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 don’t need help,” I interject, zipping up my

been mushroom hunting since I was a kid. I’ll be

his eyes penetrating, like

find truffles around here, you know that,

“but I need to do something, okay? I need to practice

shifts, his voice turning stern, his

you.”

surprised. There’s a flash of Alpha energy in his eyes, a silent, commanding aura

with the restrained Karl I’ve been dealing with lately. And in that moment, something in me

way.

myself

for a split second, I see something there, a glint of something like triumph

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

in my office, staring at the empty

did I just

…

step mu ffled by a layer of damp leaves and

earth.

hangs in the early morning air, casting the forest in surreal grays and blues.

a nightmare, if something were to

softly echoing my own. We

ground for any

there.” I point to a cluster near a huge

leaning down to take a

reveal the reddish-brown

yes, they are edible.”

this way for a while, discovering various fungi sca ttered

with vivid colors, others more

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

slowly begins to lift.

remember that time we went mushroom hunting while we were still married?”

a prolonged silence. “You had to stop me from picking that poisonous

nostalgia sweeping over me. “You

it right up and ended up in the emergency

in the laughter, and for a brief moment, the forest

us, the cool morning air, and nothing else. But then

be laughing, not like this, not when I just lost my two best

But then, something happens.

through

echoing between

grabbing my arm and pulling me behind a