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.”

need help,” I interject, zipping up

since I was a

me for a moment, his eyes penetrating, like he’s looking right through me. “You’re

find truffles around here,

need to do something,

his voice turning stern, his

you.”

a flash of Alpha energy in his eyes, a silent, commanding aura

with the restrained Karl I’ve been dealing with lately.

way.

myself say. “You

and for a split second, I see something there,

relief. “Good,” he says, his voice softening. “I’ll

my office, staring at the empty space he just

just agree to

…

step mu ffled by a layer of damp leaves and

earth.

air, casting the forest in surreal grays and blues. I feel like

nightmare, if something were to come out of the

softly

scanning the ground

cluster near a

approaches, leaning down to take a closer look. “Are

leaves to reveal the reddish-brown caps.

yes, they are edible.”

for a while, discovering various fungi sca ttered

colors, others more muted but no less

lesson as I identify them, and the tension that’s been clinging to

slowly begins to lift.

time we went mushroom hunting while we were still

silence. “You had to stop me

laugh at the memory, a tinge of nostalgia sweeping over me. “You were so excited,

up and ended up

and for a brief moment, the forest becomes a sanctuary,

nothing else. But then guilt seeps

I just lost my

But then, something happens.

sc atter as a distant shout cuts through the mist, followed

between the

and pulling me behind a