Jess woke up, feeling happier than she had in a long time.  Smiling, she jumped out of bed and got dressed as quickly as she could, then went down the stairs into a warm kitchen that smelled like pancakes.

"Good morning!" Annie called out from the stove.

"Morning!" Jess said, giving her a quick, tight hug.  "Did you have a good day off?"

"Same as usual," Annie replied.  "Did you have a good day yesterday?"

"Yep!" Jess said with a big grin on her face, as she walked to the table.

"That's swell," Annie said, bringing over a plate of pancakes and a glass pitcher of maple syrup.

While Jess ate, she looked at the woods beyond the garage and only half-listened as Annie talked about what she'd done the day before.  She couldn't wait to go to the cabin and see Marty again.  Maybe she'd be able to get him open up and talk about himself.  She was dying to know more about him. 

As soon as she finished eating, she offered to help Annie with the dishes.  "Nothing doing.  It's a beautiful day," Annie said, turning Jess by the shoulders and giving her a little push towards the door.  It was just what Jess had expected.  "I'll see you at lunchtime."

"See you later," Jess replied happily, going out the back door. 

Relieved to see the garage doors closed, she darted behind it and was soon on the path leading to the cabin.  She ran until she was out of breath and then walked the rest of the way.  When she entered the clearing, she was dismayed.  The front door of the cabin was closed.  Hoping Marty was inside anyway, she went to the door and knocked.  After waiting a moment, she turned the knob and opened it a little. 

"Hello!  Marty!" she called out, but the slightly stuffy air filled with the smell of the pine floors that came out let her know he hadn't returned since the day before.  With her heart sinking, she walked inside.  Even though she knew it was futile, she couldn't help checking the bedroom anyway, just to be certain, but she was alone. 

Returning to the front door, she listened hard, hoping to hear him walking through the woods, but the only sounds were the now familiar rustling of small animals in the leaves and the birds in the trees. 

With nothing else to do, she sat on the front step to wait for him.  Doubts that he might not come back nagged at the back of her mind, but she tried to push them away.  When she thought through their conversation the day before, she remembered him saying she was free to visit him.  He wouldn't have said that if he wasn't planning on coming back, would he?  And she'd done her best to convince him she wouldn't tell anyone.  She hoped he'd believed her.

As it got later in the day, her stomach began growling and then the hunger pains became too strong to ignore.  She reluctantly closed the cabin door and walked back to the house.  Maybe he was busy doing other things today, she thought as she made her way down the path, trying to keep the sadness from overwhelming her.  He'd be back tomorrow.  He had to be.

She had a quiet, late lunch while Annie made a cake for that night's dinner.  When she offered the bowl and mixing spoon to her, Jess forced a smile and tried to act excited.  Afterwards, she took a book up to her room and laid on her bed to read, wanting to distract herself from thinking about Marty.  Dinner was a somber meal, with her uncle going through a stack of documents the entire time.  When she finished, all she wanted to do was go back to bed.  The sooner she fell asleep, the sooner tomorrow would come, and the sooner she would get to see Marty.

The next morning, Jess ate a bowl of cereal alone in the kitchen and then went out the back door.  When she came around the corner of the house, she stopped suddenly.  The big black car was outside the garage and James was polishing it.  He glanced at her briefly before turning his attention back to his work and Jess hesitated, wondering what she should do.  He glanced up at her again and she turned to go behind the house where he couldn't see her, not wanting him to get suspicious of what she intended to do. 

She walked to the front of the house and peeked around the corner, but he was still polishing the car.  How long was he going to take, she wondered desperately.  Marty could be at the cabin right now, and she was stuck.  What if James took too long and he left before she was able to get there? 

Then, as if by some miracle, James set down his cloth and disappeared into the garage.  Jess darted to the path, afraid he would come back before she was out of sight.  Once hidden in the woods, she breathed a sigh of relief.  Anxious to get to the cabin as quickly as possible, she half ran, half walked down the path, but when she reached the clearing, her heart sank.  The front door was closed. 

Disappointment overwhelmed her as she crossed to the cabin and opened the door, not even bothering to knock.  The stuffy air that came out, only confirmed what she already knew.  She looked out at the clearing, trying to think of something.  If he wasn't there, he had to have other places he went to.  Maybe he was staying somewhere else on the property, maybe there was even another cabin.  If she looked for it, she might be able to find him. 

Feeling hopeful, she looked around, wondering which way to go.  The spot where Marty had led her to gather firewood seemed like a good option.  Slowly pushing her way through the brush, she entered the woods and began walking, trying to remember the way they'd gone.  She was soon struggling to climb over fallen trunks and avoid tripping over branches and large rocks, going much slower than when she'd had him to follow. 

The deeper she went into the woods, the more uneasy she became.  Was this really a good idea?  What if she got lost?  She would have to find the fence and follow it back to the gate, but she had no idea how long that could take her.  The last thing she wanted was someone to start looking for her, or questioning where she'd been and what she'd been doing.  And even if she didn't get lost, the property was huge.  She could imagine wandering around forever and never finding him.

