Splitting the Defense

Chapter Three

Toby always thought his peace came from being out on the ice, but there was something about sitting on a dock surrounded by nature that almost felt like a piece of him that was missing fell into place. He generally wasn't the kind of guy who thought about those things. Ever.

Taking a step back and smelling the roses wasn't his deal. Clearly he needed to spend more time doing it, because after the first episode that left him practically comatose on a dirty cabin floor, he hadn't even had a mild headache. That didn't mean he was stupid enough to be sitting out in the sun taunting it without glasses, but looking around the large trees surrounding the quiet cove he'd found on his morning walk didn't cause him pain.

It was early morning, only a little after six according to his phone. It'd taken him a full week to get everything at the cabin figured out and set up. The note he found could've been a little more descriptive on what to do with the generator once he found it. Getting that beast fired had taken a whole day by itself.

Then there was cleaning the cabin out and making it habitable. He'd found the bed was okay for his purposes, definitely not five-star worthy, but it would do as soon as he found some sheets for it. Along with the need to clean, the missing sheets had sent him into town for a quick trip to the store. He'd thought the trip would take longer than it had, but a little over an hour later he was back to the cabin, ready to take it on.

It still didn't look anything like the pictures, but it looked a little less like it would fall down at any second. The chores had been labor intensive, and since they were over, Toby had to find another way to keep his muscles on their toes, so a jog through the woods seemed called for.

He hadn't done much research on what was around the cabin. He simply knew there were a bunch of trees, which made jogging around them a task worthy of his usual routine. Finding the lake was a bonus. After running for about an hour, it was great to sit down, feel a morning chill coming from the water and listen to whatever insects were around serenading him.

Never being one for the outdoors, he had no clue what any of the trees, plants, bugs, birds, really anything around him was. It was probably a good idea to read up on those kinds of things in case he found something crawling up his pants or smack dab in the middle of a forest of poison ivy.

The sound of water rippling behind him caused Toby's thoughts to break from the peace he'd zoned in on. He'd allowed himself to think about the probability of catching a fish for a split second and wondered if he'd get a chance to see the one causing the disturbance. Fishing equipment hadn't been on any of his lists, so it was more of a pipe dream activity.

What he didn't expect to find was a woman using a ladder off the dock to pull herself out of the water. Judging by the wide-eyed look on her face, he wasn't exactly what she expected either. Her head had just made it to the point it could look over the dock and it was frozen in place.

With his sunglasses on and the sun coming over the peaks of the trees behind him, it was hard to make out her features. He assumed it was a woman based on her thin cheekbones, what appeared to be long hair and the delicate-looking arms raised above her head on the ladder.

"What are you doing here?"

Her question was quiet, but harsh. The voice asking the question was definitely female based on Toby's vast knowledge of communicating with the fairer sex. He'd had dozens of girlfriends over the years, but none of them had stuck. Most of them hadn't even warranted a second date.

He hoped the lashing he felt was because she didn't know him and not because one look at him had her instantly hating him. He wasn't sure why that was important, but he didn't like giving bad first impressions.