Fear

Chapter Three

The birds chirped happily in song as the morning air. The gentle breeze rustled the leaves above the forest grounds. The sun's soft rays beamed down through the gaps in the canopy above. Mairi followed the well-beaten trail as she continued her morning jog. The peaceful serenity relaxed Mairi's mind to a calming effect. She brought herself to a stop next to the fence line of a cliff face. She placed her hands onto her knees and took in several deep breaths. 

"Beautiful ain't it." A voice all too familiar sounded from behind Mairi. 

"Are you stalking me now?" Mairi jokingly accused him as she turned around to see Elijah appear from another trail. 

"I could ask you the same thing." Elijah chuckled back to her as he walked up to the fence line. 

"The answer is yes," Mairi began, Elijah looked at her confused before she pointed at the scene before them. "The view." They fell into a soft silence.

"How are you finding the town?" He asked her curiously. It had been two days since the diner incident. He had gone to the diner for his free lunch but had just missed Mairi. Sharon had said she needed to run to the bank to sort out some discrepancies.

"Very welcoming. It was a gamble, me taking over the diner." Mairi told him as she placed both her elbows onto the wooden fence. "But I am glad I did. It is the fresh start that I needed."

"I believe it was the fresh start that the town needed too. Many of the townspeople were against selling to someone not from here. But I persuaded them to give it a go." Elijah told her. "They were the one who left some of your first positive reviews." 

"Well, thank god the mayor gave an outsider a chance." Mairi chuckled as they fell into a silence. Elijah cleared his throat before looking to Mairi again.

"So em, I was wondering." He started causing Mairi turned to face him, "I was wondering if you wanted to go for a drink at some point?" 

"You know what, yeah. Yeah, I would like that."  Mairi told him. Just then what sounded like a howl ripped through the air. Mairi turned to look at the forest where the howl came from. 

"Wolves? At this time?" Mairi asked as she turned to look at Elijah who had a serious look on his face. 

"Come on, we should get going. I will jog back with you." Elijah told her, in a tone that told her not to argue with him. She just nodded and followed his lead while trying to figure out what could have changed his mood so rapidly. Was it something she had said or didn't say?

It took almost twenty minutes to get back to the town where Mairi had parked her car. Elijah had not muttered a word but instead seemed to emit a dangerous vibe about him. So much so that Mairi did not want to utter a word. But even though his mood was like this now. She still felt safe, like nothing would harm her. Like being around him was the safest place in the world to be. It was a feeling that she was not used to. 

"Thank you, for walking me back," Mairi muttered softly and quietly. So quietly that she never thought he would have heard her, but he did. His scowl turned into a small grin. 

"Anything to make sure a pretty woman stays safe." Elijah smiled to her, she reached into her back pocket and unlocked her car. Elijah then proceeded to open the door for her. 

"All I seem to do is thank you." Mairi giggled as she slipped into her car.

"Good, that means I am doing my job right." 

"What job?" Mairi asked him slightly confused.

"Treating you like a gentleman should." He told her simply, "As my mother taught me." Mairi smiled so broadly at his answer as her heart swelled to the point she though her chest would burst open. Being treated this way was completely different to her. 

"Well, she definitely did that." She smiled at him as he shut her car door for her. Mairi started her engine and rolled down her window before reaching over to the glove compartment. She grabbed something before handing it over to Elijah. 

"What's this?" He asked her taking it gently from her fingers. The small white business card had all her details on it along with Mairi's Diner's logo.

"My number. Give me a message about they drinks you offered."  She told him, "I would love to get to know you better." 

"Sounds good." Elijah smiled and he stepped back to allow Mairi to pull her car away. He watched as her car drove off so that he couldn't see it. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He quickly typed in a number and pressed the dial button. Moving to his ear he waited for the answer.

"Hello?" A voice sounded from the other side.

" There better be a damn good reason for someone to be making that much noise at this time of the day." He growled very unhappily down the phone. "People need to understand now that this town is no longer cut off from the outside world. If anyone has a problem with that they will have to deal with me." Elijah growled deeply before hanging up the phone, not giving the person on the other side of the call to answer. 

His eyes then travelled to the small piece of paper in his hand. His mind flashed back to when he took the card from her hand. How their fingers brushed against each other and the feeling that they left behind. It still tingled like this the when a numbness ended in your leg. A small smile grew on his lips as he thought about her. He quickly opened up his text messages and typed in Mairi's number before writing his message. 

Once he sent the message, he put the phone and the business card back into his pocket. He turned around and walked back into the forest.