Turning in defeat, she stumbled back to the clearing.  When she reached the cabin, she stood listening to the sounds of the forest, feeling entirely alone surrounded by the wall of trees.  The terrible loneliness that had left when she'd met Marty came back all at once, crushing her and she collapsed on the front step of the cabin.  She buried her head in her arms as tears came, wishing bitterly she could just go back to her life the way it used to be.  When there were no more tears, she wiped her face and stood to leave, not looking back at the cabin.

The next morning, she laid in bed for a long while after she woke.  She didn't want to get up, but she knew Annie was down in the kitchen waiting for her.  With a deep sigh, she threw off her blankets. 

"Good morning," Annie said cheerily when she saw Jess coming down the stairs.  Jess went to her for a hug and when she let go, Annie's warm hazel eyes looked concerned.  "Do you feel okay?"

"Not really," Jess replied, shrugging her shoulders, and then swallowed as a lump formed in her throat. 

"Are you sick?"

"No, I'm just tired."

"This early in the morning?" Annie asked, looking even more concerned.  She put a hand on Jess's forehead.  "You don't have a fever.  Do you feel achy?  How does your neck feel?  Oh, Jess!  I hope you haven't caught polio!"  Jess knew she'd made a mistake. 

"No, Annie.  It's not that," she said quickly.  "It's just – I didn't sleep well.  I was reading a scary book and – I couldn't sleep.  That's all."

"Which one?"  Jess thought fast.

"Uh, War of the Worlds?" she said, hoping it sounded believable.  She'd seen the book in her uncle's library but hadn't wanted to read it.  Her dad had taken her to the movie when she was younger and she'd had nightmares for months after.

"Well, no wonder!" Annie said, putting her hand on her chest, looking relieved and upset at the same time.  "I heard that terrible radio show when I was around your age.  Scared us half to death!  My mother thought the aliens were coming to kill us all."  She gave Jess a hug.  "You poor thing!  Don't read that book anymore, okay?"

"Okay," Jess said into her chest, hugging her back extra hard while Annie stroked her hair.  She felt guilty about lying to her, but even if she was never going to see Marty again, she had to keep her word to him. 

When she was finished with her breakfast, she was sent outside with a warning that if she was feeling more tired, she should come back right away so Annie could give her a mustard plaster to keep her from coming down with a cold.  Not knowing what a mustard plaster was, nor wanting to find out, she knew she was doomed to spend the entire day outside.

Wandering over to the swing, she sat on it.  A cooling breeze reached the tree, and the seat moved up and down.  She closed her eyes to enjoy the gentle motion, but saw Marty at the cabin, and loneliness overwhelmed her again.  Sighing deeply, she opened her eyes. 

She was just going to have to accept the fact she wasn't going to see him again. There was no point torturing herself about it any further.  She'd already been prepared to spend the rest of the summer without anyone around but Annie, so why should it be any different than now.  She should go to the cabin anyway, she thought determinedly.  Even though it might make her sad at first, it would certainly be better than not having anything to do.

Double checking to make sure James wasn't around, she entered the path to the cabin, taking her time and enjoying the beauty of the woods.  When the cabin came into sight, she stopped short, hardly believing what she was seeing. 

Marty was seated on the front step of the cabin with his head down, his golden brown hair falling over his face.  He was whittling a piece of wood with a penknife, wood shavings flying off with each cut.

"Marty?" she asked faintly, still unsure if he was real or if she was dreaming.

His head popped up and he looked at her through his hair, then he scowled before he dropped his head and continued working on the wood.  She walked up to him, and waited, but he ignored her. 

"Can I – can I sit with you?" she asked finally, pointing to the spot next to him on the front step.

He shrugged his shoulders without taking his eyes off his hands.  She took that as the only yes she was going to get, and sat as far from him as she could, but he still shifted away from her to put even more space between them.  When she peered up at him, she was horrified when she saw his face through his hair.  He had a scrape on his upper cheek, just under his eye, and the area around it looked terrible, puffy and purple with bruising.  

"Oh, my goodness!  Marty, what happened?" she asked, her fingers reaching to touch him without being aware of it. 

"I fell," he muttered, jerking his head away without looking up from his work, and she quickly dropped her hand.

"Oh, no!  Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay!" he muttered, with exasperation.

"Does it hurt?" 

"What do you think?"

"Did it happen here or –."

"Will you shut up about it?" he shouted, glaring at her.

"Okay," she said quickly, and he dropped his head.  "I didn't mean to – sorry," she said more quietly when he shot her another glare out of the corner of his bruised eye.

"Jeez!" he muttered under his breath, making quick, deep cuts in the wood.  Not wanting to upset him further, she watched him work the penknife.  Eventually his movements slowed and became more purposeful.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he replied, sounding annoyed again.

She took her time to examine the wood in his hands.  It was still rudimentary but she realized it was an animal, and then a thought suddenly came to her.

"You're the one who carved all those animals on the mantel!" she exclaimed with a big smile.

"So," he said with a shrug.

She stood and went inside the cabin to examine them again.  Each one was so lifelike, the poses so natural, even the faces giving a hint of their emotions.

