3、
Inside, I was sick to my stomach over the way Marianne was behaving. But I knew better than to fight them head-on.
There was a real chance they'd dump me on the side of the highway, and then I'd be the one in danger.
So I settled on a compromise. I turned to Paul and said, "I'm not trying to ruin anyone's fun."
"Sweetheart, all I want is to keep everyone safe. Think about it. Even if you two big strong men aren't scared of the wolves."
"They're still wild animals. What if one of them bites you?"
"Then I'd be the one hurting for you."
"I don't want you to get so much as a scratch."
The hard set of Paul's face softened a little.
I pressed on. "When we get to the spot, let's just stay in the car and feed them through the window. How does that sound?"
Paul grunted, and it seemed like I'd won him over.
But once we actually reached the stretch of highway everyone came to photograph, Marianne started up with her nonsense again.
Our car sat pulled over at the edge of the road while three big wolves with gray manes swayed their tails, wagging like lapdogs trying to win us over.
Marianne rolled down the window and tossed a hot dog outside.
One of the wolves snapped it up, chewed a couple of times, then rolled around in the dirt.
That set Marianne off laughing. "These wild wolves are adorable. Look at it begging for attention."
She hurried to snap a photo and posted it to her feed. A little while later, one of her contacts, some jerk I couldn't name, actually left a comment: "You didn't pet the wolf? What does the fur feel like?"
That was all it took to light Marianne up. She grabbed Mike's arm and put on her wheedling voice again. "Mike, let's get out and pet them."
My face fell. I'd worked so hard to convince everyone not to get out of the car, no matter what.
The second anyone stepped out, the horror from my past life would play out all over again.
I turned to Marianne. "Didn't we just agree? Feeding them is fine, but nobody gets out. Did you forget already?"
Marianne's temper flared instantly. "That was your husband Paul talking. I never agreed to anything."
I kept my temper in check and tried again. "Marianne, I'm doing this for everyone's sake. I know you've never liked me, but this time you have to trust me. I don't have any other motive, I swear."
