Chasing His Kickass Luna Back by Jane Above Story

#Chapter 100: Mushroom Hunting
Abby

The weight of failure feels almost physical, like there’s something sharp and heavy literally lodged in

my chest.

I stare at the computer screen displaying “Truffles Unavailable” in blunt, red letters. I’ve sent countless

emails to suppliers, spent hours scouring online marketplaces, and I’ve even visited local storefronts to

browse their selection, all to no avail.

A part of me wants to give up on the recipe altogether, to throw in the towel and declare the universe

the winner in this sadi stic game it’s been playing with me. I could hope that this recipe won’t be chosen,

or at the very least, that I can read enough about it online to get a good idea as to how to make it.

But another part—perhaps the stubborn or perhaps the hopeful part—won’t let me settle for that. What

if this recipe is chosen for the competition? What if the online recipes just don’t do it justice? I need to

be prepared, and this could be my last shot at turning things around.

I close the laptop with a sigh, my eyes drifting to a framed picture of me and Chloe on a past

mushroom hunting trip. It’s not truffles, but maybe, just maybe, I could find something close, something

that’ll at least help me practice the textures and flavors.

…

“Going somewhere?” The voice slices through my thoughts, and I turn around to see Karl standing at

the doorway, his eyes lingering on my hiking boots and backpack. It’s early in the morning, too early for

anyone but me to be here. And yet there’s Karl, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, as my grandmother used

to say.

“That’s none of your business,” I shoot back, my voice carrying a sharper edge than I intended. But

really, the last thing I need right now is more complications, more entanglement with him.

He steps into the room, the door falling shut behind him. “Abby, don’t be like this. I told you that I want

to help.”

I interject,

since I was a kid. I’ll be

a moment, his eyes penetrating, like

to find truffles around here, you

need to do

stern, his posture more rigid. “Then let me come

you.”

Alpha energy in his eyes, a silent, commanding aura

with lately. And in that moment, something in me

way.

hear myself say.

eyes meet mine, and for a split second, I see something there,

he says, his voice softening. “I’ll get my

my office, staring at the

I just agree to

…

each step mu ffled by a layer of damp leaves and

earth.

in the early morning air, casting the forest in surreal grays and

maybe a nightmare, if something were to come out

distance, his footsteps softly echoing my own. We move

our eyes scanning the ground for any

point to a cluster near a

to take a closer look.

away leaves to reveal the reddish-brown

yes, they are edible.”

discovering various fungi sca ttered throughout the forest

vivid colors, others more muted but

into a mini biology lesson as I identify them, and the tension that’s been

slowly begins to lift.

remember that time we went mushroom hunting

prolonged silence. “You had to

laugh at the memory, a tinge of nostalgia sweeping over

sauteed it right up and ended up

joins in the laughter, and for a brief moment, the forest becomes a sanctuary,

morning air, and nothing else. But

when I just lost my two best friends

But then, something happens.

through the mist, followed by the disconcerting

echoing between

my arm and pulling me behind a large oak. His body