"These are really good, Marty!" she said to his back, but he ignored her.

Walking back to join him, she noticed a sling shot poking out of his back pocket.  "I think you're really talented," she said with a smile, as she sat next to him.  He made a noise in his throat as if he didn't believe her, but she saw the tension in his face relax slightly. 

"Which animal is that?" she asked, hoping to get him talking.

"Beaver," he muttered, still carving.

"Oh.  I've only seen them at the zoo."  He didn't say anything, so she tried another tactic.  "What's that for?" she asked, pointing to his back pocket.

"It's a sling shot!  Don't tell me you don't know what that is either!" he said, giving her a look like he couldn't believe she was so stupid.

"I know it's a sling shot," she said more quietly, trying to hide the hurt from her voice.  "I just wondered what you use it for."

"What do you think I use it for?  To shoot things!"  

She stayed quiet, but as she imagined Marty in the woods, knowing it as well as she knew the yard around the big house, she couldn't help being curious. 

"Can you hit anything with it?" she asked finally.

Without a word he set down his knife and the wood.  Pulling it out of his back pocket, he looked around at the ground before reaching for a small rock.  Taking aim, he let the rock go and a second later there was a crack as it hit a tree trunk, causing a squirrel on it to scramble away.

"That's swell, Marty!" she exclaimed.  "You hit it!"

"No, I didn't," he insisted, giving her that look again like she was stupid.  "I missed!"

"But – you hit the tree."

"I was aiming for the squirrel," he muttered, picking up the penknife and wood.

"Why would you want to hit the squirrel?" 

"To kill it!" he said, his voice rising with exasperation.

"Why would you want to kill a squirrel?" she asked with horror.

"Why do you think?  To eat it!  Jeez!"

She was shocked into silence.  Who would want to eat a squirrel?  It sounded disgusting, like eating the pigeons or rats in New York City.  No one ever did that.  And then a terrible thought came to her.  If someone was hungry enough, they'd eat one.  She examined Marty out of the corner of her eye.  His clothes filthy and ragged, his jeans so short she could see his bare shins above his decades old boots.  Did Marty get so hungry that a squirrel would look like a meal, she wondered, and her heart broke for him.

She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it as memories of all the people who'd told her how sorry they were that her parents had died came to her.  She'd hated the look of pity in their eyes, or when they told her they understood what she was going through, as if anyone could understand what it was like.  She wouldn't do that to Marty.  His life was hard enough already, without her making something more about it.

With nothing left to say, she watched him work on his piece of wood.  She tried not to make any movements or noises so he wouldn't be distracted from his work, grateful just to be with him.  As time passed, she could tell the tension between them was going away as they both became completely focused on what he was doing.  It was fascinating, seeing the animal slowly take shape before her eyes.   

Making small cuts with the tip of the knife, he finished the last touches on the beaver's face, then set the knife down between them.  Turning it around in his hand, he examined it carefully.

"Can I see?" Jess asked hesitantly, holding her hand out.  She expected another outburst, but was relieved when he handed it over to her.

Small enough it fit on the palm of her hand, the beaver was sitting up, the front paws clasped under his chin.  His back was rounded, going down to his thick flat tail.  He looked like he was sniffing the air, his two front teeth just peeking out under his top lip.  

"It's so cute!" she said, smiling at him. 

He scowled and snatched it out of her hand as he stood.  She followed him to the fireplace and watched as he moved the other animals around to make a space for it.  When he had it in place, he stood back and admired them.  Her stomach growled loudly and she put her arms around it in an attempt to keep it quiet.  He turned around and looked at her as her stomach growled again. 

"Hungry?" he asked dryly, and she could feel her face flush.

"Uh, yes," she said slowly, feeling uncomfortable.  "I guess – I should go," she added reluctantly.  The last thing she wanted was to get into a conversation with him about hunger or eating.  Nor did she want him to feel like he should share what little food he had with her, but she hated leaving him again. 

"Are you going to come back?" she asked, trying but failing to sound casual.

He looked at her for a long moment, his eyes guarded, before he shrugged his shoulders.  "Maybe."

It took every ounce of strength she had not to beg him.  "Okay.  Well – I'll see you around, Marty." 

When he didn't reply, she turned to leave the cabin, a lump forming in her throat as she crossed the clearing.  Just before she stepped onto the path, she turned towards the cabin.  Marty was leaning against the door frame, watching her.  Out of habit, she waved at him, then dropped her hand, knowing he wasn't going to wave back. 

Turning to enter the woods, she suddenly felt hopeful.  Just the fact that he was interested enough to want to watch her go felt like a huge improvement, like he was starting to warm up to her.  He was going to come back, she thought happily.  She was certain of it.

****

This was a tricky chapter to write and I hope you enjoyed it.  Jess and Marty's relationship is off to a rocky start as she learns a little more about him.  I will let you speculate about where he was, or what may have happened to him.  I'm dying to hear your theories as well as your thoughts about him in general.

Thank you so much for reading!  If you enjoyed this chapter, please consider giving it a vote!  The picture is the actual house and the video is Maybe by the Chantels.