Page 372 of His Hungry Wolf

“Thanks. But what about you? I thought you were at East Tennessee?”

“I am. I’m just visiting for the day.”

Claude shook his head in acknowledgment. “You know, I’ve been meaning to get a hold of you.”

“You have? Why?”

“You give tours of the falls to tourists, don’t you?”

“I mean, I have. Why?”

“Have you ever considered that with the right support, it might make a great business? Maybe it could be more than just tours. Maybe it could include some camping or river rafting. You could sell packages for it. I’ve been crunching the numbers. It might take a while, but something like that might be quite profitable.”

I looked at him shocked. “Yes, I have. All the time. Why? Are you thinking about setting up something like that?”

“I was thinking about it. But, I’m only one guy. And I would be much better at the business side of things. If I had a partner, though.”

“You seem to be forgetting one thing. You’re not gonna get anyone in this town to go along with something like that. Believe me, I’ve tried.”

“You’ve tried to convince people. But have you considered just doing it yourself? You don’t need permission to go after what you want in life. You just need to know what you want and then not stop until you have it.”

“Claude? I thought I heard you out here. Did you come for more of the croissants?” Dr. Sonya said bringing out my order.

“You know I did,” Claude told her with a smile.

“Well, there are only two left, but I’ll let you have them if you show me how to do that thing on the computer again. It’ll just take a second.”

Claude looked at me with a smile that told me that it would take longer than a second.

“Of course.”

“I’m sorry to keep bothering you about it. My computer technician is off flagging footballs,” she said before fake crying.

“No worries. I’ll show it to you now.” Claude got up. “Think about it, Titus. What is it that you want?”

I watched the two of them enter the house and then gave Claude’s proposal some thought. I had considered starting up a tour business many times. I never knew where to begin. That was probably why I was so focused on convincing people to open up the town. I thought that with it would come opportunity.

But, maybe Claude was right. Maybe it was up to me to make my opportunities. Maybe it was time for me to decide what I wanted.

Allowing my mind to jump from one thing to another, it finally settled. There was only one thing that I truly wanted. It was as clear as the sky over the mountains in front of me. What I wanted more than life itself was Lou.

I left Dr. Sonya’s driving around as I thought. What was I willing to do to have him? I was willing to do anything. So, what did that mean?

As it got dark, I returned to an empty home and made something to eat. Knowing I would be heading back in the morning for class, I went to bed early. Lying in the darkness I came up with a plan. I was going to tell Lou how I felt. I couldn’t do it over text. It had to be in person.

In the middle of my first class the next morning, my phone buzzed. It was Lou. I read it and all of the others he had sent.

‘Where r u?’

‘Aren’t u coming?

‘I need to talk to u.’

‘Seriously, where r u?’

‘UR freaking me out.’

This morning’s text was different.