..
After lunch, or rather after Dray cleared the plate and ordered a cheeseburger of her own that went down faster than the fries, she convinced Wells to accompany her on another photography walk in the woods. This time she wanted to go farther than the odd tree.
"So, do you work?" she asked a few minutes into their walk. The question found a home in the back of Dray's mind a couple days ago. She knew he was off doing something on all those days they didn't see each other, but he was always readily available when she needed him.
He snorted. "Yeah, gotta pay bills somehow." He looked over at her. They walked side by side. "My parents owned a branch of banks throughout the area—left it to me in their will. I sold most of it, but still help out—IT stuff."
"Explains how you're good with computers," she said. "Is that what you want to do?"
Wells scratched the back of his neck. "It's what my dad did, so I learned from him as a kid. Thought is was really awesome at the time. Now, it allows me to work from home and not full time, which is nice." He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "I like writing stuff, though. That blog thing you do, I think that would be cool."
Dray grinned. "Well, I do not like writing stuff, so maybe we could collaborate. It would save me the headache."
A smile slid onto his face, a real full-teeth, chubby-cheek smile. It surprised Dray because she'd never seen it before, but more so because she really liked it.
Unfortunately, the moment didn't last. As they neared the tree, a runner caught their attention.
"Oh hi, Dray!" The man waved with his entire arm, but dropped it sharp upon getting close enough to notice Wells. "Weldon."
"Porter."
Dray fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. The way the men stared at each other gnawed at her anxiety. The two looked like overly aggressive teenagers.
"Porter!" she said a little too enthusiastically after the longest moment of her life. "How are you?" The pitch of her voice heightened as the words tumbled out.
Porter wiped sweat from his brow and turned to Dray. His smile grew too large for his face. "Dray, I'm doing really great. Thank you for asking." He stood straighter when looking at her and fixed his shirt. His pale gray athletic outfit stuck out like a sore thumb in the dark forest.
Dray pursed her lips together, rocking back and forth on her heels. She assumed he would further the conversation with a question or two—she surely wasn't going to—but when it became clear he would rather stay silent with a smug expression on his face, she spoke again.
"Right. Well, nice seeing you again, Porter, but I've actually got to get some photos today." She grabbed Wells' arm and pulled him along.
Porter jumped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, have you heard about the block party tonight?"
She stared at his hand, but he didn't get the hint. "No, I haven't." She took a step back into Wells and Porter's hand fell to his side.
"The town throws one once a month or so. You better come!" He patted her shoulder and lightly squeezed it.
Dray bit the inside of her cheek, irritated, and took a breath. "I'm not sure." She looked to Wells for some help, but he was too preoccupied with glaring. She rolled her eyes. "I still have a lot of unpacking to do, but if I make it over, I'll try and find you."
Porter's arm went slack, falling to his side once again. "Great! See you later, Dray!" He ran off without another word.
Everything about Porter Middleton rubbed Dray the wrong way. She definitely didn't want to go to the party and find him, but he was already quite predictable. She knew he'd leave the second he heard what he wanted. She closed her eyes and relaxed and then punched Wells in the side.
"Thanks for the help, Wells." She crossed her arms over her chest.
Wells, who was clearly still a bit steamed, mumbled an apology and started to walk, gently ushering her forward with a hand on her back. Dray took photos and was careful not to start any unwanted conversation, but her curiosity really didn't hold out that long.
"What happened between you guys?"
They were much farther along the trail and it had narrowed. The tree branches reached out and pushed the two closer.
Wells stopped walking and hesitated with his answer. "We just never got along."
Dray snorted and finished lining up a shot. The shutter clicked a few times before she turned over her shoulder. "Right. It seems to me there is a lot more than just butting heads. You guys can't even make simple conversation, let alone look at each other."
Wells kicked some brush to the side of the path. "Look, I've known the guy my entire life and maybe at some point we were okay, but it wasn't long enough to make an impression. Believe it or not, he was always the popular kid and I was, well, not."
She bit her lip and crossed her arms over her chest. He dressed in different shades of black, only broken up by a gray t-shirt and tan shoes. His shirt was hastily tucked in, his jeans ripped, and his jacket rested a bit lopsided on his shoulders.
Wells watched her more or less check him out and raised his eyebrows when she met his gaze.
"Just trying to picture you in high school." She shrugged, combing her hair back with her fingers.
He chuckled. "Is it working?"
Dray wrinkled her nose and grinned. "No."
They laughed and Dray took the opportunity to blindly shoot her camera towards him. He didn't notice, but she had a good feeling that picture would be a keeper. She may have thought Wells an odd and creepy man at the start, but the more time she spent with him, the more that facade crumbled.
A little while longer of shutter sounds and bird chirps and Wells inched backwards down the trail. "We should head back soon. You got enough pictures?"
Dray tilted her head and watched his steps grow larger. He never did wait for an answer, but this time, she agreed anyway. "Yeah, I think so."
With a lighter feeling in the air, the walk home held corny jokes and flirty shoves. It was relaxed and enjoyable, until the odd tree reappeared, and coming from the other side, the broken branch stuck out in plain sight.
Dray veered towards it and ran her fingers along the bark. They dipped in and out of the rough ridges. "This is creepy." She looked back at Wells.
"At least it's been awhile. The feeling was worse right after." He rounded the tree, meeting her from the other side.
"That was after you ran into me. How did you even know it was there?" She squinted at him, feeling her mouth get dry.
"Yes it was and I didn't." He leaned against the tree. "By the way you acted, it was pretty clear something was off."
"So you were watching me?"
A smile turned up on his face, reflecting the glint in his eye. "You're pretty hard to miss."
Dray took a deep breath and accepted his answer, burying the last part deep in her thoughts for later. The exchange felt too casual and made too much sense to be made up.
The sun sparkled in the water, quite similar to that day. She shuffled closer, squatting down at the edge of the bank. No matter how creepy the back story, water always soothed her and always would. She reached out her fingers, wishing she could touch the tiny waves from the current, but the bank sat too high.
Something glinted in the sand, shining right in her eyes. Dray wobbled and put a hand down for balance. The light came from a group of rocks tangled with twigs and seaweed. She was pretty sure a rock wouldn't reflect that bright, but she was absolutely sure they weren't a metallic silver.
"Hey, Wells," she dropped to her knees on the edge of the bank, "come over here."
With a few steps, he stood at her back and she pointed down to the edge of the water a couple feet away. "I feel like we should figure out what that is?"
"Why? It's probably just trash washed up from the river."
"But it's shiny." She looked at him over her shoulder. "It could be important."
Wells looked like he wanted to argue, but gave in after a few seconds. "All right."
"Great! Hold on to me." She grasped his arm and leaned over the water. He pulled back to keep her safe as she stretched as far as she could. Just inches from the mystery item, Dray took one last breath and reached out. It slipped onto her middle finger.
"Pull me up!" she grunted.
Wells used so much force that he accidentally slammed her into his body—and under normal circumstances, that might have mattered—but Dray became too preoccupied to notice the sudden lack of distance between them.
"Wells," she whispered and brushed the metal with her thumb. "It's a ring," she looked at him, "a wedding ring."
..
[EDITED OCTOBER 9, 2021]
Shorty, but a goodie.
Let me know what you think!