t you supposed to play dead? Or is that just for bears? I think we should—”